Clearopathra, Saltimus Prime among winners in ADOT’s Name-a-Snowplow contest

PHOENIX — The results are in, and they’re snow joke.

More than 10,000 voters weighed in on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s fourth annual Name-a-Snowplow contest, choosing four new monikers for plows stationed in Flagstaff: Clearopathra, Blizzard Wizard, Scoopy-Doo and Saltimus Prime.

The winners beat out eight other finalists and join a fleet of creatively named plows that includes Blizzard of Oz, Fast and Flurryous, Scoopacabra, Alice Scooper, Snowguaro and Sleetwood Mac.

The winning names have been applied to four snowplows at ADOT’s Flagstaff maintenance yard, where operators respond to winter weather on highways in Arizona’s high country.

ADOT launched the contest in late January, collecting about 2,300 name submissions before narrowing the field to 12 finalists for public voting.

Some names proved independently popular: 18 people submitted variations of Scoopy-Doo, nine entered Blizzard Wizard, eight suggested Clearopathra and two proposed Saltimus Prime.

The agency said the contest helps draw attention to the work snowplow operators do during winter storms. ADOT maintains 200 snowplows and employs 400 operators who work 12 hour shifts to clear ice and snow from highways in the high country.

The naming contest comes during a split personality snow season in northern Arizona.

Downtown Flagstaff recorded just 26.6 inches of snow since last July, about 42 inches below normal, according to the National Weather Service. At the Arizona Snowbowl in the San Francisco Peaks, higher elevations have fared far better: the ski resort reported surpassing 121 inches by mid-February, reaching the 100-inch mark weeks earlier than last season.

More winter driving tips are available at azdot.gov/KnowSnow.

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