January 15 Snow Blog: Stay home if possible
3:20 p.m.
– Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton announced via social media that all meetings and sessions of the General Assembly in Nashville are canceled for the remainder of the week. His statement said the legislature will resume operations on Monday, Jan. 22.
2:30 p.m.
Alert: ETSU will be closed on Tuesday, January 16.
Stay safe, Bucs, and monitor your ETSU email for further updates: https://t.co/Vs5lWgPtXL. pic.twitter.com/ieLyNq7jze
— ETSU (@etsu) January 15, 2024
– All major highways in the Tri Cities are slick and snow covered. Travel is not advised due to more snow forecast for the region and road conditions going from passable to worse in the last three hours.
– Snow totals posted by the National Weather Service in Morristown average between 2 and 5 inches in most areas. Localities in the higher elevations are seeing larger amounts.
– Dangerous wind chills are predicted by NWS offices with some counties in Southwest Virginia expected to see -10 conditions.
– ETSU in Johnson City and Northeast State Community College in Blountville have canceled classes for Tuesday, Jan. 16. Nearly every school system in our region has closed due to weather on Tuesday.
12:30 p.m.
– Most of the emergency management and law enforcement agencies in major locations within the Tri-Cities region are discouraging travel for the evening as snowfall has intensified in both Tennessee and Virginia. Recent reports called into our traffic hotline indicate slick spots are forming on parts of Interstate 26, especially near the Interstate 81-26 interchange in Kingsport.
– Snow statement from City of Johnson City: With snow accumulations predicted today and tomorrow, Johnson City Public Works crews are prepared to tackle clearing snow and ice from the streets.
Prior to the start of this winter storm, crews began placing a layer of brine, a solution of salt and water which has a lower freeze point than pure water, on the roadways to reduce snow adhesion and ice buildup. Once temperatures drop to 30 degrees, brine becomes ineffective and City crews switch to magnesium chloride for road treatment.
“All is going well with the road clearing efforts,” said Public Works Director Jason Miles. “We have been monitoring road conditions throughout the morning and are prepared to clear streets as the snow accumulations mount.”
Currently, crews are operating two to three trucks in each of the nine assigned zones to plow city streets. There are two 12-hour shifts working through the day and night to remove snow. The first shift began at 6 a.m. today (Jan. 15) and the second will begin at 6 p.m. This schedule will remain in place until the weather event concludes.
– A recent update posted by the National Weather Service in Morristown says sleet is mixed in with the snowfall in portions of East Tennessee including one report in Gatlinburg.
Here's how snowfall forecasts can come in under. On the left is normal reflectivity, on the right is a product that measures how alike the returns are. Yellows/Greens on the right indicate that there's mixed precipitation, and ground reports show sleet mixing in with the snow! pic.twitter.com/Sv9dczeIK7
— NWS Morristown (@NWSMorristown) January 15, 2024
(IMAGE: J. Olsen / Bristol Broadcasting Co News)
Snow is picking up in #SWVA so be alert. We know the snow is beautiful but it's also hazardous so stay home and allow our crews the space they need to clear the snow off area roads. VDOT will focus on interstate and primary routes first (roads numbered 599 and below). pic.twitter.com/5LN7xBhV6b
— VDOT Bristol (@VaDOTBristol) January 15, 2024
Gotta keep those plows clear of snow/ice patches! #myTDOT #WorkWithUs #MoveOver #SlowDown pic.twitter.com/uhHOkjyUTd
— Mark Nagi (@MarkNagiTDOT) January 15, 2024
