(October 28, 2011) – Just as area families carve pumpkins and rake leaves, Mother Nature surprises everyone with a Trick or Treat snow storm. Despite the cold air temperatures, pavements remain warm and the predicted snowfall is not expected to stick to roads. Just to make sure we aren’t treated to a trick, the State Highway Administration (SHA) is prepared. Today, SHA crews are clearing drains, loading trucks with salt and attaching plows to trucks for possible accumulation.
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“SHA has learned some valuable lessons from previous early season storms – so please take this seriously and be careful,” said Acting SHA Administrator/Deputy Transportation Secretary Darrell Mobley. “Heavy wet snow combined with leaves on trees can weigh down and break branches causing road hazards and downed wires. Additionally, light snow on leaves creates slick conditions, so please slow down and stay alert.”
Just as SHA moves up preparations for winter, drivers should take the nudge to do so as well. SHA advises Marylanders to start working on “winter survival kits” before supplies are in demand. Things to do sooner rather than later include:
- Check tire pressure - Don’t Just Set It...And Then Forget It. -- Now is the time to check tire inflation pressures because air contracts as temperatures get colder. For every 10 degrees Fahrenheit change in outside temperature, tire inflation pressure changes about one psi.
- Check car fluids
- Keep an extra mobile phone charger and/or charged extra batteries in the vehicle
- Stock a flash light and extra batteries
- Keep a bag of road salt, sand and/or cat litter in the trunk
- Keep jumper cables handy
- Put a small shovel in the vehicle
- Have a basic tool kit and flares/road reflectors
A new FREE service this year is the “511 Traveler Information” system. To Know Before You Go! simply dial 511 from a land line or mobile phone for traffic, weather alerts and road conditions. For internet access, visit
www.MD511.org. While there, register with My511 to customize your reports on your most frequent routes and areas of interest.
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