treatment actions for this storm as shown for the January 25 noon (local time) forecast.
Post storm roads were expected to dry out within 3 hours of the end of the event because
winds were strong and the air was expected to dry out quickly. Pavement temperatures
were forecast to remain in-range throughout the storm until the roads had dried out. Road
temperatures after the roads dried out were expected to plummet below 14 F. Another
row has been added to this plot to illustrate the level of blowing snow potential. Blowing
snow potential increased throughout the storm, and was expected to peak just after the
storm precipitation ended.
The RCTM does not consider the impact of blowing snow on the amount of chemicals to
apply. It does, however, use the potential for blowing snow to control whether pre-
treatment chemicals should be applied and whether any chemicals should be applied
during a storm. In both cases, sufficiently cold roads combined with blowing snow will
suppress treatment. In this case, the pre-treatment was suppressed because the snow was
expected to blow across the relatively cold road surface. Applying chemicals would only
contribute to the accumulation on the road surface. Thresholds within the storm are
higher, and therefore, treatments were recommended during the precipitation. A total of 5
treatments were recommended, each in the 100-150 lbs/lane-mile range. The liquid water
accumulation was expected to be very light in comparison to the level of snow, so despite
relatively cold roads, the treatment recommendations were kept quite low.
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