Season's greetings and congrats to all of you who wished for a white Christmas! It appears your wishes are coming true!
Although it's looking like our snow totals could be lower than originally expected, those 3-4 inches of snow will be the light, powdery type that could create some really poor visibility conditions as the winds pick up towards Thursday evening and through Saturday. The temps will be dropping rapidly in the afternoon, creating the risk of flash freezing if pavement is wet.
Our trucks and drivers are ready for the task. For your safety and for theirs, here are some requests we have:
Please do not park your vehicles on or along the road if at all possible.Having the roads clear of parked vehicles allows us to do a better clearing of the snow and reduces the risk of damage to vehicles and pedestrians.
Please keep your garbage and recycling bins in your driveway and off the road. We've noticed that snow day coincides with garbage day more often than we would like. Keeping the garbage bins off the road reduces obstacles for us to avoid and allows the plow to clean closer to the edge of the road.
We are expecting times of low visibility due to blowing snow. For your safety and in consideration for the plow drivers, please avoid walking along or in the road when the visibility is obstructed. Snow plow drivers on residential routes have a lot going on. Maneuvering the truck, controlling the plow, monitoring proper salt distribution, avoiding cars, mailboxes and garbage cans while working mostly in the dark in the early morning hours or evening for hours at a time. If you must walk along the road during plowing operations, please wear brightly colored clothing, use a lit flashlight, and move out of the path of the plow driver. Don't assume they see you.
Driveway clearing tips-- with snow events of this size and duration, we normally make a quick initial round where we do one pass on either side of the centerline. We then come back a second time where we will do two passes to clear the entire width of the road (and culs-de-sac). If you wait until the second (or sometimes third) pass, you are less likely to have to shovel the end of your driveway twice. Another option is to remove snow from an area to the left of your drive (as you're looking out to the road). This creates a void that the snow from the plow will empty into, reducing the snow dump into your drive.
Be prepared for a rapid drop in temps tomorrow! Always travel with winter gear, food and water.
Happy holidays! ❄️
Alicia Dodd
Fremont Township Highway Commissioner
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