12/22: Freezing Drizzle Chance for Monday Morning Commute

All Madison travelers should be very cautious during the morning commute of Monday, December 23 and you must remain alert through the afternoon as well. Forecasts are calling for a chance of freezing drizzle to arrive as early as 3am and then last through the day.  Streets Division crews will be out.  However, you should still expect to find a glaze of ice over the roads, bridges, sidewalks, and paths due to this weather.

Some forecasts we are seeing this evening show freezing drizzle possibly arriving between 3:00am and 5:00am Monday morning, and then the difficult weather continuing through the afternoon.

Streets Division trucks will be out overnight in response to this storm applying salt to the main thoroughfares as needed.  Crews will remain on the roads throughout the day.

Residential streets that have a hard packed layer of snow on them may become especially slick with this kind of precipitation.  Bridges, which are naturally colder than other road surfaces, are also likely to be icier than other areas due to freezing drizzle.

You must be cautious on your travels through Madison on Monday.  Be prepared for challenging travel conditions and make good choices. 

If the precipitation we are due to receive arrives as freezing drizzle instead of snow, a glaze of ice will likely form on our roads, sidewalks, and paths. In order for you to travel on them safely, you will need to be slow, predictable, focused, and patient.  Give yourself plenty of extra travel time so you do not rush. Do not follow others too closely.  Anticipate your stops and turns so you do not slide.  And remember that four-wheel drive, or all wheel drive, can help you gain traction in slick conditions, but they cannot help you stop when things are slippery.

Streets Division staff will be monitoring the roads and the weather.  Operations will adjust as conditions require.

One last thing: Don’t forget that this week the Streets Division is closed for curbside waste collection and drop-off services on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  You can get the Streets Division trash and recycling schedule from our website.  On our page, you can also sign up to receive alerts about collection delays from holidays and severe weather.