OKC has *never* done decently WRT clearing roads of snow, ice, or sleet, not in the 40 years I've been driving here, why would they start now? The "snow routes" are laughable - we live at 36th/May, wife works at the Capitol during session, uses 23rd, and it's a "snow route", yet it's been as rutted, built up, unplowed, uncleared as any other road in the city every time there's a storm. OKC's road-clearing philosophy is "It'll melt".

Yeah, it will melt when the sun is out!

This stuff does not come off with the standard snow plow. I was shoveling my driveway yesterday and that was the hardest winter precipitation I've ever tried to remove.

This stuff does not come off with the standard snow plow. I was shoveling my driveway yesterday and that was the hardest winter precipitation I've ever tried to remove.
We used the same plows on our tractors that we always use at work this morning. It's slower going and comes up in chunks but plows will remove it.

I saw plows going down NW Expressway a few times yesterday and that road is notably clearer than other roads currently. That being said, we're only a few hours of sunshine and/or above freezing temperatures from all of this melting anyways.

They did not salt the roads at all?

KFOR reported the following: “Salt loses its ability to work in temperatures below 15 degrees,” said Raymond Melton, OKC Street Superintendent.
That being said, it looked to me that they had treated the streets, it's just we were hardly above 15 degrees today so perhaps it just wasn't effective with today's conditions.

Looks like we should get a decent amount of filtered sunshine today, so most of this should be able to melt away.

Looks like we should get a decent amount of filtered sunshine today, so most of this should be able to melt away.

Thankfully! I am returning to work today so hopefully I will be okay

KFOR reported the following: “Salt loses its ability to work in temperatures below 15 degrees,” said Raymond Melton, OKC Street Superintendent.
That being said, it looked to me that they had treated the streets, it's just we were hardly above 15 degrees today so perhaps it just wasn't effective with today's conditions.

From what I've seen, cities (not sure if OKC did this or not) put some kind of solution involving salt brine and maybe a few other things (not sure what) down on the roads before an ice/freezing rain/sleet storm and this supposedly prevents the stuff from sticking. Salt does lose its ability to work at some point, but there are other things that do work in that temp besides salt, and other methods than just putting salt down via a spreader.

From what I've seen, cities (not sure if OKC did this or not) put some kind of solution involving salt brine and maybe a few other things (not sure what) down on the roads before an ice/freezing rain/sleet storm and this supposedly prevents the stuff from sticking. Salt does lose its ability to work at some point, but there are other things that do work in that temp besides salt, and other methods than just putting salt down via a spreader.

They put some down here on Sooner near Tinker. But it did no good since we got an inch of sleet. And I tried just shoveling my driveway, and it was hard as a rock.

Yeah everything on the roads that hasn’t melted yet is a sheet of ice currently.

One of my responsibilities for 30+ years has been overseeing ice/snow removal. There are a few chemicals or chemical mixtures that ice-melt can be purchased in. We've tried probably all of them. Some claim to work in as low as -25 degrees. I haven't found any that do much good at all under 10 to 15 degrees above. Unless you dump many times the normal amount and wait a couple hours. Then as soon as the chemical reaction is over it freezes back. Usually slicker than before.

Since it's weather related I'll post it here. Went to the Thunder game and what the heck OKC. Non of the side walks were cleaned. Not even the one going to the streetcar at scissortail park. Non of the parking spots plowed. Non of the sidewalk at the intersection of the omni hotel were cleaned off. Total slick mess for the few of us that went to the game last night. The thunder had a bit of their sidewalk cleaned but not the stairs going up to the southwest entrance. They just throw a bunch of salt on it and it was a slushy mess.

Since it's weather related I'll post it here. Went to the Thunder game and what the heck OKC. Non of the side walks were cleaned. Not even the one going to the streetcar at scissortail park. Non of the parking spots plowed. Non of the sidewalk at the intersection of the omni hotel were cleaned off. Total slick mess for the few of us that went to the game last night. The thunder had a bit of their sidewalk cleaned but not the stairs going up to the southwest entrance. They just throw a bunch of salt on it and it was a slushy mess.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=46756&p=1197665#post1197665 also applies to sidewalks and parking lots (wife reported the Capitol lot was unpleasant this morning, sidewalks might've been done somewhat properly, she didn't mention those).

