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When snowflakes fly“I'd rather see a foot of snow than

that ice," says Virginia Department ofTransportation (VDOT) areaSuperintendent, Michael Clatterbuck."If it had been a degree or two coolerthat day we would have been hurt-ing."

He's still reeling from the effects ofan ice storm that happened wayback in the middle of December.Some north-facing, shaded gravelroads still had treacherous ice spotson them by the week after Christmas.

Clatterbuck is in charge of one ofOrange County's two VDOT areaheadquarters. When snowflakes fly,Clatterbuck's goal is to have everystate road in Orange County fromNasons to Eheart clear of snow andice within 48 hours. That is a whop-ping 405 lane miles of primary and

secondary road.His counterpart at the

Rhoadesville area HQ, WillieDodson, has thesame goal for roadsfrom Nasons to FlatRun. It is a monu-mental task, requir-ing the stockpiling ofabrasives, the check-ing and double-checking of equip-ment, and the driv-ing of practice runsdating back to latesummer.

Although we'veexperienced unsea-sonably mild tem-peratures over the past severalweeks, we would be fools to think

what is it about

breadand milkanyway?

the "Keep Back 100 Feet" signon the truck. "That sign meansa lot," he emphasizes. "We'rerunning 25-30 miles an hourand they (other drivers) getright up against you trying topass and you trying to getsnow off the road…it makes itbad."

VDOT spokesman, LouHatter, echoes that sentiment."Drivers in general, it's best notto pass a snowplow, unlessabsolutely necessary." Hepoints out that a snowplowdriver is a busy man. He isoperating a huge motor vehiclein bad weather and visibilityconditions, spreading salt andabrasives and plowing all atthe same time. He's also try-ing to avoid hitting mailboxes,parked or abandoned cars, andoncoming traffic. Don't givehim one more thing to worryabout.

"Ice is the most dangerousscenario for everybody, includ-ing our crews," emphasizesHatter. "Sleet and freezing rainare particularly dangerous."

So, when you come upbehind that snowplow, obeythe sign: stay back 100 feet.Don't pass him. Instead, pauseand consider the fact that thatguy has been out all night justto clear this road for you.

Winterdriving:

easydoes it

There are some commonsense winter weatherdriving tips that all

drivers should consider….thefirst being, if you don't haveto go out, don't. Stay athome. You'll be one lesspotential accident.

However, if you mustdrive in these conditions…

• consider putting snowtires, studded tires or chainson your car.

• make sure you have theusual emergency stuff inyour car (ice scraper, first aidkit, mobile phone, tow strap,jumper cables, shovel, flares,blanket, flashlight, a bag ofkitty litter for traction, nonperishable food and water).

• that you've checked allthe usual things (battery,antifreeze, at least half a tankof fuel, lower viscosity oil,hoses, belts, windshieldwipers, deicing fluid, lights,blinkers and flashers).

• that you clear and keepclear allwindowsand mirrorsAND theexhaust andradiatorgrill (yes, aradiator

clogged with snow cannotcool your engine, no matterhow cold it is outside).

• allow plenty of extratravel time…like double.

As far as driving is con-cerned, easy does it. Havinga manual transmission is anadvantage because you candownshift and use the engineto help with braking. Even ifyou have an automatic trans-mission, you can do the sameby starting out and staying ina lower gear.

Remember, bridges andoverpasses freeze firstbecause they don't have therelatively warm earth toinsulate them. And be mind-ful of where North is. North-facing roads, particularly onhills or in shade, receive littleto no direct sunlight in win-ter. They take a long time tomelt.

Do everything GENTLY.Accelerate gently. Apply thebrake gently. Transfer as lit-tle torque to the wheels aspossible. Don't spin yourtires; you're just digging ahole for yourself. If you getstuck, try gently rockingyour car back and forth. Ifthat doesn't work, you mayhave to get the shovel andkitty litter out. And aboveall, remember that just hav-ing four-wheel-drive won'tmake you stop faster!

Skidding: A car wants togo straight. If you skid, it'sbecause you tried to changeits direction too quickly.Straighten the skid out bysteering with it, not awayfrom it. For example, ifyou're going left, and theback end starts to lose it tothe right, hauling the steer-ing wheel to the left will onlymake matters worse.Straighten the car. It iscounter-intuitive, but steerwith the skid, not against it.Also, get all your brakingdone before you turn. Andabove all, SLOW DOWN.That's why you skidded inthe first place; you weregoing too fast.

And one more thing.Before the storm hits, if win-ter weather is inevitable,pray that it falls as snow, notice.

remember--just having four-wheel-drive

won't make you stop faster

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that winter is over. Storms will come. Andwhen low pressure forms in, say, Texas orMissouri and tracks up the west side of theBlue Ridge and Alleghenies, a collectivegroan will echo at these VDOT headquartersif the air close to the ground is below freez-ing.

Storms rotate counterclockwise.If they track west of us, the circula-tion is pulling in warm, moist airfrom the south. Because heat rises,this moisture overrides the thin layerof cold air at the surface and falls asrain…rain that freezes on con-tact…downing power lines, snap-ping tree branches and turning ourroads into skating rinks.

