TDOT warns of icy roads across region as winter storm approaches

NASHVILLE — TDOT is warning of dangerous travel conditions this weekend as forecasts call for increasing amounts of ice and snow to hit Tennessee. Mark Nagi, the region's communications officer for TDOT, said the real danger comes from the ice. "The worry is ice," Nagi said. "Obviously, we would rather get 10 inches of snow than we would a 10th of an inch or a quarter inch of ice, because that's when things can get so dangerous." Saturday, the National Weather Service expects a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain to hit east Tennessee, with the freezing rain changing to rain Sunday. Temperatures are then expected to drop to around 17 degrees Sunday night, freezing much of the weekend precipitation into ice. Predictions show most of Northeast Tennessee will see at least 0.1 inch of ice accumulate throughout the weekend. Mountain City and areas near Kingsport are likely to see the most, with anywhere from 0.25 to 0.5 inches of ice accumulating by Sunday. Significant ice accumulations can create "dangerous if not impassible" travel conditions, according to the National Weather Service, as well as downing trees and power lines. The National Weather Service expects various areas of Northeast Tennessee to receive anywhere from 0.1 to 0.5 inches of ice over the weekend. National Weather Service Morristown TDOT began pre-treating East Tennessee roadways with salt Thursday, and they'll work around the clock this weekend to clear them for travel. But, once the snow and rain has frozen into ice, and temperatures hit around 16 degrees, ice becomes much harder to remove. "When those temperatures are that low, you'll see ice stay on the roadways," said Nagi. "Our crews will go over them time and time again to try to scrape some of it off, but there's only so much that they're able to do." Winter storm warnings are in place for Hawkins and Sullivan Counties, while Washington, Carter and Johnson are currently under Winter Weather advisories. Nagi stressed that people should avoid driving this weekend as much as possible. "That's why we stress to folks that if they don't have to be on the roadways, they need to stay at home," he said. "Because that's the safest place that they can be." Nagi said smartway.tn.gov can be used to see real-time updates on road conditions, such as crashes, blockages and other impediments. "Just understand that our crews will be on the job as long as needed during this winter weather event, and during every winter weather event," Nagi said.