Is It Winter Yet? The Latest on Roads, Weather in Royal Oak

Royal Oak Mayor Jim Ellison called for patience last night on his Facebook page as snow continued to fall and make the city's plowing operations fall behind schedule. 

"The crews made an attempt to hit the neighborhoods around 1 p.m. (Thursday) afternoon, but were called back to service the main roads again due to additional snow build up," the mayor wrote.

Ellison reminded residents that Royal Oak has 212 miles of roads that require maintenance. That translates to about 424 miles of curb to touch with a plow, he said.

"Even if we could travel 70 miles per hour, it would take six hours to travel that distance. Add in snow, parked cars, equipment breakdowns, changing conditions (and) employee fatigue," Ellison said. You get the picture.

What we know right now

As of 7:30 a.m. Friday, all major roads have been plowed according to Greg Rassel, director of the Royal Oak Department of Public Service. 

"Operations on Thursday were hampered by the length of the snow," Rassel said. "And when it gets this cold, the salt was not working."

Rassel added he appreciates residents' patience.

"I know it seems like it is taking a long time, but we really are within our margin of error for getting everything done," he said

• The commute: Major roads are salted and plowed. Residential streets are plowed from 14 Mile to 12 Mile Road. Trucks will be out all day Friday. Rassel expects all side streets to be completed by this evening.
• The weather: Temperatures this morning will range between zero and 10 degrees below zero. Winds of 5 to 10 mph will result in wind chill values around 15 degrees below zero, according to the National Weather Service.  A complete look at the weather forecast is here.
• Power outages: The icy weather has not caused any power outages in Royal Oak. For the latest on the power outages, check out this interactive map.