New Boston streets czar explains why sanders and salters were out in force last night

Just before 6 p.m. yesterday, Ari Ofsevit posed a question on Twitter:

If anyone can explain why @BostonPWD is salting the roads when it's 34 and raining and it's all going to get washed away, let me know.

He added:

Salting during rain lasts … minutes.

There is harm, environmentally and financially, for exactly zero benefit.

If the forecast was that the temperature would soon drop, fine, but the forecast is for steady-or-rising temperatures.

This is a waste of resources.

Some Bostonians (Ed. note: Raises hand) answered that while it might be raining in some parts of Boston, other parts, such as Roslindale, had sleet on the ground at the time. This morning, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Boston's incoming chief of streets, joined the conversation:

With the caveat that I still have a lot to learn about snow ops, here’s a quick thread with what I know about @BostonPWD’s approach.

Storms like yesterday’s are tricky to plan for. A few degrees is the difference between a nothingburger and needing a significant response.

We subscribe to several precision forecasts and use them (+NWS) before and during a storm. They often disagree on details.

Temp, precipitation (type, intensity, duration), wind, all matter in terms of road conditions, & those factors can vary between neighborhoods.

As you see from other replies, yesterday’s storm wasn’t the same in every part of the city. Where I live in JP, we had some slushy accumulation on the pavement by early evening, even though it stayed rain in some places.

The goal is to keep roads safe without overdoing it, but it’s not an exact science. It’s complicated by the need to activate staff and contractors in anticipation of what’s going to happen, not after it’s already on the ground.

All things being equal we’re more likely to do too much rather than too little. The consequences of under responding can be deadly, so we'd rather overshoot a bit in a borderline situation.

The team is constantly evaluating on-the-ground conditions and the forecast, and does a lot of adapting on the fly. We also regularly test out new forecasting tools as they become available.

Even with @BostonPWD’s decades of accumulated wisdom on snow response, it’s always going to be a balancing act. Safety is the first priority, but we are always learning and working to refine our approach to better match each situation.