Winter Storm Warning
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Green and Lafayette counties through 3 p.m. Wednesday. Snow is expected to begin around 6 p.m. and be heavy at times, accumulating between 7 and 10 inches by mid-day Wednesday. In addition to the snow, strong northeast winds will create blowing and drifting.
MONROE - A snowstorm is expected to dump 7 to 10 inches of snow across southern Wisconsin this evening and Wednesday morning.
That may cause angst among drivers, but for highway commissioners and street department supervisors, it's old hat.
"We've been facing these situations since Thanksgiving," Lafayette County Highway Commissioner Tom Jean said. "We're going to do the same routine we've done for 10 weeks now."
Jean said about 20 snowplows will hit the roads this evening and work through the morning, first plowing the roads clear and then dropping a salt/limestone chip mixture on the roads.
In Lafayette County's five state highway sections, the mix will be 50 percent salt, 50 percent limestone. In the county's other sections, the mix will be 20 percent salt and 80 percent limestone.
Green County Highway Commissioner Dallas Cecil said the county's 22 plows probably will do a first round of plowing between 6 and 8 p.m., when heavy snow is expected to start falling.
Plows then will come off the road until 4 a.m. Wednesday. Like Lafayette County, Green County uses a salt/limestone mixture.
In Monroe, Street and Sanitation Supervisor Tom Boll said the city is preparing for the storm by making sure the plows are operational, fixing potholes, removing water from low-lying areas and hauling snow out of cul-de-sacs to make room for new piles.
Boll said the city's entire fleet will be out, including 10 dump trucks with plows and sanders, two end loaders and two skid loaders. He said due to the timing of the storm, the man hours needed to battle the weather probably will be overtime.
While the city and counties have been battling the white stuff for more than two months, supervisors aren't sick of winter quite yet.
"That's what we're here for," Jean said. "It gets to be a little trying, and everybody has put in some long hours in our job, but we have to make sure roads are safe for the traveling public. That's our job."
Boll estimates the area has seen more than 40 inches of snow so far this season, much higher than last season's total and above the average of about 35 inches of a typical winter.
"We take it one snow at a time," Cecil said.
Lafayette County is in the worst shape as far as salt/chip mixture remaining. Jean said the county orders 3,500 to 4,500 tons of salt a season. The worst-case scenario Jean had seen for salt use before this season was 4,000 tons. This year, Jean said the county has used 6,000 tons or more.
Cecil said Green County has used about 4,000 tons of salt so far on county roads, "much more than what is normal." That leaves about 4,000 tons for the rest of winter.
"We're still guarding it," Cecil said. "If it turns back to a normal winter, we'll be OK. Hopefully it will get us through."
Boll said the city has used about 900 tons of salt, with about 500 tons remaining.
"We're keeping an eye on it and we're not overusing it," Boll said. "There's no way we're going to use just salt all the way through."
Several inches of snow fell in central and northern Wisconsin Monday and caused some high school basketball and hockey games to be canceled along with other events. A gymnastics meet at Mosinee was among the sports events called off because of the weather.
That may cause angst among drivers, but for highway commissioners and street department supervisors, it's old hat.
"We've been facing these situations since Thanksgiving," Lafayette County Highway Commissioner Tom Jean said. "We're going to do the same routine we've done for 10 weeks now."
Jean said about 20 snowplows will hit the roads this evening and work through the morning, first plowing the roads clear and then dropping a salt/limestone chip mixture on the roads.
In Lafayette County's five state highway sections, the mix will be 50 percent salt, 50 percent limestone. In the county's other sections, the mix will be 20 percent salt and 80 percent limestone.
Green County Highway Commissioner Dallas Cecil said the county's 22 plows probably will do a first round of plowing between 6 and 8 p.m., when heavy snow is expected to start falling.
Plows then will come off the road until 4 a.m. Wednesday. Like Lafayette County, Green County uses a salt/limestone mixture.
In Monroe, Street and Sanitation Supervisor Tom Boll said the city is preparing for the storm by making sure the plows are operational, fixing potholes, removing water from low-lying areas and hauling snow out of cul-de-sacs to make room for new piles.
Boll said the city's entire fleet will be out, including 10 dump trucks with plows and sanders, two end loaders and two skid loaders. He said due to the timing of the storm, the man hours needed to battle the weather probably will be overtime.
While the city and counties have been battling the white stuff for more than two months, supervisors aren't sick of winter quite yet.
"That's what we're here for," Jean said. "It gets to be a little trying, and everybody has put in some long hours in our job, but we have to make sure roads are safe for the traveling public. That's our job."
Boll estimates the area has seen more than 40 inches of snow so far this season, much higher than last season's total and above the average of about 35 inches of a typical winter.
"We take it one snow at a time," Cecil said.
Lafayette County is in the worst shape as far as salt/chip mixture remaining. Jean said the county orders 3,500 to 4,500 tons of salt a season. The worst-case scenario Jean had seen for salt use before this season was 4,000 tons. This year, Jean said the county has used 6,000 tons or more.
Cecil said Green County has used about 4,000 tons of salt so far on county roads, "much more than what is normal." That leaves about 4,000 tons for the rest of winter.
"We're still guarding it," Cecil said. "If it turns back to a normal winter, we'll be OK. Hopefully it will get us through."
Boll said the city has used about 900 tons of salt, with about 500 tons remaining.
"We're keeping an eye on it and we're not overusing it," Boll said. "There's no way we're going to use just salt all the way through."
Several inches of snow fell in central and northern Wisconsin Monday and caused some high school basketball and hockey games to be canceled along with other events. A gymnastics meet at Mosinee was among the sports events called off because of the weather.