Preparing for Saturn
When it comes to clearing snow, Rob Orsatti admits he’d rather handle 6 to 8 inches of the stuff at once than half an inch every so often.
Orsatti, assistant Washington County maintenance manager for the state Department of Transportation, admitted Tuesday he would take “a good plow event any day of the week” as opposed to just a dusting of snow.
“Those are the storms that just fatigue my guys,” he said of the mini snowfalls.
Washington Councilman Matt Staniszewski, in charge of the city’s street department, agreed.
“We refer to it as nuisance snow storms,” he said. “It wears down our staff and sucks up material.”
The men are likely to get their wish as a winter storm, which the Weather Channel is calling Saturn, moves into the area dumping snow from Illinois to Maine.
According to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, there will be three to five inches Tuesday night in Washington and Greene counties with an additional 1-3 inches of snow before noon today.
The temperature will reach the upper 30s and begin to warm thereafter, reaching a high Saturday of 49 degrees.
The snow is not going to stick around long.
Both Orsatti and Staniszewski said they were well-prepared for whatever this morning’s weather brings.
With 62 trucks, PennDOT has 100 percent of its county fleet ready to go, an ample supply of salt and around the clock road crews, said Orsatti.
He only asked that motorists slow down and give the road trucks some room to clear snow and salt roads.
PennDOT crews are also carrying chain saws should the heavy snow bring down tree limbs that need to be removed.
City street crews will be out lightly pretreating city roads with salt or other road traction material even before the snow hits, Staniszewski said.