The National Weather Service of the Quad Cities has issued out winter-storm warnings for the area, noting six to eight inches of snow could potentially be on the way.
NWS meteorologist Brian Pierce says the snow’s most likely going to be of a specific type.
“The snow is going to be of the general dry, fluffy types that will easily drift around in the winds, especially in rural and open areas. We are probably going to double, or close to triple, the amount of snow we've had for the entire winter so far,” Pierce said.
Pierce also said the heaviest snow’s likely to come down between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 12) and that drivers’ evening commutes could face the worst of the storm’s potential significance.
Bettendorf Public Works Director Brian Schmidt says the city has already begun prepping its streets for the snowfall.
“One of the good things about the event that they're predicting is that it's going to be a light, fluffier snow. Obviously, our strategies are going to be a little bit different than if it was a heavier, wet snow, because that puts so much stress on our vehicles,” Schmidt said. “So there's going to be a lot of just pushing the snow early on in the event before we actually start putting down salt products behind our vehicles.”
East Moline’s Director of Maintenance Services Jim Graham reminds the community to stay off the roads whenever possible and to park cars off the streets to open space for snowplows to operate.
According to Davenport’s Public Works Director Nicole Gleason, the city’s been pre-treating its roads by sprinkling down brine, and a snow emergency’s been declared. Plow drivers are working on flip-flopped 12-hour shifts.
“We do post frequent updates on our Facebook page and on our city website. So as we switch from plowing main routes to residential routes, we will update that information, so the most up-to-date information can be found on the website,” Gleason said. “Additionally, residents can sign up for text alerts where they would be notified at times we declare a snow emergency. So those residents who have already signed up should have received a text a couple hours ago indicating that there is a snow emergency coming.”
Moline’s Director of Public Works Denver Schmitt says the city’s hills are the most tricky to tend to. He says the city will still be able to clear them by getting multiple snow-plow drivers out at once, meaning roads will get consistent salt treatments; he advises residents not to shovel snow onto the street after shoveling their driveways, and to be mindful of children who might try to play in it.
“I think our first priority is to make sure the roads are safe for emergency responders to get through our roadways, and then in Moline we also have hills, as well, that we need to maintain to make sure they're not too slick for motorists, as well,” Schmitt said. “So we're kind of hitting a number of different areas first, but obviously the main focus is making sure the emergency responders can get through town.”
Rock Island’s Public Works Director Mike Bartels says steeper streets, like 38th by Augustana College, might be attended to with salt first, since they pose the most difficulty to plows driving over them. He says plows might accidentally launch some amounts of snow onto people’s driveways, due to what’s expected, but not intentionally.
“It's a harder event to respond to, but this event should be pretty straightforward, even given the amount of snow we're going to have. A lot of our drivers have dealt with snows of this magnitude and a lot bigger storms. We're ready to go. We'll obviously be going into residential locations after the primary and secondary streets are completed—and be patient, if you can stay off the roads,” Bartels said. “We didn't really want to see this snow, but again, it kind of knocks the dust off the plows, and gets our drivers some training.”
Pierce says the National Weather Service is looking into another storm system that might impact the region come Friday night (Feb. 14).
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