Rain. Sleet. Hail. Snow. No, try lots of snow. Earlier this week, Boston University’s Buildings and Grounds department proved that time and time again, they can handle the weather.

Mere hours after the ‘Blizzard of 2003’ began dropping record snowfall on the city of Boston earlier this week, the department’s workers were out tirelessly clearing the campus of the pesky powder that would have had students literally knee-deep in slop.

Clearing sidewalks and parking lots is a continuous process to ensure footpaths are snow-free and safe for pedestrian usage any time conditions become treacherous, according to James Keating, associate vice president of Buildings and Grounds. Monday’s storm was no exception.

‘We kept going as long as there was accumulation,’ Keating said.

Advanced notice of Monday’s record-breaking snowstorm gave Boston University’s Physical Plant ample time to prepare their forces for the blizzard and its aftermath.

Successful preparations for storms of this nature are relative to the timing of the forecast. In this case, Keating said extensive weather reports and indications that this was to be a long storm enabled the department to prepare sufficiently.

‘We were able to stagger our forces,’ Keating said. ‘In a longer storm, we make sure that we don’t have everyone in for eight hours and then they are exhausted.’

Instead, workers were brought in during the middle of the storm. Also, Buildings and Grounds made sure that they had enough supplies, like salt, in advance, and mechanics were called upon to check that all of the department’s equipment was working, Keating said.

‘We used all of our own people,’ Keating said. ‘This includes contractors that came for proper supervision.’

All of the Physical Plant’s trucks were used in the effort to clean up the snow during and after the storm, Keating said.

Keating said Buildings and Grounds is mainly responsible for cleaning campus parking lots and sidewalks and clearing paths for the handicapped. He added he was also responsible for keeping in touch with BU personnel, reporting on the condition of the lots and roads for faculty and staff who had to be out during and directly after the storm.

Now, even after the storm has passed, the department’s work isn’t over. Keating said Buildings and Grounds workers will continue their efforts on a ‘temperature sensitive’ basis. Keating cited the melting and re-freezing of snow as factors that would lead to further salting of the sidewalks.

Compared to past years, this winter has been particularly difficult for Buildings and Grounds due to the multitude of storms and the heavy snowfall, Keating said.

Many students said they were pleased with how speedy maintenance worked to clean-up post-storm.

Alexandra Kaufman, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, was satisfied with the job done by Buildings and Grounds.

‘I was surprised that many of the paths were already cleared by the time that I woke up on Tuesday morning,’ Kaufman said.

But other students felt the department’s accomplishments left much to be desired.

College of Communication freshman, Alex Peterson was not impressed by the condition of Commonwealth Avenue’s sidewalks in the days following the blizzard.

‘The islands on the way to class were covered with snow and dangerous to walk across,’ Peterson said. ‘It was slippery and the path was only one person wide.’