The snowplow and salt budget for the City of Oswego has not increased over recent years in relation to climate change, though Oswego winters seem to be prolonged by lake effect snow.

The 2023 City of Oswego budget allocated “$4,991,480 for the Oswego Fire Department, $5,986,799 for the Oswego Police Department and $6,958,997 for the Oswego Department of Public Works.” According to the budget site, “2023 budget highlights: 1 new snowplow, 1 new frontend loader for DPW.”

Craig Rebeor, the assistant commissioner for the Department of Public Works (DPW) for the City of Oswego says that the recent budget announced for the DPW is roughly the same as last year’s budget.

 “Our annual budget is probably on par with the last couple years, any change in the last three years has been due to personal services such as payroll and health insurance costs,” Rebeor said.

In regards to salt specifically, Rebeor explained that the DPW gets its salt from a New York state bid contract with the company Cargill.

 “It varies from year to year, but we’ve used them for the past two or three years,” Rebeor said. “We budget between them and American Rock Salt.” 

As for the cost, Rebeor explained that a hefty amount is spent. 

“We budget about $225,000 a year for salt, and we run that out every year.”

When asked about the difference between the DPW budget in comparison to what was announced for fire and police departments, Rebeor said that they use the budget for different resources. “We provide fuel to the police and fire fleets,” Rebeor said. “Our fuel budget is city-wide, and fire trucks use the same fuel.” 

He added that the budget for DPW equipment and materials has not changed and that the DPW’s final budget line did not change. According to Jon Fox, an associate professor of geology at SUNY Oswego the campus proximity to Lake Ontario, winter in Oswego is pretty much always the same due to scientific factors.

“There’s basically a kind of shadow temperature effect, water has a higher specific heat than land and retains heat longer in the fall,” he said. “Water tends to moderate the climate around land.” Fox explained that specific heat is the amount of heat in the form of energy it takes to raise water temperature by one degree Celsius.

While Oswego winters now feel brutal, they used to be worse. As an ‘80s Oswego alum, Fox said he feels the winters of today are less intense. The stories about ropes between buildings are true, but Fox said they were pretty much gone by the time he was attending college. 

Jessica Spaccio is a Climatologist working for the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Science (EAS) of the Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) supports the findings of Fox. In response to whether there is climate data

supporting more or less snowfall in the Oswego region, Spaccio confirmed that even Oswego is facing change in its winters, however slow it may seem to non-climatologists.

“Using data from an observation station in Oswego, the winter temperatures of December, January and February have been warming, but the seasonal snowfall from October to May has increased,” Spaccio said. “This is expected in an area that receives Lake Effect snowfall.” 

There are some elements that make lake effect snowfall (LES) unique.

“The warmer temperatures allow Lake Ontario to stay ice free longer, which makes LES snowfall possible for more of the snow season,” Spaccio said.

According to Spaccio, warming temperatures mean lake effect snow lasts longer, so winters are getting worse and becoming prolonged. Spaccio stated that the mean average temperature of Oswego winters by the year steadily rose from 25 degrees Fahrenheit in 1927 all the way up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit this year, and a notable near 40 degree spike in winter 2019.

“The normal, meaning the official 30-year average based on 1991-2020, for the monthly total [snowfall] of January is 44.7 inches,” Spaccio said. 

Spaccio’s data showed the average snowfall from Oct. 1 through May 31 seems to wax and wane, with winters dipping below 100 inches but more often than not rising above 150 inches particularly after 1958.

“Yes, it’s counter-intuitive, but in the short-term, while there is warming but it is still cold enough for snow there is the potential for more LES,” Spaccio said. 

Snowfall  amounts may remain the same for right now, but Spaccio warns that might not be the case in the future. According to Spaccio, as global warming continues and temperatures start above freezing longer, snowfall accumulation will decrease. 

Photo from Pexels by Anton Kudryashov