News Blog: Introducing five more snowplow names

(Feb. 9, 2026) With a mix of local heroes, catchy slogans, and pop culture icons, the 2025-26 Snowplow Naming Contest winners do not disappoint! The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is excited to announce this year's five winners. Nearly 6,000 people participated in the ranked-choice voting portion of the contest that took place between Jan. 14 and Jan. 25. Then the results were tallied to reveal the five winning snowplow names!

And the winners are....

• Keep Portland Cleared submitted by Jonah Edwards
• Mississlippy submitted by Chris Kiley
• Damian Blizzard submitted by Joel Feik
• A Sleetcar Named Deicer submitted by Dan King
• Pink Pony Plow submitted by Cary Morrison

There was most likely more than one submission for each of these names. Shoutout to everyone who submitted one of the winning names, but we're honoring the person who submitted the name first.

Ten out of 56 snowplows

With the culmination of this year's contest, we have named ten out of our fleet of 56 snowplows. Thank you to everyone who participated in Portland's second annual Snowplow Naming Contest! We hope more Portlanders know (and tell everyone they know) that Portland has 56 snowplows ready to respond to winter weather!

Five more iconic names

Five PBOT snowplow drivers from the Maintenance Operations Division (with the help of some familiar faces) helped reveal the five new snowplow names. You'll also find the reveal on our social media channels: Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and X.

When PBOT responds to snow and ice, crews are in 24-hour emergency response operations, working 12-hour shifts. But for the rest of the year, snowplow drivers work a variety of jobs: maintaining gravel streets, paving roads, filling potholes, and more!

Helping out with this year's announcement are:

• Heidi Kleder, Utility Worker ll, works on the base repair team as lead traffic control support. Heidi also assists with gravel streets.
• Cory Foulke, Automotive Equipment Operator l, works on gravel streets during the fall and winter. During the spring and summer he assists with the grind and pave crew. Cory also assists with base repair and building ADA-compliant curb ramps.
• Shane Petesz, Utility Worker ll, works on gravel streets in the fall and winter. Shane also assists with base repair and building ADA-compliant curb ramps. Shane is PBOT's saw cutting trainer and upgrade crew lead.
• Sei Brown, Crew Leader, works on potholes during the fall, winter, and spring. During the summer he leads crack seal crews.
• Francis Sabbah, Utility Worker ll, work on utility cuts repair. Francis also supports the pothole and base repair crews in the summertime.

PBOT City Elections Division

Thanks to support from the team at City Elections, Portlanders had the chance to practice ranked-choice voting to choose their favorite snowplow names.

Housed in the Portland City Auditor's Office, the Elections Division is responsible for city candidates and Portland voters. Make sure you are ready for our next ranked-choice election by going to https://www.portland.gov/vote.

Stay tuned, in the next week we'll be releasing a video that explains more about how this year's snowplow names were chosen.

Prepare for winter weather now

It may be an unseasonably warm winter, but PBOT still encourages Portlanders to prepare now snow and ice -- it's never too early to prepare. Make sure to have a snow shovel, ice melt, and traction devices for your vehicle and feet! Find more preparedness tips and resources at Portland.gov/winter.

PBOT is the lead agency for the city's winter weather response. Stay up to date on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and Xwhere you'll find us @PBOTinfo and sign up for email and text Winter Weather updates.

During winter weather, PBOT works to keep vital public transit lines and emergency routes open. These snow and ice routes are the most critical for our city's police and fire stations, hospitals, schools, frequent bus routes, the downtown core, and major business districts.

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Stay tuned for when we reveal these five names on PBOT snowplows in October 2026. Check out our Winter Weather Center for an interactive map of our snow and ice routes and you might even spot one of the five newly-named snowplows driving around the map!