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Sloppy slush no match for snow removal experts
Updated: March 12, 2013 5:10PM
HARWOOD HEIGHTS — Sporadic snow continued to fall later this week, a far cry from the intense storm that socked the region Tuesday.
That snow had public works crews out early Tuesday clearing snow and laying down road salt.
O’Hare Airport received about five inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
“We had six guys out,” said Tom Wolfe, superintendent of the Harwood Heights Public Works Department.
They worked through the night until about 1:30 a.m. so they could take a break before coming back in the morning, he said.
Today the crews concentrated on missed spots and plowing to the curbs.
“We’ll get one side of the streets today and clean up the other side tomorrow,” he said.
Harlem Irving Plaza goes a little high-tech to remove snow from its parking deck.
“We have four snow-melters for our parking deck,” said Stan Bouzoukis, vice president-property management for the plaza. The melted snow then can just drain off the deck.
The company also uses an outside contractor and its own staff to complete the job of clearing the snow.
“We started plowing yesterday at 11 a.m. and finished today about 3 p.m.
The storm hit fast and furious around noon Tuesday, and never really subsided until late evening.
The little snowy ice crystals that pelted windshields at the beginning turned into snowflakes that got bigger by the hour.
Big, fluffy flakes that melted seconds after hitting the ground gave way to the more sinister, smaller ones that signal accumulation.
But because temperatures hovered around the freezing point, the snow that accumulated quickly turned into slush.
At the beginning of the storm, side streets in Norridge and Harwood Heights were a bit slippery.
Cumberland Avenue, a designated state highway route, was treacherous during the early afternoon, with cars fishtailing and sliding.
By Tuesday’s rush hour, though, driving conditions had improved.~.
