Road Crew Ready for Nor'easter Bringing Up To 9 Inches of Snow to Long Valley

Scott Frech has seen a storm or two in his day, so the Thanksgiving eve nor’easter expected to hit Long Valley hasn’t ruffled his feathers. If anything, the Department of Public Works Superintendent is pretty confident in how the town’s roads will be handled.

Frech, who uses Hackettstown-based WeatherWorks for his updates, said Washington Township could see anywhere from five to nine inches of snow fall over a 14-hour period Wednesday between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The National Weather Service, in a briefing held Tuesday morning, said the area would see between four and six inches of snowfall totals.

But as always the road crew is ready, setting out Tuesday afternoon to pre-treat some 70 miles of main roadways in the township. Despite a rough 2013-14 winter that came with heavy equipment use and statewide salt shortages, Frech said the DPW has enough resources to last another “three or four events” this year.

Crews will be deployed early Wednesday morning to begin plowing, or as needed once the snow begins to accumulate. The timing of the storm – and past few days worth of warmer temperatures – is actually a good, thing Frech says, especially with the holiday coming up.

With the potential end of the storm coming long before midnight, crews can spend most of the day clearing the roads in real-time, rather than having to wait for the storm to end. A high of 70 degrees Monday, followed by 50 degrees Tuesday will certainly help with clearing roadways.

“We could see five or six inches on the grass when it’s all done,” Frech said, “but we may only see half of that on the roads. We’re equipped to do whatever is needed, of course, but the less the better.”