Feb. 4—The snowplow operators at Buffalo Niagara International Airport were too busy Thursday to smirk, but they might have been amused at all those southern airfields idled by a storm sweeping across the country.

For the crew at Buffalo Niagara, the weather that wreaked havoc in other cities amounted to no big deal. Routine. Piece of cake.

Indeed, the airport's fleet of new and specialized snow-fighting vehicles seemed to be floating across the main runway early Thursday morning — plowing, brushing and air blasting practically every snowflake that dared to land. The troop of five vehicles attacking the heavy and wet accumulation almost resembled a ballet — stopping, starting and pirouetting along 8,829 feet of main runway and 7,161 feet of the "crosswind" lane.

"We call it the conga line," said Airfield Superintendent Joe Guarino, chief choreographer of the snow fighters traipsing down the main runway.

It all amounts to why airport snow teams from around the country have been known to flock to Buffalo in winter to learn from the best. Buffalo Niagara's airfield warriors, it seems, know how to put on a show. And it all seems to work.

"I often ask my crew: Is that runway safe for your kids to land?" Guarino asked Thursday while standing at the runway edge.

"If so, then let's do it," he added about signaling "all clear" for the next plane touching down.

Guarino has earned his snow-fighting stripes over 42 years, first at his native Boston's Logan International Airport, and for the past nine leading the 25-person crew at Buffalo Niagara.

"It gets in your blood — I think from inhaling jet fumes," he said.

Facilities not that far away — such as Baltimore-Washington International Airport — might deal with 25 inches of snow over a winter, he noted. His crew must often deal with 100 inches — some years more than more wintry places such as Anchorage, Alaska.

But Buffalo Niagara is also equipped with the latest equipment innovations, including new multitask vehicles that cost $870,000 each and combine three assignments into one — plowing, brushing and air blasting. With a one-vehicle pass that formerly required two or three, Guarino says crews accomplish the wintertime goal for runways set by the Federal Aviation Administration: "No worse than wet."

"They're Mercedes compared to Chevys," he said of the new equipment.

The job starts with 'what if?'

Thursday's efforts began with an early morning conference call featuring his office, the National Weather Service and the airlines serving Buffalo Niagara. From the start, stakeholders realized the Thursday weather would not match the ferocity of two January storms that dumped more snow in less time. On Jan. 17, he said, the airport remained open, while back on Jan. 6 it closed for only about an hour.

"Our longest shutdowns are only for about an hour or two," Guarino said. "Very rarely do we close for a long time. But if you can't see your hand in front of your face, that's the key."

While patrolling the airfield in his four-wheel drive vehicle, the airfield chief constantly checked in with the tower, crews behind the plows and weather trackers. While flights were routinely departing Buffalo on Thursday, air traffic remained relatively light because of cancellations in other cities "down the line."

National Weather Service predictions called for the storm's most intense period to occur between 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Guarino radioed his crews, adding it was expected to hang around all night long before turning into localized snows off Lake Erie.

Most important, the planning session also featured "table top exercises" to develop plans for any contingency.

"What if an aircraft has an emergency event? We talk through it," Guarino said. "That's what you do in this business — what if?"

'Lake effect. Always lake effect'

Out on the runway, the operations crew was implementing a plan of attack by very early Thursday morning. The lead plow assumed the point, with four more staggered across the runway at a width of about 100 feet — enough for an airline to safely land on the bare, grooved concrete.

In the meantime, the plows prepared for constant duty throughout the storm, requiring eight to 10 minutes for their five-abreast, staggered assault on the runway's length. When that turn was completed, they turned around and started again.

With the storm slated to taper off Friday morning, Guarino's crews and private contractors will then load the mountains of plowed snow into the airport's new melter, capable of turning frozen to liquid at a rate of 135 tons per hour.

It makes Guarino long for summer and the much tamer task of cutting grass across the facility's 1,000 acres. But the latest forecast called for possible lake-effect snow once the storm had passed.

"Lake effect. Always lake effect," he said. "Would that lake please freeze?"

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