By Brian Trompeter
This winter, like several in recent years, could will be on the mild side, but the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has got tons of salt, sand, equipment and personnel to tackle any weather-related challenges that blow in.
“Winter comes at us in so many different ways, said Chris Strong of the National Weather Service’s Baltimore/Washington office, who spoke Nov. 15 at VDOT’s annual winter briefing, held at the agency’s Northern Virginia District facility in Fairfax.
VDOT prioritizes snow clearing the way doctors handle patients’ bleeding, with larger arteries (major roads and highways) taking precedence over smaller veins (i.e., connector streets), said Lauren Mollerup, district maintenance engineer.
VDOT’s snowplowing operations have access to about 3,500 pieces of equipment, the vast majority of which are contracted out.
“We heavily rely on contractors to get the job done,” Mollerup said.
The transportation agency, which has finite resources, usually does not plow sidewalks and shared-use paths, she said.
A projected storm’s severity determines how extensively VDOT will mobilize. Officials label storms according to a range from Level 1 (minor) to Level 5, where forecasters expect at least 6 inches of snow.
While major storms typically have plenty of forewarning, smaller storms can crop up with little lead time, Strong said. A minor amount of snow, coupled with subfreezing road temperatures and occurring smack in the middle of urban rush-hour traffic can result a commuting disaster, he said.
National Weather Service officials during such events issue “snow squall” warnings across the emergency network, with the intent of reaching motorists in their vehicles, he said.
The National Weather Service also is introducing two new data factors this winter – peak snow rates and wet/dry snow information – to help the transportation sector target its resources, Strong said.
VDOT has 120,000 tons of salt, 25,000 tons of sand and 250,000 gallons of brine available this winter. VDOT officials try to decide three days in advance of a storm whether to pre-treat roadways with a brine mixture, Mollerup said. Brine typically helps during a storm’s first hour by reducing how much snow bonds with asphalt and concrete surfaces, but may be diluted or washed away if weather conditions are wet ahead of the storm, she said.
VDOT is aware of the impact salt can have in waterways and since January 2018 has taken part in the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Salt Management Strategy, Mollerup said.
VDOT’s Northern Virginia District – consisting of Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Arlington counties – is home to about 2.5 million people. (Arlington maintains its own road network, but VDOT still oversees some roads there.)
VDOT’s 900 district employees oversee 14,238 lane miles worth of road, including 851 on interstates, 1,725 on primary roads, 11,589 on secondary streets, 282 on unpaved roadways and 72 on property frontage. Subdivisions add another 17,372 lane miles. The agency also is responsible for 2,174 bridges and large culverts, 1,520 traffic signals and 24 commuter parking lots.
Warmer Winter Expected, But More Precipitation: This year’s winter temperatures across the local region likely will be warmer than average and have higher-than-normal precipitation, thanks to a strong El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, with weakened trade winds pushing warm water toward the West Coast.
That’s according to the most recent (Nov. 16) forecast of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service. Its prognosticators say there is a “modest chance” higher than average precipitation, and a more likely chance that temperatures will be warmer than average.
At a Nov. 15 briefing by the Virginia Department of Transportation, looking at preparations for the upcoming winter season, officials gave information on “normal” winter temperatures and snow accumulations, based on averages from recordings made from 1991 through 2020 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.
The statistics show Dulles typically had daytime temperatures 2 degrees cooler than those recorded at National, but nighttime temperatures that were about 5 degrees colder. Dulles also typically received about one-third more snow than National, which is located near the Washington metropolitan area’s central core.
In December, National Airport’s average high/low temperatures were 49/35 degrees Fahrenheit and 1.7 inches of snow; at Dulles Airport, those figures were 47/29 degrees and 2.8 inches of snow.
The average January had high/low temperatures of 45/30 degrees at National and 43/25 at Dulles, with the airports receiving 4.9 and 6.9 inches of snow, respectively. February typically featured high/low temperatures of 48/32 degrees at National and 46/27 at Dulles, with 5 and 7 inches of snow at the respective airports.
In March, typically – but not always – the last month of wintry weather, has featured average high/low temperatures of 57/39 at National and 55/34 at Dulles, with 2 and 3.9 inches of snow, respectively, at the airports.
But things appear to be getting warmer. The 2019/20 winter was among the Top 10 warmest winters, the 2020/21 winter was near normal, 2021/22 more mild and winter 2022/23 the third-warmest on record, despite bitterly cold temperatures around Christmas. One light dusting of snow kept the region from having its first recorded snowless winter, Strong said.
From 1900 to 2000, only about half of winters in the Washington region featured total snowfalls in the single digits, but since then only a quarter of winters have fallen into that category, he said. But Strong cautioned that major snow events sometimes still occur, as in the winter of 2009/10, when three major blizzards blanketed the region.
To learn the latest news on road conditions and see traffic-camera video, visit 511virginia.org. To find the location of various snowplows after 2 inches of snow has accumulated, go to vdotplows.org. For a one-stop Website with all resources in one place, go to virginiadot.org/novaemergency.
