SALEM, Va. – Preparations are underway for the wintry weather forecasted for Wednesday into Thursday.
Transportation and power officials are putting crews into position to respond to icy conditions.
VDOT
Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Jason Bond said Tuesday that the department can’t put down a salt solution if rain is involved, and rain is in the forecast, according to Storm Team 10.
“Ice is not something that you can do much preparation for. We’re not going to be able to brine or pretreat if the event starts out as mostly rain and transitions to freezing rain or wintry mix,” Bond said. “It’ll just wash that saltwater solution off the roadways.”
Crews will continue to monitor the forecast to see if they end up being able to pretreat roads.
As Storm Team 10 has been forecasting, secondary roads -- particularly shaded areas -- could have a risk of icy conditions. Bond warns of elevated areas.
“The big concern with this storm is particularly those bridges and overpasses,” he said.
We don’t know exactly what the pavement temperatures will be. Storm Team 10 said pavement should be warmer than it would be during a February snowstorm, but it won’t be outright warm. Plus, we’re not forecasted for a whole lot of sunshine between Tuesday night and Wednesday night.
AEP
Appalachian Power spokeswoman Teresa Hamilton Hall said the power company is preparing to respond to problems.
Employees are on alert status, and the company plans on positioning extra contract workers in the New River Valley, moving them from areas in West Virginia and Tennessee that are not expected to have icy conditions.
“This is a typical response, and we are expecting that we could have outages,” Hall said.
She said the company could still decide Wednesday to add resources to more areas.