Early winter weather possible Tuesday

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory that is in effect in the overnight hours Monday into Tuesday through Tuesday afternoon for Waynesboro, Staunton, Augusta County and the Shenandoah Valley.

The forecast calls for up to an inch of snow and sleet by Tuesday morning, turning to freezing rain Tuesday afternoon.

Temperatures will be in the upper 20s overnight tonight and in the lower 30s through Tuesday afternoon.

The Virginia Department of Transportation said today that it will begin pre-treating some interstate and primary roads in the Shenandoah Valley region later today in advance of the forecasted winter weather.

Interstate 81 from the southern end of Rockbridge County to the West Virginia state line, Interstate 66 from Interstate 81 to eastern Warren County and Interstate 64 in Augusta County including Afton Mountain will all receive chemical anti-icing treatment. The pre-treating anti-icing process uses chemicals which are applied to the road up to 48 hours before a winter storm.  This prevents a bond from forming between the pavement and the snow and ice after the storm starts.  VDOT uses liquid magnesium chloride, calcium chloride and sodium chloride for anti-icing and pre-treating.

Drivers who encounter trucks involved in anti-icing operations should slow down.  For proper allocation, crews will be driving slower than highway speeds.  Do not follow the trucks too closely, as the chemicals are slightly slippery for the first 30 to 45 seconds they are on the pavement.

For winter weather road conditions go to www.511Virginia.org, look at the orange bar on the top of the page and click on “Text Views” and then click on “Road Condition Table”. Look at the pull down box that lists all jurisdictions.  In this box individual counties can be chosen to view.

Traffic alerts and traveler information can be obtained by dialing 511. Traffic alerts and traveler information also are available at 511Virginia.org. For other assistance call the VDOT Customer Service Center, available 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week. Citizens can dial 1-800-FOR- ROAD (1-800-367-7623) from anywhere in the state to report road hazards, ask transportation questions, or get information related to Virginia’s roads.

The Staunton District Twitter feed is at @VaDOTStaunton. VDOT can be followed on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter andYouTube. RSS feeds are also available for statewide information. The VDOT Web page is located atwww.VirginiaDOT.org.