But when low pressure forms offthe east coast and tracks north alongthe coast, and if Canada sends us anarctic blast, batten down the hatch-es. The counterclockwise rotation pulls athick layer of cold air in from the north andAtlantic moisture from the east. It will fall assnow, lots of snow sometimes, but still prefer-able to ice.

Before those first flakes fly, VDOT is mak-ing last minute preparations, attaching plows,lowering the V-shaped sander/spreaders into

truck beds, loading salt and sand. The "employee" room at the Gordonsville

Area Headquarters features a massive tableheaped with dog-eared copies of hunting andfishing magazines. A commendation fromGovernor Gilmore hangs on the wall, prais-ing their efforts during the January 2000 bliz-

zard. The wall also features photographs ofdrivers posing in front of snowplows follow-ing their annual dry runs in August.

Before the storm hits, one can imagine theroad-clearing crews hanging out around thishuge table, warily watching Doppler radar onTV, draining and refilling the coffee pot in thecorner. Some men were sent home early…to

rest before going on their 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.shift. The 12-hour shifts will continue roundthe clock until it's all gone…except maybefor those pesky North-facing shady spots.

These men and women have someweapons at their disposal…in Gordonsville'scase, six trucks fitted with plows and spread-

ers, a motor-grader, and a huge front-end loader that does everything fromload chemicals and abrasives toclearing drift-choked roads andremoving ice-laden fallen trees.

After the first inch or so of snowaccumulates they'll roll out, spread-ing salt or sand or a combination.Gravel and sand do nothing to meltsnow, but provide traction. Saltmixes with snow to form brine, turn-ing the snow to slush, which canthen be easily pushed to the side ofthe road. But if it's cold, in the low

20s or less, the salt becomes ineffective. Allthey can do is mix in expensive liquid calci-um chloride and hope.

Ask a snowplow operator what's the onething the general driving public could do tomake his job easier, he will immediately say,"Use caution and STAY BACK." James Berryis a veteran snowplow driver. He points to

Visitors and settlers from northern climesare often bemused by what they consider ageneral state of panic that sets in aroundhere when a couple of inches of snow fall.Where they come from, if schools closedevery time snowflakes flew, no one wouldget an education. And what is it aboutbread and milk anyway?

But they need to realize that snow-clearingresources are limited here. With a 20.1- inchaverage annual snowfall, it's hard for VDOTto justify buying extra equipment that willjust sit idle nine months of the year.

VDOT spokesman, Lou Hatter explainsthat when snowflakes fly, road clearingcrews follow a priority, namely interstatesand primary roads first… any road with anumber less than 600…in Orange County,Routes 3, 20, 522, 15, 33, and 231.

Then they move to the secondaries, num-bered 600 and above. Other than that, there

is no favoritism as to which roads arecleared first. However, if you have a life-threatening emergency, call 911 and wordwill be passed on to VDOT to try to openyour road for emergency vehicles.

The decision to close schools lies solelywith the Superintendent of Schools, notVDOT. Dr. William Crawford says schoolemployees are out monitoring road condi-tions by 3:30 in the morning. The decision toclose or stay open is made by 5:30 a.m.Constantly monitoring real-time radar andsatellite feeds on weather.com, Crawfordadmits it can be a tough call.

For example, back in December, he luckedout by not closing schools the day of a loom-ing storm because he could see that it wasnot traveling as fast as originally predicted.Surrounding counties closed, but Orangestayed open and everyone made it homesafely. That's one less day that Orange will

have to make up.Then again, parents will sometimes call,

complaining that schools were closed eventhough their roads were clear. "We haveresponsibility for the WHOLE system,"explains Crawford, adding that the county is28 miles long with "vastly different condi-tions," from one end to the other.

If the decision is made to close, a tele-phone tree gears up. School employees callall area TV and radio stations with a specialschool closing code (sorry, kids, there's nopoint in calling a radio station and mimick-ing Doctor Crawford's voice; it won't work).

"Under development," in Orange Countyis a snow route system where buses willtravel down historically consistently clearedroads and pick up children at predeterminedintersections. It will be up to the parents todeliver the kids to those pick-up points. Noword yet on when that goes into effect.

VDOT crews are responsible for clearingall state roads, but not town streets; that's upto the towns of Gordonsville and Orange.Naturally towns do not have the sameresources that VDOT has. So be patient.And if at all possible, if you live in town or asubdivision with state-maintained roads, thenight before the storm hits, park your car offthe street.

As snowplows go by, there is the unfortu-nate side effect of driveways being blockedby mounds of pushed snow. This isinevitable. The best thing to do is to clearyour own entrance by shoveling snow to theright as you face the state road. That waywhen the plow goes by again, it won't pushthe snow you just shoveled right back intoyour driveway.

So, in answer to the question, 'when is thesnowplow coming?' the answer is, 'just assoon as he can.'

When is the

snowplowcoming?

Are schoolsclosed?

VDOT'sGordonsville

AreaHeadquarters

crews are readywhen snowflakes

fly. HereSuperintendant,

MichaelClatterbuck

(right) standsnext to a

plow/spreadertruck with driv-ers James Berry

(center) andKevin Hahn

(left).

Photo by Phil Audibert