AccuWeather's Ali Reid reported live from Wilmington, Delaware, as snow fell on Feb. 11, speaking with DELDOT to learn how they're keeping the state's roads clear.
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00:00And for Allie Reed, live in Wilmington, Delaware, the flakes are flying there, Allie.
00:04You know, this has been a pretty rapid start there after a lackluster afternoon for our
00:09friends in the small wonder of Delaware.
00:13Jeff, you make a great point, right?
00:17Just a few hours ago, it was silent.
00:20You would walk around a grocery store.
00:22No one was picking up the extra bread, the milk, none of that.
00:26And then all of a sudden, it just started to really come down here in Wilmington, Delaware.
00:31Beautiful Wilmington, Delaware at that, by the way.
00:33The skyline directly behind me here, and it's that picturesque type of snow.
00:38There is no doubt about it.
00:39But we were talking about that disruptiveness, the potential ice, the snow through the evening
00:44hours into the early hours tomorrow morning.
00:47That could potentially become a problem.
00:49I-95, by the way, just a hop, skip it away from where we are right now.
00:53But I'd like to bring in CR.
00:55How are you?
00:56Look at that smiling face.
00:58You must be doing well.
00:59Are you doing good?
01:00Oh, we're doing great.
01:01Ready for the latest round of winter weather.
01:02Oh, I love that.
01:03By the way, this is nothing that you aren't used to.
01:05Eight years, you've been with DelDOT.
01:07That's a long time.
01:08You guys have done this once or twice before.
01:10Absolutely.
01:11And it's been a very active weather pattern here in Delaware over the past month with
01:16several storms.
01:18So we've had our fair share of snow, and we're ready for the next one.
01:22Now what's really interesting that we're talking about Delaware as a whole today, right?
01:25We know the more you go south, the more snow you're seeing right now.
01:29And that's exactly what you guys are picking up on.
01:31It started really late this afternoon where we had the first real heavy band of snow come
01:36through.
01:37We've seen areas such as Laurel and even into the central part of Sussex County with three
01:42inches of snow already.
01:44So as the temperatures continue to fall, we do expect to see those accumulations amount
01:48continue to climb.
01:49Now what's interesting about Delaware and DelDOT in particular that I just found out
01:53a few hours ago myself, or not even a few hours ago, a few minutes ago, let's mention
01:58that.
01:59You had said to me DelDOT covers 90% of the roads in the state.
02:03That's a large percentage.
02:05So you guys are tackling a lot right now, major roadways, all the way to those side
02:09streets too.
02:10Yeah, absolutely.
02:11And that's one of the things that makes us unique from other state DOTs around the country
02:15is that we're largely the only snow removal operation outside of our municipality.
02:20So we've got about 13,000 lane miles that we're responsible for clearing in any storm
02:25event.
02:26So our plow operators are going to be working long hours over the next 24 hours to really
02:32clean up the remnants of this storm.
02:33Now before we talk overnight, this morning it was a lot of brining, salting, and that
02:38started you said yesterday?
02:39Correct.
02:40So again, getting out ahead of the storm, putting on that liquid brine solution to pre-treat
02:44the roadways.
02:45It really buys us extra time when the snow begins to fall and really prevents that initial
02:50freeze up from occurring.
02:51So we get out, we put that brine solution down, and it really helps make a difference
02:55and prevent that ice pack from building up.
02:57Okay.
02:58And then finally, let's talk about tonight.
02:59We know the snow's not stopping anytime soon, 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning, potentially
03:03in that time frame.
03:05That's a lot of hours ahead of us.
03:07Yeah, we've still got the worst of the storm ahead of us.
03:09So we're going to be working through the overnight hours.
03:12Obviously anyone that's going to be out on the roads, please slow down, give yourself
03:16plenty of extra time to get to where you're going.
03:18And obviously just be mindful of any potential delays for school and work in the morning.
03:22You make a good point.
03:23And let's wrap with that.
03:24We know school could potentially happen tomorrow.
03:27People might be going out on the roadsways tomorrow morning.
03:29If you can avoid it, let the workers like DelDOT do their job early in the morning to
03:35make it as safe as possible for those that are going to be getting out on those roadways.
03:39Guys, we're going to continue to follow this over the next couple of hours.
03:42Certainly the snow still coming down here, Jeff, in Wilmington, Delaware.
03:46All right.
03:47Thanks for your support there, Allie.
03:48Now I have a new way to impress my friends.
03:50What state maintains 90% of its roads as the DOT?
03:54That's impressive.
03:55It's a random fact, but it's a good one there and it's surprising.
03:58All right, Allie Reed.
03:59Fun fact.
04:00There is fun fact.
04:01We love fun facts.
04:02Well, Delaware is it.