Snow might be a blessing for skiers and snowboarders, but for Penn State students, it usually means a treacherous walk to class.

"I saw a girl take a nasty spill this morning on Shortlidge," Mike Berda (junior-marketing) said Tuesday. "It's pretty icy out."

The ground has been covered with a thin layer of ice since last week, and conditions worsened early this week after a three-pronged storm dumped 9.5 inches of snow on State College, said Campus Weather Service member Matt Keefe (junior-meteorology).

But Office of Physical Plant (OPP) crews are used to this situation and prepared to take care of it, OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said.

Although this winter already seems to be one of the worst Happy Valley has experienced in recent years, "we are in good shape to handle the rest of the winter season," he said.

At any given time during the winter, OPP stores about 100 tons of salt and 40 tons of gravel-and-salt-based anti-skid material, he said.

"We have more than enough to get through a major storm or two," he said. "When we know of a situation, we respond quickly."

But he warned that a few inches of snow are far less dangerous than the layer of ice that lies beneath it in many places.

Fluctuating temperatures throughout the day are to blame for these particularly precarious conditions, he said.

As the temperature climbs above the freezing point during the day and then dips back below at night, "there is melting and re-freezing in spots," turning powdery snow piles into slippery ice patches, he said.

"No matter where you walk, unless you make a point to watch the ground for ice, you slip at least twice per walk between classes," Cedric Yoedt (junior-computer engineering) said.

Although statistics on weather-related injuries were not available from either University Health Services (UHS) or Mount Nittany Medical Center, UHS marketing manager Ellen Nagy said she knew of at least one particular case in which a male student was treated for an injured shoulder after slipping on some ice.

Ruskin said there is not much that can be done to prevent ice accumulation this time of year.

"This is January. You have to stay alert for ice, because it is out there," he said.

While OPP crews will continue to put salt on walkways and roads, Ruskin said this does not completely fix the situation.

"One problem is when the temperature drops below 22 degrees Fahrenheit, the salt becomes less effective and loses its potency to melt the ice," he said, adding that this has often been the situation so far this winter because the temperatures have been below normal.

But he said OPP has not received many complaints this semester about snow and ice removal.

"They are doing an OK job," Alejandro Ardiles (sophomore-finance) said. "It's not the greatest, but at least the main walkways have no snow."

Berda said he thinks OPP has done a better job in the past.

"I think they are trying to wait for it to stop snowing," he said as snow flurries fell. "They should be clearing it away now."