The Clermont County Engineer’s Office is preparing for what could be the first significant winter storm of the season. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the area for tonight through Wednesday morning; between three and five inches of snow mixed with ice, sleet, and freezing rain is possible.

“Right now our crews are attaching plows to trucks and calibrating calcium chloride sprayers to ensure that they dispense the correct amount of chemical,” said Rob Alfieri, highway operations manager with the Clermont County Engineer’s Office. “The calcium chloride helps road salt work at lower temperatures and keeps the salt on the road; it is an alternative to the brine application that some agencies use. Salt works to de-ice roads to around 15-20 degrees; we use calcium chloride to help the salt work to zero degrees.”