(WXYZ) — Wednesday night's winter storm is expected to bring dangerously icy conditions.
“You never know what’s going to happen with the weather and what’s going to happen with the icy roads,” said Laurel Schwartz of West Bloomfield.
I caught up with some metro Detroiters on Wednesday to see how they are preparing for the upcoming winter storm that is set to bring icy conditions.
“I watch my favorite weather on channel 7,” said Schwartz. “I look at the weather the night before, and, obviously, tonight’s going to be bad after 12 o’clock, so I’m not sure I will be going to school myself.
“Just take it slow, get out a little bit early, make sure you get ahead of traffic,” said Jon Graham of Garden City.
“I make sure I have air in my tires, gas in my car, and a warm coat,” said Robbin Ferguson of Detroit.
I also checked in with officials from Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties to see how they are prepping for the upcoming storm.
“Each storm is a little bit different, each event is a little bit different. Can’t treat each one the same way twice,” said Scott Cabauatan, Deputy Director of Public Services at Wayne County.
He says crews plan to pre-treat the roads right before the storm comes. Cabauatan added that timing is everything when it comes to prepping the roads.
“Once rush hour is over, we will be applying some rock salt to the roadways, but we want to make sure the time period in which we do it, we’re not doing it too early where it wears off the roads and bounces off the roads with all the traffic and high speed,” said Cabauatan.
Over in Oakland County, officials from the road commission said they will also be pre-treating the roads, primarily ramps and overpasses, in the afternoon.
In Macomb County, I’m told the road crews there will start patrolling and treating the roads around midnight.
Back to Scott Cabauatan, he recommends people staying off the roads when they’re icy, but if you do have to go out:
“Give yourself extra time, give yourself extra space; stopping distances dramatically increase when we have events like this; look out for black ice; if the road is shiny and it’s not wet, you’re probably on black ice,” he said.
