SHELBY -As winter weather moves into
western North Carolina, N.C. Department of
Transportation crews are already working to keep roads safe for motorists
traveling through the region.
The
National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory until midnight
tonight for mountain counties along the Tennessee border. Additional mountain
counties could see snowfall this afternoon and tonight as the system moves
across the region.
As early
as yesterday, NCDOT crews throughout the mountains readied their equipment,
including snow plows and spreaders, to begin preparing for any adverse weather.
Because the precipitation was forecast to begin as rain, most counties chose
not to pre-treat roads with salt brine. Any moisture dilutes the solution and
washes it off the road.
Crews
are currently treating any problem areas on western North Carolina roads with
salt and sand, and will continue to monitor road conditions overnight.
Temperatures
are expected to fall into the low 20s this
evening and continue to drop overnight. This means there is a possibility for icy patches to develop along roads.
Motorists are asked to slow down and use caution when driving through the area.
NCDOT
has produced several videos explaining how maintenance crews prepare for winter
weather months in advance, how they determine when to use salt and sand, and
how they decide which roads to clear first. These videos and many others are
available on the NCDOT
YouTube page.
For
real-time travel information at any time, call 511, visit www.ncdot.gov/travel or follow NCDOT on
Twitter at www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter.
Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website.
To access it, type "m.ncdot.gov" into the
browser of your smartphone. Then, bookmark it to save for future reference.