ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — If the Halloween temperatures were any indication, colder weather is on the way.
Both veteran and new recruits who will be driving their snowplows once the snowflakes fly hit the road Wednesday to practice their routes, multiple times if need be to feel comfortable.
They're trying to cover as much ground as they can on Wednesday, both figuratively and literally, while still needing 50 drivers behind the wheel to reach full capacity.
Wednesday's annual winter operations training for snowplow drivers actually begins in the classroom, where drivers learn policy and write out the routes.
St. Louis County has 115 trucks to clear roads, but the county is short-staffed on snowplow drivers. At full capacity, they have more than 200 drivers.
Still, St. Louis County Director of the Department of Transportation and Public Works Stephanie Leon Streeter said they should have enough staff to keep the roads clear.
Snowplow drivers were practicing their routes all day, which will hopefully make them aware of any hazards ahead of the snow falling.
"Anybody responding to snow will have the opportunity to continue to run their routes," Streeter said. "The folks specifically in the operations department are doing work on our streets anyway, so they might have a greater familiarity, but our recruits might not have as great a familiarity. We give them the opportunity to continue to become acquainted with the equipment and the routes that they'd be plowing."
In St. Louis County, there are 3,116 miles of road to plow. County Executive Dr. Sam Page said that's like driving from St. Louis to Las Vegas and back.
"As Missouri native Mark Twain once famously said, 'Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.' I beg to differ with Mr. Twain," Page said. "In St. Louis County, we're going to be working very hard to make sure we keep the streets clear of ice and snow when we see it. Today our training is happening to make sure that we're prepared, and we're ready to go to work."
The snowplows run in 12-hour shifts, typically with two people for each truck. To help drivers this winter in a timely fashion, the St. Louis County begins with pre-treating the subdivision streets first. Then, turning to arterial roads or sector roads since those are the ones with a lot of traffic that people need to get to work, schools, and the grocery stores.
If you're interested in applying to be a snowplow driver, you can find a link by clicking here to go to see opportunities in St. Louis County.