The city of Tallahassee could see its first icy roads and snow in 25 years overnight. Closings began drifting in Tuesday as the city prepared what little equipment it has to deal with the severe weather.
The city has just a single spreader truck. In emergencies, it fills the 1989 model spreader with its rusty blades and creaky conveyor belt with sand. The year the truck rolled off the assembly line is the last year the city got measurable snow. Mechanic Phil Dunaway has worked for the city for 21 years. He says the truck has responded to many more chemical spills than snowstorms.
“As far as how much sand per minute it puts out, I don’t know, but it’ll cover a four-lane highway when it’s rolling down the road. It’ll cover 40 feet, 50 feet,” Dunaway says.
Michael Scheiner, who runs the Operations Division of the city’s public works department, says the city doesn’t stock salt to help melt any ice, because sand is all the city usually needs.
“The need for icing roads is so infrequent here that this is just the process we’ve historically used,” Scheiner says.
The forecast calls for less than a quarter-inch of snow or ice, but businesses and even the county’s schools announced Wednesday closures on Tuesday afternoon, hours before any precipitation started.
