Columbia, Boone County crews prepare for multi-day winter storm

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Public Works and Boone County Road and Bridge were working Tuesday morning on plans for pretreating and removing snow from roads.

Columbia and county crews were on regular daytime work hours Tuesday and were monitoring the roads but not pretreating because of rain.

Mid-Missouri is under a Weather Alert Day for Tuesday and Wednesday because of an expected multi-day storm. Sleet and rain had begun falling Tuesday morning and was expected to continue before changing over to snow Wednesday.

Columbia Public Schools have used four snow days, now adding another for Wednesday and one delayed start due to the winter weather so far this school year. 

Columbia Public Schools said by law all Missouri school districts are forced to build six cancellation days until their school calendars.

"Of course its winter weather so it’s unpredictable and you sort of just have to go with the flow and make sure that you are making your decisions always with safety in mind", said Columbia Public Schools' Michelle Baumstark.

Boone County Road & Bridge are also concerned about what can be done to keep people safe during winter weather.

"On the days its a trial it is rewarding," Boone County Road & Bridge crew member, Jerry Rice. "On the days you go home and it seems like mother nature didn’t cooperate and you didn’t you know its kind of, it’s a down feeling when you know the night shift isn’t going to catch up."

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Boone County Road and Bridge has an eight-person night crew scheduled to start monitoring road temperatures to determine when to treat roads to avoid salt running off because of rain.

Roads could potentially be affected by rain and sleet causing slick spots during the Tuesday after-work commute.

Boone County's night road crew will treat roads until the morning when the second round of crew members will report.