The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is spreading salt on roads and highways as a mix of snow, sleet and rain fall throughout the region.
KYTC spokesperson Keith Todd said his biggest concern is ice, since it takes more salt for it to melt.
“It’s supposed to get down to the mid twenties overnight tonight, so that is a concern,” he said. “So we would urge everybody to get home, find a warm place and sort of hunker down for the nighttime hours. It’s gonna be really difficult with ice out there for our crews to greatly improve driving conditions probably until it warms up sometime tomorrow morning.”
Ice isn’t the only problem for KYTC workers. Temperatures below 18, which are predicted for tomorrow and Thursday night, affect the salt solution’s efficiency. Once temperatures drop that low Todd said there’s not much KYTC can do.
“Once you drop below 18 the impact just slows down to where we just get very little help from those once it gets that cold,” he said. “So we’ll be doing everything we can particularly during the day tomorrow when it’s up to 32 to try to get as much done as possible.”
In Kentucky’s westernmost counties, Todd has gotten reports that the sleet has transitioned to rain as the freezing line moves north. He also said in many areas the roads are covered in slush because pavement temperatures were high enough to melt down the sleet and freezing rain.
