Even though there's only been a few snow flurries in November and most of December, Omaha Street Maintenance Engineer Austin Rowser keeps a close eye on the weather forecast. Each storm requires advance planning to make road treatment and snow removal go smoothly.
"Probably the most important things for us to plan an operation is timing and temperatures,” Rowser said. “And we look at pavement temperatures. Air temperatures are important, but the pavement temperatures is what is critical to us.”
We haven’t had to use our snow shovels yet this year. In fact, they're collecting more dust than snow. And salting the sidewalks? You can forget about that.
And as far as the streets go, we still haven't had to treat them either. But that doesn't mean the city's not prepared.
"Every storm is a little bit different. The planning for each storm is a little bit different,” Rowser said. “We gotta look at other factors, social factors around the weather. Like is it rush hour, is it the weekend, or is it a holiday?"
While the rest of us enjoy the warmest months of the year, the street maintenance crew is planning for the winter.
"For snow operations, (it) is really all of the months that nobody else is thinking about snow,” Rowser said. “We plan really May through August."
When the weather changes, temperatures drop, and the snow and ice arrive, all of that planning gets put to good use.
"When we start seeing temperatures below 15 degrees, it affects what material we use, how we use the material,” Rowser said, “so we're looking at it before, during, and after the storm."
But no matter how well-prepared sometimes even the best made plans go awry, which is something we all can understand.
"As you know, the forecast can significantly change in 30 hours leading up to the start of an event,” Rowser said. “So there's a little bit of a risk that's involved as far as are we gonna waste some material. We're always gonna err on the side of safety in those events."
Thankfully, the plan goes smoothly most of the time and the street maintenance crews are able to cover the 5,000 lane miles of roadway around Omaha in an efficient manner.
And while the snow plows haven't been out in full force yet, their time will come eventually. So stay up to date on all of the latest forecasts and when we'll see snow with the 3 News Now weather alert team.
