Road crews on standby for freezing rain possibility
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Feb. 5, 2025) – The Tuscarawas County Engineer’s office is keeping an eye on the forecast with freezing rain included as part of a Winter Weather Advisory in effect tonight and into the early morning hours.
Assistant Tuscarawas County Engineer Genaro DeMonte says his office will stay in contact with central dispatch at the sheriff’s office to monitor road conditions around the area.
“If our guys need to be dispatched out, they’ll be dispatched out with snow and ice control equipment on them to hit their rounds and try and keep everything safe as possible throughout the night and into tomorrow,” DeMonte said.
The National Weather Service says a glaze of ice is possible overnight.
Demonte says as a reminder, county crews do not pre-treat roads ahead of time like the Ohio Department of Transportation does on the interstate.
“We have a kind of a pre-treat system on our trucks that works with our snow and ice control as we’re going down the road, to kind of kick it into gear a little faster,” he said.
Demonte says it’s a continuation of what’s been a busy winter.
“We’ve been out more this year than we have I think in the last couple of years combined, but we’ve been doing everything we can with the manpower we have to keep everything as safe as possible,” said DeMonte.
DeMonte says the county is still good with its salt supply for the winter, and more could always be ordered if needed.
The conditions will be short-lived, however, as the temperature is supposed to be back up around 50 on Thursday.