City Crews Work Throughout Day As Snow Falls Across Green Country

Early morning snowfall canceled classes at a lot of schools and slowed traffic.

But there was enough sunshine during the day to melt some of it - helped by a lot of salt put out on the roads.

The City of Tulsa started calling in drivers at 3 a.m. when it was clear the snow would be an issue. By 4:30, the City said most of the 67 spreaders were out on the roads.

It couldn't prevent a snow day for students, but they cleared most of the streets by rush hour.

1/6/2017 Related Story: Tulsa, Broken Arrow Crews Busy Treating Snow-Covered Streets

By mid-morning, the streets that get the most salt - like downtown - were clear of snow, and wet but not icy.

Tim McCorkell with the City of Tulsa said, “And that's why we're still putting some salt down. If we get a good salt base down there we won't have the refreeze problem. If it gets really cold, we'll still have some issues in some areas. The employees involved in this will stay on standby in case we need to call them back in.”

City services like trash pickup had a few delays, but the City told customers any trash missed Friday would be picked up Saturday.

The snow response was the largest in a couple of years but didn't require any plowing. The City generally only plows when the snow is at least two-inches deep.

In fact, for some salt truck drivers it was the first time they've been able to work with actual snow.

"It gets the employees back in the groove of doing snow and ice removal, and we've got a lot of new employees at the City of Tulsa,” McCorkell said. “And when it comes like this we can double up some of the drivers and let them get some experience, so it's good for us because it lets them get some experience before we put them out there on their own."

The City did not do any "pre-treating" of streets with salt water. The trucks for that aren't ready to go yet, but they should be before the next chance of snowy weather.