Snow Fall Yields Slick Roads

I just returned home from the station on Smith Hill. The hill was incredibly slippery and even with four-wheel drive and anti-lock breaks, I was slipping and sliding all over the place.

I then got onto the Utica-Rome Expressway. It seemed to be in decent condition relative to other roads. Traffic was moving fairly normal with maybe a slight overall decrease in speed.

The side roads in many suburban neighborhoods are what seemed to be the biggest problem.

Evidently in winter situations like these, use extreme caution while travelling.

Stay with NEWSChannel 2 for the latest information on the air at 5:00, 6:00, 10:00 & 11:00 and on www.wktv.com.

Late Nite Travel...Slick!

Took me a minute to get set here.

I drove through Utica and the streets are a mess. It's not dreadful yet because ice has not formed. And actually, the powder gives you a miniscule more amount of traction than ice. But you gotta go slow. Deerfield was a lot of fresh powder, but Utica had more packed snow. Still, messy in both situations. Be careful.

I just got a text message from Adam Musyt. He says Route 49 is a bit messy between Utica and Rome as well, so even the main roads are slick. About 2" in the left lane with packed snow in the right lane.

The NY Winter Travel Advisory: http://www2.travelinfony.com/wta/main.asp is suggesting that 8,12, and 20 are also messy in Oneida County.

Please use caution tonight.

Travel

It was so cold this morning that ice formed inside my car's windshield, thankfully my car decided to start. I didn't experience many problems with traffic on my way to Smith Hill Road, but tomorrow will be a different story.
We are expecting nearly as much as two feet of snow in Utica and I guarantee that tomorrow's commute will leave plenty to blog about.

The Drive

Thanks to clear roads I faced no problems en route to Smith Hill this morning, but I expect that to change mid-week when we could be in for more snow.

How was your drive to work?

Things Witnessed On The Way To Work:

-Two speeding cars, in an apparent mutual act of road rage, weaving in front of one another on a snowy two-lane highway. Nice. I had my digital camera ready to take the pictures of both anticipating the moment when they each ended up in a ditch. Alas, they stayed on all four wheels.

-Another car looked like it had its back end blown-out after skidding across a road and into a guardrail. Thankfully, it appeared the driver was okay.

-A line of six cars following a snowplow at 35mph, opting instead to drive on the newly cleared path rather than risk either of the above two scenarios.

Never a dull moment driving in Lake Effect Snow

Today's drive was almost as tough as the one on Monday.
Traffic was moving pretty well through Oriskany Boulevard towards 790, but getting cut off by another car nearly caused an accident.
Traffic volume on 790 was relatively low.

The only real trouble spot in my commute this morning came as I drove up Smith Hill Road.
A sand truck was driving down the hill as I came up and thankfully put the blade of the plow up just before we crossed paths.

Better Drive Today

My car refused to defrost this morning. Ice coated both the exterior and interior of my windows this morning, although the drive from Oriskany Boulevard to Deerfield was smooth.