SnowBuddy

There's a new sidewalk snow removal service in Ann Arbor's Water Hill neighborhood, and it's called SnowBuddy. Read the story.

Snow My God

City Administrator Roger Fraser acknowledged the city's shortcomings as he briefed the Ann Arbor City Council Tuesday night on the city's latest snow removal efforts. "We were not anticipating the event that we got," Fraser said of the winter storm that started Sunday and left more than 9 inches of snow on area roadways by Monday. Lack of an accurate forecast is part of the reason why the city wasn't fully prepared, Fraser said. He also acknowledged the city purposefully has avoided investing in more heavy duty plow equipment that could help the city respond more quickly to such a severe weather event. "They would allow faster progress on our majors if we had access to vehicles like that, but we don't. And we think it's an appropriate budgetary strategy to not gear up for this rather untypical event," Fraser said. Another 4 to 6 inches of snow is forecasted to hit the area by Friday. Read the story here.

Global Weirding

So after one of the worst blizzards in decades was forecasted, Ann Arbor ended up getting a measly half-foot of snow by Wednesday morning. The night before, I was sort of dreading having to walk a mile from my apartment through the University of Michigan Diag all the way to pay my rent, but it really wasn't so bad. Here are some of the sights along the way.

Snowmageddon

Michigan Theater employees Alex Rhue and Eric Fine work to keep up with the snowfall shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday night. Rhue did the shoveling and Fine did the salting. As a dangerous winter storm set its sights on the Ann Arbor area, emergency personnel urged residents to stay home and advised businesses to close unless they provide a service that's critical to the community. The blizzard conditions are expected to include 10 to 15 inches of snow falling at a rate of 1-3 inches per hour, winds of 35 miles per hour and temperatures in the teens with wind-chill values near zero. Read the story here.

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Yes, I subject my co-workers to random acts of photography when they pass me on the street. Here reporter Erica Hobbs is a good sport and waves a friendly hello.