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For a list of warming centers, click here.
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Severe winter weather prompted closures across McHenry County on Thursday, as well as emergency responses from public work departments and, all week, the purchase of goods needed to hunker down.
The weather coming in – which is expected to include a few inches of snow, high winds and sub-zero temperatures – could prove hazardous for traveling due to snow blowing, as well as cause water main breaks and possibly render salt useless due to the temperature.
While the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office’s will continue its emergency response operations as normal, it will be holding all non-emergency calls until the winter weather subsides, it advised in an email.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office asked residents to avoid unnecessary travel, but for those out of the roads, it recommended going only as fast as conditions allow, planning for extra travel time, remaining focused on the road and avoiding distractions while driving, ensuring cellphone is charged and vehicle fully fueled before leaving, and making someone is aware of your travel plans and destination.
Officials also warned people to wear proper clothing, as getting caught in this weather without the necessary layers is dangerous.
City of McHenry Public Works Department field operations manager Steve Wirch started his Thursday morning with a water main break caused by the quickly falling temperatures.
The break was quickly repaired, though, Wirch said, and he was more concerned about preparing for the coming snow event.
In Marengo, severely cold temperatures can cause main breaks, Public Works Director Rob Lamz said. The hope is that nobody will have to work on those in this weather, but if it happens, the city is prepared.
It wasn’t the snow he was overly worried about on Thursday, as expected accumulation totals dropped as the week went on.
“What I am worried about, what will be a bigger issue than the snow, is the way it blow around. That will be an issue,” Wirch said.
The rural parts of the county are always a concern when snow and wind start up, Lamz said. The incoming snow, which is light, could create problems of visibility as high winds whip it around, he said.
That, combined with the snow drifts, which form also due to the wind and light snow, could prove hazardous on rural roads, Lamz said.
“We’ve been monitoring conditions all week,” Lamz said. “All our staff is ready to go.”
Crystal Lake uses a brine-and-salt mixture to treat its urban streets, Director of Public Works Mike Magnuson said. His department uses less of that on the more open and rural areas in an attempt to keep the road dry.
“If we have a lot of blowing and drifting, we try to not get (it) too wet … and let the snow blow across it,” Magnuson said.
Urban areas can prove to be problematic as well, due to high traffic, McHenry County Division of Transportation Maintenance Supervisor Austin Creasy said. Regardless, the department is preaching to people to give other vehicles and the plow trucks space to work.
“The worst place you can be is right behind a plow truck in this weather,” Creasy said.
McHenry has a few areas that are more open and rural – where the wind may cause more problems with drifting and visibility, including Bull Valley, Curran and Barreville roads.
McHenry uses a calcium chloride brine mix to treat its streets for ice. The salt mix – even a chemically treated salt mix – really only works well above 0 degrees he said.
“Below 10 (degrees), it is really slow” to work in melting ice, Wirch said. Having vehicles travel on the salt can help warm it up and get the ice to melt, but that doesn’t mean people should be out in the expected weather either, he added.
“We prefer that people stay in until it is over,” Wirch said.
Lamz said Marengo planned to cut its salt with a brine to help it deal with the conditions better.
Creasy said that’s an option for his division, but even then, those types of techniques only help a little. Once weather gets below -6 degrees, even that isn’t very helpful, Creasy said.
“When you get to this point, it’s either not effective at all or very, very minimal,” Creasy said
The McHenry Ace Hardware store at 4520 W. Crystal Lake Road was helping those getting ready to bunker down until the weather clears.
Manager Gary Morley said people started coming in on Monday to buy salt, shovels, snow blowers and even a few generators ahead of the storm.
Once the frigid temperatures arrive – expected on Thursday night – Morley also expected to see more people concerned about potential freezing pipes in their homes.
“I don’t think the snow totals are going to be as big as what were saying. It is the the blowing snow and the severed cold coming. I expected to sell a lot of supplemental heaters,” Morley said.
He recommended residents leave cabinet doors under sinks open and, if they need to, place a space heater outside the cabinet to stave off potential frozen pipes.
Ensuring customers get the right salt product for their sidewalks and driveways also matters, Morley said.
“Buy the right product. There are chemical salts that melt at a much lower temperatures than rock salt. Below 0 (degrees), rock salt is not going to melt the ice and snow. But the proper salt, calcium or magnesium chlorate, (will),” Morely said.
Grocery stores are busy too, with shoppers not only buying food for their Christmas dinners, but also stocking up with staples ahead of the storm.
Angelo Ingrao, owner of Angelo’s Fresh Market in McHenry, couldn’t come to the phone when a reporter called.
“The lines are out the door and Angelo will sleep at the store tonight,” said Claudia Demarco, who did take the call.
Source: The Daily Chronicle