As winter approaches, it’s time to prepare for the return of Iowa’s wavering winter weather.

Steve Salvo, operations administrator for Ames, makes the decisions regarding when the city’s brigade of plows, as well as 18 tractor plows driven by local farmers, will be deployed to clear the streets of snow for motorists.

“When two inches or more of snow is expected, the vehicles need to be off the streets,” Salvo said.

According to the city snow ordinance, when the weather forecast calls for two or more inches of snow to fall in Ames, the city government issues a snow ordinance several hours before the expected snowfall. Local television and radio stations are used to notify vehicle owners that their automobiles need to be off city streets designated as snow routes.

Streets specified as snow routes — streets plowers deem a top priority — will have signs put up to notify motorists. When a surprise snowfall occurs, the city of Ames acts as quickly as possible to notify the public of a snow ordinance.

When a major storm hits, one that produces six inches of snow or more, the plowers expect to need 16 hours to finish plowing the streets of Ames. Before any snow falls, plowers are often out performing ice controls to make sure the streets are as safe as possible.

Butch’s Amoco Service Center, 100 East Lincoln Way, has a contract with the City of Ames to tow violators of any snow ordinance. If cars are left on snow routes when plows come through, the city notifies Butch’s Amoco to tow the cars.

Butch’s Amoco employee Barry Johnston said he thinks this could be a big part of the company’s profit.

“If the winter is good, it produces,” Johnston said. “The first snow is always the best [for towing]. As it snows more and more, people become more aware.”

If a car does get towed by Butch’s, the owner of the car has to pay the towing company directly, according to the snow ordinance. Also, the police department will ticket car owners that are in violation of a snow ordinance.

When the snow ordinance is in effect, CyRide buses will still run routes that are considered safe and passable. Karen Jamison, CyRide operations supervisor, said the buses will usually run unless there are dangerous conditions.

“If ice storms occur where we simply can’t move around, or if there are blizzard conditions where we can’t see, we won’t run the buses,” Jamison said.

Jamison said CyRide keeps in touch with the ISU administration in order to determine whether or not the streets are safe for travel. CyRide will also take into account possible cancellation of classes at Iowa State when deciding whether to stop bus services.

If residential streets are considered unsafe, CyRide will still usually run buses, since CyRide routes mostly avoid residential areas, Jamison said. CyRide routes are plowed early because they are considered a top priority.