West central Iowa saw the first glimpse of winter earlier this week with some flurries, which is an indication that winter is here.

Guthrie County Engineer Josh Sebern says they have been prepping their 12 trucks and 10 road graders with sanders, plows, wings and calcium-chloride tanks for the winter season. Each truck typically uses a three-parts sand to one-part salt mixture ratio, but Sebern notes that he is going to make a change.

“We’re going to try and dial that up again to kind of see if we can tailor to the times of the season. The colder parts, we’re going to run a little heavier salt concentration and maybe dail it back as we get into the warmer times (of the year).”

The County has two hoop buildings with their road mixture material. One building contains salt and the other is the sand and salt mixture. Sebern appreciates the work that the secondary roads crews do during the winter.

“First of, it’s not fun to get the call at four in the morning to go out into the cold, and blowing snow, and fight the snow and the weather, so my hat’s off to those guys for doing that. It really is hard work and we do what we can to get them (the roads) open.”

A typically snow removal day for the secondary roads department is from 5am to 5pm.