With snow squalls following lake-effect snow, wintry weather just keeps hammering Michigan. So how are plowing crews and drivers each preparing?
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00:00Michigan is one of the states though where winter has arrived a little early
00:05and there's more to come with a dangerous snow squalls accompanying an
00:09Arctic front this evening. And we have some big concerns here so Stephen Brink
00:13is associate associate region engineer of operations with the Michigan
00:18Department of Transportation and Stephen we appreciate your time here on a busy
00:23evening given what's going on in Michigan so thanks for making time for
00:26us. Sure thanks for having me. Well Stephen you guys play a critical role in the
00:31safety of millions of people there in the great state of Michigan and things
00:35since Thanksgiving we've had some really heavy lake effect snow hitting parts of
00:38Michigan hard over 45 inches reported in part of northern lower Michigan so what
00:43kinds of challenges have the crews faced over the past week? Well we've got a lot
00:48of lake effect snow I'm down in the southwest corner of the state so halfway
00:52between Detroit and Chicago so we can allow the lake effect snow as well but
00:56it's not been quite as much as up north as you mentioned so really we just have
01:01to deal with a lot of that lake effect snow the poor visibility getting crews
01:05out in time and doing our best job to clear the roads. And this evening an
01:13Arctic front is bringing dangerously intense but brief bursts of snow so how
01:16do you prepare for snow squalls versus a steadier snow event with with your crews
01:20and also with the messaging on message boards? Sure it's not a whole lot
01:25different for our crews being Michigan it snows every year we're used to the
01:30snowfall so with the snow squalls it comes at a lot higher rate but we work
01:36at the same rate we can we try to get out there and plow that snow off as fast
01:40as we can so for a snow squall though what we can do for the motorists is try
01:45to message them well in advance we've got message signs that we've installed
01:49along I-94 just to do that so the drivers traveling from Chicago or
01:55Detroit can understand what's what they could experience coming up ahead when
02:02they travel along 94 a lot of times you're coming you're driving on dry
02:05pavement and then when you approach Lake Michigan that's where the snow squalls
02:10start from that lake effect snow so you can have bright sunny day and all of a
02:14sudden a half mile down the road your visibility is really limited so we try
02:18to do a great job with our operations center in Lansing to get that message
02:21out on those the message sign so the drivers have some clue of what lies
02:25ahead. And Steven early in the season drivers may be coming off of eight nine
02:29months out of practice and they may need to kind of relearn how to drive in the
02:33snow so what advice do you have for them? Sure that's a great point sometimes we
02:38forget how to drive in the snow so we always try to recommend drivers to
02:43expect changing conditions you know our crews are gonna do best to do the to
02:48improve conditions out there our crews are absolute rock stars when it comes to
02:52plowing the snow off but allow extra time to get where you're going you know
02:56always wear a seat belt that's important expect extra stopping distance you know
03:01your car is not going to stop as fast as you think it will give our crews plenty
03:05of room to do the job. That's good advice very good advice there. Steven Brink
03:10there with the Michigan Department of Transportation thank you again for your
03:14time here Steven wish you and your crews the best with the snow squalls
03:17tonight and then the next episode of Lake Effect snow that will follow
03:20through the rest of the week. Thank you. All right good stuff there.