DOVER — That four-letter word is back.
Snow.
The question is how much snow will fall since the forecast calls for between 3 to 7 inches in the Dover area.
Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service upgraded it’s winter storm watch to a warning in effect, meaning the potential exists for snow to fall at a moderate to heavy rate. The service expects that to be the case at times during throughout today.
Dover is prepared, said Kay Sass, the city’s emergency management spokeswoman.
“The reports have conflicting numbers as to how much snow we way get, but we’ll be ready for anything.”
The warning will remain in effect to 6 a.m. Wednesday.
A coastal flood warning is in effect until noon.
Monday afternoon the weather service called for 1 to 2 inches to fall overnight in the Dover area and then 1 to 2 inches more is possible throughout today. An additional accumulation of 1 to 3 inches is possible Tuesday night.
Accumulating snow will affect travel throughout the day, according to the National Weather Service, with road conditions likely deteriorating during times of heavier snowfall rates.
Visibilities could be a ½-mile or less at times.
Kent Countians likely should keep gloves handy since the high temperature today will be in the upper 20s to low 30s. Winds will be from the northeast from 5 mph to 15 mph, with gusts of 25 mph.
Ms. Sass said Dover crews are using a salt and sand mixture for critical and emergency routes throughout the city.
“We will have our people out there later this evening and early tomorrow morning,” Ms. Sass said Monday afternoon. “This is just one of those storms that we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
She said that depending on the weather the trash pick-up maybe pushed back to Wednesday.
The Delaware Department of Transportation also is gearing up for busy shifts.
Jim Westhoff, Department of Transportation’s community relations officer, said crews will work throughout the day.
A quarter of the crews worked Monday night to make it as clear as possible for today’s commute, he said. The remaining crews were to return earlier this morning to help clear the roads.
Motorists are advised to use caution while driving, especially on bridges and other elevated road surfaces. They can monitor road conditions before starting out by viewing streaming video from any of DelDOT’s more than 100 live traffic cameras situated across the state. Links to the interactive traffic map are at deldot.gov, or on the DelDOT smartphone app.
When active plowing operations begin, residents can track the progress through DelDOT’s snowplow tracker, which is also available on deldot.gov, and on the DelDOT smartphone app.
To download the free DelDOT App search for “DelDOT” at the Google Play and Apple App stores.
Delmarva Power stands ready to respond to possible power outages. In addition to internal crews being available 24 hours a day, a few hundred overhead line contractors and tree crews will be on standby to assist in any restoration effort.
The company said that while it is prepared to work around the clock to restore any power outages that may occur, customers should be prepared for the possibility of service interruptions.
As of 6 p.m. Monday no schools had posted closings at schoolclosings.delaware.gov/.