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Pittsburgh Weather: PennDOT, Public Works Road Crews Change Plans As Rain Falls Instead Of Snow

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Rain instead of snow falling in Allegheny County on Saturday has meant a change of plans for road crews.

"Currently, it's just raining in Allegheny County," PennDOT spokesperson Steven Cowan said Saturday afternoon. "Our crews are out, waiting for the storm to occur. We will be treating the roads once this rain turns to snow."

Both City of Pittsburgh Public Works and PennDOT say there's no way to pretreat the roads, as they do with some approaching storms, because all the rain would wash any salt away.

driving rain wet roads
(Photo Credit: KDKA)

Even though the snowfall totals may not be as high as first anticipated, PennDOT says crews will still being busy, especially because of dropping temperatures.

"We know after the snow is finished in the area, we're going to have bitterly cold temperatures. So our crews are really going to have to focus on making sure they hit all the trouble spots," Cowan said.

Some people were actually disappointed over the snow's late arrival.

Oddeci Fitch from the North Shore moved here two weeks ago from Tennessee and can't wait for the flakes to fall.

"I was born during the Blizzard of '93! That was like the last amount of snow Tennessee got," Fitch said.

Meanwhile, in Vandergrift, officials were still urging drivers to stay off the roads.

Watch Bob Allen's report --

 

Police were worried about the impact falling temperatures may have on the roads, like the bridge between Vandegrift and Parks Township, which is known to freeze over.

Some restaurant employees in the area were happy that there wasn't snow, which would have hurt business, but some were concerned about ice on the drive home.

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