As forecasters continue to predict rough winter weather through the rest of the week, local municipalities are gearing to keep roadways clear and driving more safe.
“We’re hauling in about 75 tons of anti-skid,” said Tyrone Borough highway superintendent Vernon Latchford. “We have about 75 tons of salt here and we’ll mix that about 50-50 for on the roads. We’re ready for what is to come.”
According to Latchford, the precipitation that fell through Sunday night and into yesterday was quickly tended to by the road crews. He said the only problem occurred yesterday when a spinner fell off a truck.
“But that’s fixed now and we’re ready,” said Latchford. “All our roads are in good condition.”
Other community officials in the area echoed Latchford’s sentiments.
Joe Mengel, the highway superintendent for Snyder Township, said the roads in Snyder Township may not all be clear, but they are all driveable.
“We’re busy getting ready for what’s expected over the next couple of days,” said Mengel. “We want to make sure everything is operable and the salt is ready to go.”
Mengel said if the snow falls tonight as predicted, crews will be treating the roadways after the storm begins to let up. He said, however, that hills and turns would be salted throughout the storm.
In Antis Township, manager Jeff Ziegler said the roads are all clear and driveable.
Like Mengel, he said the township crews are busy preparing their five plow/spreaders for tonight’s weather event.
Bellwood Borough’s work crews were unavailable for comment this morning. Township secretary Susan Waite said crews reported in that all roads in the borough were driveable.
The roads in the area must be in pretty good shape. Bellwood-Antis and Tyrone Area school districts are in session today, unlike many others in the region.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists expect another storm will drop significant snow and ice on a wide area of the East on Tuesday into Wednesday, with the heaviest accumulations expected in the Northeast.
Accumulations of up to a foot of snow are possible across southern New England including the New York City metro area.
Elsewhere, several inches of snow are expected in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey on Tuesday into Tuesday night. The snow will fall on top of the significant accumulations of snow and ice that fell in the mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley Sunday into Monday.
“Any area receiving mixed precipitation should change to snow as the storm deepens on the mid-Atlantic coast,” said Joe Lundberg, AccuWeather.com expert senior meteorologist. “Some of the snow could be quite heavy Tuesday night.
“By and large, New England has escaped the heavy snow this month, but that should change starting tomorrow,” Lundberg added.
