Michigan is preparing for what’s known as a “bomb cyclone,” or an intense winter storm with high winds, heavy blizzards and subzero temperatures.
Jerry Byrne, managing director for the Kent County Road Commission says thankfully, the snow West Michigan received earlier this week won’t have much of an impact on this weekend’s weather event.
“Right now it was a good 24 to 30 hours of reprieve in between. We can get back and caught up to where it’s a new event, so really not back-to-back.”
Byrne says the fluctuating patterns in the storm currently moving through the Midwest forces road crews to hold off on putting a battle plan together until the storm arrives in West Michigan.
“You know, we’ll put the crews on 12-hour shifts based on the forecast. It could be a heavy, wet snow. If it gets a little colder and we get the 40 mile an hour winds, we’re going to see more visibility issues, so we’re going to watch it.”
Byrne reminds residents that parking on the street before a storm so that you aren’t stuck in your driveway can cause a lot of problems for road crews.
“If you can pin yourself in your driveway, keep yourself off the road, when we are able to get into those neighborhood streets, we’re going to do you a much better job if we’re not swerving around cars.”