WASHINGTON — State highway officials and road-watchers in the WTOP Traffic Center agree: The D.C. area’s roads are only going to get worse later in the day as the snow turns to freezing rain and ice in the late afternoon.
They’re unanimous in saying that if you can stay home, do it. If you have to go out, slow down.
The snowfall that made the roads a mess early Monday morning took a short break but came back with a vengeance to the D.C. area at about 9 a.m. The snow will continue off and on through the afternoon, while freezing rain will start around 6 p.m. and is expected to dump a quarter-inch of ice on top of that.
If you can avoid going out, you should, says Reada Kessler in the WTOP Traffic Center, and if you really have to, “please do not overdrive the conditions. … Leave enough space between you and the car in front of you.”
Not everyone is heeding that advice: The Virginia State Police say that as of 8:30 a.m., they’re on the scene of 62 crashes statewide, including 32 in the Prince William/ Loudoun/Arlington/Alexandria/Fairfax area, and a fatal crash in Fauquier County.
Drivers also need to slow down and stay behind snowplow trains that will be taking up roadways through the morning: “You need to pack your patience and let them get their jobs done,” Kessler says.
“Conditions vary not only from county to county, but from street to street,” WTOP’s Kathy Stewart says from Woodbridge, Virginia, adding that “there is black ice out here.”
Catching ride behind snow plow on Pohick Rd in Springfield. Snow plow uncovers a sheet of ice underneath. @wtop pic.twitter.com/LqK5WHykjg
— Kathy Stewart (@KStewartWTOP) February 15, 2016
CHARLIE GISCHLAR, with the Maryland State Highway Administration, tells WTOP that the “bursts of snow” his crews have been experiencing are covering the roads as fast as they can clear them.
“It takes our people about an hour to do their route, so by the time they come back, it might appear snow-covered again, but we have been out there and we will treat,” Gischlar says. “People are saying, ‘You having touched our roads yet.’ … With these bursts of snow, it covers back up again.”
With morning temperatures hovering right around 20 degrees, it’s right at the edge of where salt is effective, Gischlar says.
And given the freezing rain that’s on the way, “getting home this afternoon could be a bit of a mess,” he says. “Take your foot off the gas, and plan a lot of extra time into your commute. … If you’ve gotta drive, plant yourself behind a snowplow.”
VDOT’s JENNIFER McCORD says the real danger could come in the afternoon: People returning from work or a long weekend trip on Monday afternoon and evening could face “a very difficult scenario” as the freezing rain and ice moves in.
McCord warns that drivers could face “a wide variety of conditions,” adding that “Something that you had this morning could be completely different this afternoon.”
Ellen Kamilakis, also of VDOT, agrees that the snow “is absolutely not over,” but her biggest concern is the afternoon, when the freezing rain begins. With pavement temperatures down around 20, “everything is freezing that’s hitting the ground.” About 2,800 trucks are plowing and “putting down a hot mix,” she says, but it’s “a continuous operation for us … over and over and over.”
People who really need to get somewhere on the roads Tuesday afternoon should “leave earlier and get everything done as soon as they can to just be off the roads before the ice starts coming down.”
Tuesday morning doesn’t look much better, Kamilakis says: “It’s going to be slippery, and we tell people, anything that looks wet, assume it’s icy.” She advises to allow more than twice the usual time to get anywhere.
And again, she says: “If you can stay home, that would be great.”
If you can’t, the Virginia State Police have a list of tips:
- Clear off all snow from your vehicle – windows, roof, trunk and lights
- Add extra time to reach travel destination
- Slow speed for road conditions
- Increase driving distances between vehicles for increased stopping distance
- Buckle up and don’t drive distracted
- Move over for all stopped emergency vehicles, highway vehicles and tow trucks.
They also say that you should call 511 for road conditions, not 911 or *77.
Kamilakis adds, “Make sure you have enough windshield-wiper fluid. We’re seeing people pulled over, trying to clean off their windshields, and that’s really not a good situation to be in, especially on the interstate.”
And in the category of “things that you’d think would go without saying,” Kamilakis says, “PLEASE turn on your headlights.”
