Peering down at his loafers, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith frowned solemnly at a plaid scarf, top hat, carrot and two charcoal nubs in a heap on the wet, muddy pavement.
“I?m a little saddened our friend Frosty couldn?t be here today,” Smith told a handful of reporters. “It looks like he tried to come, but the weather got him.”
Amid balmy December temperatures that approached 60 degrees Friday, Smith stood before a cavernous shed with mounds of brown salt and touted the county?s $5 million preparations for snow removal. The county has 40,000 tons of salt stored in a dozen storage sheds around the county ? a 1,000 ton increase from last year ? and 400 people available for a quick response, he said.
Not that he?s urging action, he quickly added.
“If we don?t have to use it, that would be fine with us.”
National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said temperatures are sure to dive in the area late next week, but whether they dip below freezing is “anyone?s guess,” he said. The agency doesn?t issue snowfall outlooks, but climate data on temperatures and precipitation isn?t conclusive, either.
“Right now, the latest outlooks is calling for equal chances above, below or near normal chances,” said fellow meteorologist Dave Manning. “There isn?t some strong climatological signal that would shift us in either direction.”
Baltimore City officials said they ran snow removal drills in November to work out kinks in communications between public works, traffic and emergency management departments.
Carroll County public works director Michael Evans told the county?s three commissioners the county is ready for snow. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman met the county?s “snow removal team” Wednesday for a hands-on briefing.
There, traffic officials installed global positioning systems on its salt trucks and plows, allowing residents to monitor removal on an interactive online map every 15 minutes. In its sixth year, highway bureau chief Bill Malone said the devices are also inexpensive ways to monitor the safety of the county?s drivers.
Malone said of the county?s public roads, not including parking lots, Columbia?s cul-de-sacs present the biggest challenges.
Examiner Staff Writer Kelsey Volkmann contributed to this report.
