Snow crews prepare for worst, monitoring forecast carefully

Columbia and Boone County Public Works crews said Friday they’re still not sure what the weather will bring Sunday morning, but they said they are prepared for the worst.

Officials in Columbia said they plan to have an eight-person plow crew in place overnight on Saturday to monitor the weather, pretreat the designated snow routes and respond to changing road conditions. A full 22-person crew will also be on call.

They said that the forecasted rain could have the potential of washing treatments off of treated surfaces which would require crews to continuously treat the roads.

Boone County snow fighters will be on call over the weekend, but pretreating most likely won’t start until Sunday morning.

Boone County Urban Supervisor Bryan Boyce said residents should drive slowly and try to stay home during an active weather event.

“It’s going to be thirty-six degrees later on in the day and that will most likely melt most of the ice,” he said. “By that time, all the agencies will have the roads cleared off and in good shape. If you need to go, wait until then to go if at all possible.”