As Snowstorm Begins, Crews Prepping For Battle With Mother Nature
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Friday, public safety leaders held a joint news conference to advise all of us to take the storm seriously, asking folks to postpone unnecessary travel to help motorists avoid becoming stranded.
"If you do have to venture out, make sure you're prepared for the trip. Make sure you have at least a half tank of fuel in your vehicle at all times, make sure you dress warm, have proper clothing with you while you're out driving," Lt. Robert Zak of the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Already slippery conditions are causing accidents. A school bus collided with a car in northeast Minneapolis, sending one to the hospital Friday morning. Fortunately, there were no kids on board.
Months before the latest flakes began falling, planning was well underway. Preparing the tools to take on the worst of Mother Nature.
"Ordering the salt, getting the salt, treating the salt with other chemicals so it's more effective," Doug Fischer, Anoka County highway engineer, said.
Fischer's fleet of people and plows are hard at it.
They've been pretreating the roads with brine, laying down a layer of salt to help prevent compacted snow and ice from building up.
But his biggest worry…
"Black ice, especially with these frigid temps that we're going to get right now. We may be melting the snow but it may refreeze, especially if we're getting those 20 below zero temps," Fischer said.
So crews are getting the fleet of trucks ready, filling tanks with the liquid salt that speeds up the battle. But the real key to fighting what's about to hit is understanding the enemy and changing the battle plan.
"We don't normally do this but we might eventually be adding a little bit of sand into our salt trucks just to give a little bit of grit in case we get the black ice," Fischer said.
All highway crews have gone to pre-wetting the roads 24 hours before storms. This helps prevent that compaction problem that leads to ice. It's especially important with the extremely cold temperatures that will soon follow.
"We have concerns about compaction on the roadways, the fact that when snow falls on the road, we can't get to it with the plows fast enough," MnDOT spokesperson Kevin Gutknecht said. "Cars will pack it down and that will freeze."
With the wind and cold, MnDOT expects it to be difficult to clear snow-packed roads.
Nearly 200 plows will hit the highways in the Twin Cities Friday evening. State and county highway crews across the state are well-prepared for what's ahead, splitting shifts to assure there's round-the-clock coverage.
Plow drivers say this will be complicated in that Saturday's high winds will be drifting roads shut, so they'll have to remain out all weekend to keep them opened. All they ask is that you give them the room they need to do the job.
And while this is an important final weekend for holiday shopping -- state leaders are urging drivers to exercise extreme caution.