Minnesota Department of Transportation prepares for winter snow
MINNEAPOLIS — On the second to last weekend before Christmas, a sloppy and slick storm will greet drivers in central and southern Minnesota.
Waiting for its arrival will be a fleet of orange defenses.
"In District 7, we've got 83 plow trucks and all of our plow trucks will be out," said Scott Morgan, the assistant district engineer for maintenance in the Minnesota Department of Transportation's District 7, covering Mankato and southwestern Minnesota.
His crews, as well as those around the metro, will start pretreating roads as night falls and into the morning. It's a tactic that is effective against snow, but that's not the only type of precipitation expected.
"If this is rain coming down, that will wash that pretreat material off the road," he said. "The temperatures being very close to freezing, we're going to see some areas that it's going to snow and some other places it'll probably rain."
That means the pretreatment might do its job well in one area, but not so much in others. The fact that the wintry mix starts at night only adds to the danger for drivers hitting the road in the wee hours of the morning.
As for the metro area, MnDOT said there's salt residue on the roads from applications earlier this week, meaning the highways are already pretreated. Drivers will see them as white spots on the roads. Plow drivers will still be out however, pretreating trouble spots like bridges, curves and ramps ahead of the storm.
No matter if it's snow, sleet or freezing rain, Morgan said drivers need to plan ahead, such as checking 511 for road conditions.
"Base your trip based on (511) conditions. If (the roads are) partially or fully covered with snow or ice, then leave a little earlier, give yourself a little bit of time to drive a little bit slower," he said.
Drive safely if you must or simply wait until late Saturday or Sunday when this tricky storm is in the rearview mirror.