HAMPTON, Va. — Temps are staying frigid on the Peninsula. Snow flurries moved in at about 4:30 p.m., and at 10:30 p.m., were still going.
City of Hampton spokeswoman Robin McCormick said they’re looking at the chance for heavier snowfall pushing in at 9 or 10 p.m., and that could lead to several inches on the ground by Saturday morning.
Regardless, plows and trucks are lined up and ready to go. McCormick said crews are on shifts, covering all hours of the day. Operators in Hampton have also been pretreating major roads and bridges since “Round 1” of the storm began, Thursday night.
“We all woke up this morning and said ‘Hey, the roads aren’t as bad as they were forecasted,’" McCormick said. "I really think part of that is due to the work the folks did at night, when couldn’t see them doing all that pretreating, because the bridges and overpasses would have been bad if it weren’t for that.”
Since Thursday night, crews have laid down 211 tons of salt.
Locals were seeing a nice coating along West Mercury Boulevard by 10:30 p.m. Friday.
Richard Tucker, of Hampton, braved the elements to make it out for one essential item.
“I just bought a motor-home, I thought it’d be nice to live in. And we ran out of propane last night," he explained. "It’s freezing cold in there, so I had to get some propane for it.”
Both VDOT and the City of Hampton have asked drivers who need to travel during the storm to do so carefully.
“Please respect the salt trucks and the snow plows, they are out there for you," McCormick said. "Don’t make that extra two minutes saving of time to try and go around them."
Crews will begin plowing major roads and bridges once an inch and a half or so of snow comes down.
Some of their will trucks lay down salt while they plow.
If you’re out, you might notice Hampton police officers driving alongside snow plows. That’s to make sure drivers don’t pass or tailgate snow-clearing crews.
A reminder: city crews will not plow neighborhood streets. Be careful on them.