Preparations for Winter Weather

TO:  Vice Presidents, Vice Provosts, Deans, Directors, Department Heads, and Managers
FROM:  Kyle Cavanaugh, Vice President for Administration, Emergency Coordinator
RE:  Preparations for Winter Weather

Duke officials are closely monitoring forecasts for the central North Carolina that include a wintery mix and snow on Friday evening and Saturday. 

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday. The heaviest precipitation is expected to fall between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday with accumulation of about 3 inches, although the duration and accumulations of wintry precipitation may change as the forecast evolves.   

Facilities crews have begun to pretreat Duke roads, lots and walkways in anticipation of winter weather. Please remind your faculty and staff to review the priority clearing map to determine the preferred paths of travel during severe weather, which may differ from their normal routines.

If Duke activates the Severe Weather and Emergency Conditions policy, officials will send notification via the DukeALERT system, including text message, email, the DukeALERT website and the web alert bar. A message also will be recorded on the severe weather/emergency conditions telephone line at 684-INFO (4636). Faculty and staff who are not already registered should sign up for text message updates from the DukeALERT system.

Given the possibility of severe weather, please review Duke's severe weather and emergency conditions policy and share information with your staff regarding what they should do if the policy is activated.

During times of severe weather, some staff positions require on-site presence to continue operations. All jobs should be assigned a service category by the manager to ensure continuous operations of patient care, student support and research functions. Managers should ensure staff members are aware of the service category for their position and how they will be notified if the severe weather policy is activated. The three categories are:

• Essential Service: during severe weather/emergency conditions, essential service staff report or remain at work. Transportation service and childcare services may be provided for those required to work during severe weather/emergency conditions. 
• Reserve Service: during severe weather/emergency conditions, reserve service staff are assigned a status at the time of severe weather/emergency condition.
• Delayed Service: during severe weather/emergency conditions, delayed service staff do not report to work or remain at work.

More information about the policy, including a map of priorities for clearing roads, lots and sidewalks, checklists and answers to frequently asked questions, is available at the DukeALERT emergency website.

Thank you for your assistance in communicating with staff to help Duke maintain essential services and operations in the event of severe weather.