Lincoln officials and residents prepare for upcoming winter storm

With Lincoln under a Winter Weather Advisory for Tuesday, residents and businesses are preparing.

“I’ve already stocked up on a 20 pound bag of ice melt for my house and scrapers for my car and we got shovels ready to go once the snowfall melts and just as prepared as can be,” Lincoln resident and Ace Hardware Employee, Carsten Hayes said.

City crews are not able to treat roads Monday night because of the expected rain.

“We won’t be able to brine tonight with the rain moving in, it will wash it all away and it won’t be useful so tomorrow will be when we really ramp up getting ready for the snow that will transition into rain tomorrow night,” District Supervisor for Lincoln, Travis Laughlin said.

The weather won’t get that cold this week so there is no worry about the brine freezing.

Hayes says he has seen a lot of people come in to get shovels and scrapers, but the biggest item is ice melt. They have as many types as you can think of: eco friendly, pet friendly and kinds for new or old driveways.

“You can never have too much ice melt usually two bags at least for people, it kind of depends on if they have,” Hayes said.

Although the city will not have any trucks out Monday night, the plan is to have about 20 Tuesday night. It all depends on what the weather decides to do.

“The spreaders here put the salt down, the salt gets pre–wetted with the brine helps it stay where it needs to be so if you put dry salt down it scatters and ends up in the median and the side of the road, with the brine it helps it to stay in the road where it needs to be so it’s working most efficiently as possible,” Laughlin said.

Carsten was born and raised in Lincoln. He knows that Nebraska’s weather is known for being unpredictable.

“Not as worried as I usually am just because I am use to it and driving in it and everything but from what I’ve heard, its suppose to be pretty bad,” Hayes said.

If city crews are plowing an excessive amount of snow Tuesday, they plan on bringing more trucks out on the roads.

City officials want to remind people on the roads to give the plows as much space as possible so they can do there job, making sure that everyone gets to their destination safely

For more information on travel conditions across the state visit: https://www.511.nebraska.gov/