The thing with sleet is it is very easy to remove the day it fell. But attempting to remove it after it has settled and packed down is basically like chipping into ice. Some UV radiation is getting through regardless of clouds and temperatures. Some people mistake air temp as the end-all for melting things. Radiation from the sun is still filtering through clouds and melting the top layer of the accumulated sleet. This is why we have basically entire sheets of ice on everything now.

Jet dryer/blowing devices or even regular snow shovels used the day the sleet fell would have prevented the settling/packing.

The problem is everyone stayed inside for 24 hours while the roads were bad and didn't remove any of the sleet. Now that they need to get back out 1-2 days later, they are coming out to remove slabs of ice.

I just had to go out and the sidestreets are horrible.

There is a small incline near my house that I had barely noticed before and it was just polished sleet (ice) and someone was completely stuck.

I suppose we'll just have to wait a couple more days for it to melt. Really, really treacherous right now.

From what I've seen, cities (not sure if OKC did this or not) put some kind of solution involving salt brine and maybe a few other things (not sure what) down on the roads before an ice/freezing rain/sleet storm and this supposedly prevents the stuff from sticking. Salt does lose its ability to work at some point, but there are other things that do work in that temp besides salt, and other methods than just putting salt down via a spreader.

I remember during my time in St. Louis in the '90s that they put down liquid calcium chloride on the bridges and overpasses when it was very cold since it was supposed to be more effective than just salt. The worst I have ever experienced though was snow/ice events in Portland, Oregon, where, I swear they put sand down (and only sand because they deemed salt too environmentally damaging, I was told) that contained small rocks that flew up and hit your paint job and windshield. I remember being so ticked off every time it snowed and they put like gravel down, it seemed.

Neighborhood roads are a nightmare. The sleet has turned to a solid sheet of ice. It reminds me of a similar storm we experienced about 15 ish years ago where we got 2x the sleet and the temperature never got above freezing for a week. My yard turned into an ice rink.

I just had to go out and the sidestreets are horrible.

There is a small incline near my house that I had barely noticed before and it was just polished sleet (ice) and someone was completely stuck.

I suppose we'll just have to wait a couple more days for it to melt. Really, really treacherous right now.

It is supposed to be sunny all day on Sunday so it will help

I remember during my time in St. Louis in the '90s that they put down liquid calcium chloride on the bridges and overpasses when it was very cold since it was supposed to be more effective than just salt. The worst I have ever experienced though was snow/ice events in Portland, Oregon, where, I swear they put sand down (and only sand because they deemed salt too environmentally damaging, I was told) that contained small rocks that flew up and hit your paint job and windshield. I remember being so ticked off every time it snowed and they put like gravel down, it seemed.

They put the same thing down in Denver, at least they did years ago. Chipping windshields constantly.

Neighborhood roads are a nightmare. The sleet has turned to a solid sheet of ice. It reminds me of a similar storm we experienced about 15 ish years ago where we got 2x the sleet and the temperature never got above freezing for a week. My yard turned into an ice rink.

We were going maybe 5 miles an hour and just idling along on our street on the way home last night and did this slow motion 180 spin.

I drive a newish 4Runner and weather like this really brings out all of the best aspects of it. It honestly drives better in snow (less so in true ice) than it does on dry pavement. There are so many features designed to counteract slippage well beyond the simple 4x4 drivetrain. For instance ABS engaging to the wheels independently even when on the accelerator is a game-changer.

I actually enjoy driving it enough in winter conditions that I look for opportunities to go out and (carefully) test its capabilities and limitations so that I can better utilize them if actually required to do so.

In 2-1/2 years of ownership yesterday was the first time I ever experienced anything close to an uncontrolled slide when all four wheels broke loose for a moment approaching a stop sign (slowly enough for it not to be truly dangerous).

Other than the abysmal fuel economy it’s such a great vehicle. And even that isn’t a huge deal when you only drive about 7-8K a year like I do.