With what’s forecast to be a long-duration storm, the Connecticut Department of Transportation says the key to attacking and staying on top of it is preparation. To that end, the DOT says it has salt and liquid magnesium chloride stockpiled at roughly 50 locations all around the state.
The plummeting temperatures take one task out of the DOT’s to-do list, though. Crews will not be pretreating roads. “When the temperatures are lower than 25 degrees, that makes using that salt water solution that we use for pretreatment problematic because it can freeze at those temperatures,” said Kevin Nursick, spokesman for the DOT.
The white haze evident on many state roads is residual salt from previous storms. This can aid crews in attacking the next storm. Nursick says it keeps the snow from bonding to the road surface.
Among those welcoming more white: Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort, which is back in business for the first time in seven years and using up to 1,200 gallons of water a minute to fill the hill.
“Just having white on the ground makes the atmosphere change. It is absolutely amazing. We’re looking forward to this weekend, said Sean Hayes, owner.
Six to 10 inches of snow, from this next storm, would bring Powder Ridge very close to being able to open all of its 20 runs.
“If we get a good solid week-and-a-half of cold weather to make snow, we can have the whole hill open,” said Hayes, who also owns and operates Brownstone Exploration and Discovery Park in Portland.