Snow Likely During AM Rush Hour in the Triangle

According to the latest forecast, precipitation is expected to fall in the Triangle late Monday night, with light snow beginning to fall as the temperatures drop to the low 20s.

There is a good chance of snow Tuesday morning between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., and as warm air comes in, some areas south and west of the Triangle may see the snow mix with sleet around 7 or 8 a.m.

Most of the snow and precipitation should be over by Tuesday night, but anything that remains will become light freezing rain, since no part of the viewing area is expected to get above freezing Tuesday.

All precipitation should move out by Wednesday morning, and by Wednesday afternoon, the temperatures are expected to rise above freezing. Road ConditionsNo one knows exactly what theweatherwill do, but area road crews say they are ready for the worst Tuesday.

Bridges and overpasses are their greatest concern for the morning commute.

In Wake County, theDepartment of Transportationhas 35 trucks ready to take on anything Mother Nature leaves behind.

Road engineers do not think this will be a "scraping" event. But, they can get the chemical spreaders on the roads in a hurry.

"One truck may take 30 to 45 minutes to hook up, and he's ready to go," says road maintenance engineer Jerry Linder. "You figure you do all of these at one time, doing five to six at a time, you know within an hour, we're probably ready to start rolling out of the gate."

At the DOT's Wake County maintenance yard, they have 1,000 tons of salt to throw at a storm, but our weather over the years has kept most of this salt in the barn. Much of the pile has been here, basically untouched, for four years.

Raleigh also has a mountain of road salt and a fleet of trucks standing by. "The pavement is still fairly warm and this sunshine today is just helping us that much more," Linder says. "Even though you got the breeze and everything, this black asphalt will absorb a lot of heat and everything. So right now, I feel pretty comfortable about what's going on."

Some people will not feel entirely comfortable until the storm blows through. DOT supervisors say they will create a storm plan Monday night. If crews hit the streets, they will be out no later than 4 a.m.