Photos and video: First snow of the season

The first winter weather of the season blanketed Southwest Virginia and beyond on Friday morning. 

While the Blacksburg campus appeared bright and still, over 300 Division of Facilities employees from the grounds crew, custodial services, and maintenance shops are involved in snow preparations and removal.

Road crews worked throughout the early morning hours on rotating shifts, grounds crew came in at 5 a.m., while the rest of the crews came in at 6 a.m.  Crews use task vehicles, tractors, and skid steers campuswide to clear sidewalks and roadways.

Virginia Tech Electric Service monitored trees and weather to provide quick outage response and ensure customers could access the department if needed.

Once the storm ends, teams keep pivot to a maintenance approach. Crews work to widen pathways on both sidewalks and roads. Assigned team members report back to campus the following day to treat any ice melt that has refrozen.