Crews Work To Clear Snow-Covered Roads

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – With more than five-inches of snow falling overnight, drivers have had a tough time making their way along some of the region's roads. While crews have been working around the clock to try and clear the main roads of all that snow and ice, it's going to take some time to get the job done.

"A storm like this when we are out plowing and salting 1200-miles of street, it's going to take awhile -- anywhere from 24 to 36 hours after it stops snowing," Pittsburgh Public Works' Rob Kaczorowski told KDKA.

"It takes a while for us to go 1200-miles," Kaczorowski added, "especially on secondary streets, when you're traveling 5-, 10-, 15-miles an hour. It's not like the highways when you're going 40- 50- miles an hour when you're plowing."

The first flakes started falling yesterday afternoon; but what began as a light snow after lunch became increasingly heavier through the evening hours.

Though some bands of snow have been continuing to move through the region, KDKA Meteorologist Dennis Bowman says the heaviest precipitation is over.

Once the snow stops falling, though, the region will be dealing with some frigid temperatures as an arctic air mass blows into the area.

Those freezing temperatures could make it a bit more challenging for road crews.

"Salt becomes less effective as the temperature lowers," Kaczorowski explained, "[at] 20- to 15-degrees, it takes about 20-minutes for the salt to be activated." Kaczorowski said crews would be treating area roads with calcium chloride, "which keeps the salt effective to up to 40- to 50-below zero."