Crews salt; ice skips
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 14, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
School buses depart from the Wayne County Public Schools lot on Royall Avenue this morning after the threat of freezing rain forced officials to delay the beginning of the school day by two hours. Precautions were taken, but Wayne County avoided the dangerous weather that often makes icy roads difficult for motorists to navigate.
State road crews dumped 50 tons of salt on Wayne County's bridges and overpasses overnight and into this morning as the area braced for the possibility of freezing rain.
"I think we dodged it," Luther Thompson, Wayne County Department of Transportation maintenance supervisor, said this morning.
The threat prompted some school systems to cancel classes for the day, while others, including Wayne County, delayed opening by two hours. Also, district and superior courts were canceled for the day in Wayne County.
County and Goldsboro government offices were operating on a normal schedule today.
Thompson was traveling the roads early this morning checking for ice including I-795 all the way to the Wilson County line.
The only sign was a patch of pine trees near Fremont that appeared to have a light glaze of ice, he said.
"We had crews out all night," Thompson said. "We pre-treated and then treated all of the bridges and overpasses and then went back before rush hour this morning.
"Overall it looks good. Traffic was moving, and drivers seemed to be cautious. It was more rain (last night) so we had to hit it with pure salt. We used 50 tons of salt on all of the bridges and overpasses. This morning we are using some brine with the salt."
Crews remained out this morning to "double-check" bridges and overpasses for any signs of icing, he said. But as of press time none had been reported.
A winter weather advisory remained in effect until noon today for the central and northwestern parts of the state because of the threat of freezing drizzle and black ice.
However, the advisory was expected to be have been lifted for Wayne and some surrounding counties by mid-morning, said Brandon Locklear, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.
The Triangle north and then northwest toward the Triad had less rainfall than the Wayne County area, but because of colder temperatures did have trace amounts of ice, Locklear said.
Wayne County was spared the forecasted freezing rain because the overnight temperature was "sitting around" 32 degrees, Locklear said.
"(The threat) is over," he said. "You don't get any accrual on road surfaces until you get to 29 or 30 degrees," he said.
Today's high is expected to reach 36 degrees and fall to 29 overnight.
Temperatures will moderate into the upper 40s on Thursday, reaching into to the mid to upper 50s over the weekend.
There is a slight chance of rain Thursday night.