With as much as 20 or 30 inches of accumulated snow and ice bearing down on the roofs of some UConn buildings this year (2011), a major effort is underway to assess and – if necessary – begin clearing the snowpack off of affected university structures.

Teams of UConn staff members from public safety, facilities, the building inspector’s office, and architectural and engineering services began that process on UConn’s six campuses Tuesday – working through the ice storm on Wednesday and continuing through the rest of the week.

“There has been a Herculean effort on the part of these teams in the last 48 hours,” said UConn’s vice president and chief operating officer Barry Feldman. “Having that much snowpack on roofs means some of our buildings are having to support a great deal more weight. This is particularly true for structures with flat or more moderately sloping roofs. Assessing and clearing those that need it is a precautionary move.”

On Feb. 1, 2011, the Freitas Ice Forum on the Storrs campus was temporarily closed because of the amount of snow that had collected on its roof. The building remains closed as of Thursday, Feb. 3. The Tasker Building in Storrs, which houses Admissions, Events, and faculty from the Neag School of Education was also temporarily closed this week. The campus community may notice that other buildings or parts of buildings may be closed as crews continue their work.

“The level of snowpack varies from building to building,” said Kenneth Egeberg, head of the university’s Architecture, Engineering and Buildings (AEBS) Division. “Some structures have almost no accumulation, while others have more than 30 inches in places. It depends on the slope of the roof, how the wind hits it, and how much sun it does or doesn’t get. Clearing them is slow and time-consuming work, but we’re making good progress.”

Anyone in the campus community who would like to draw the attention of the assessment teams to a particular building or area should notify work order control at 860-486-3113.