Brine Operations Underway to Help With Ice in Wichita Falls

Friday is when the winter weather is expected in Wichita Falls, but don't be shocked if you notice something strange on the road the next few days.

Everyone is getting prepared for the potential winter weather this weekend, including our friends at The Texas Department of Transportation. Currently they have crews putting a brine solution on roadways in nine counties in our area.

What is Brine Doing on Our Roadways?

Everyone is probably used to seeing a snow plow dump salt on the roads before a storm. The problem with that salt, someone driving down the highway tends to blow a bunch of it off the road and then the salt doesn't do it's job. This new pre-treatment keeps the solution on the road before the crews switch to salt once the snow/ice starts coming in.

“The idea is that it falls onto the brine, it dilutes the salt and now we have a salt and water combination and that lowers the freezing point of that water,” TxDOT spokesman Val Lopez explained a few years ago.  “That salt acts as an antifreeze.”

TxDot actually uses magnesium chloride for their salt they put on roadways. It's more effective at melting snow in lower temperatures. Sand can also be used in some parts of Texas, but that is more for vehicles to get traction on the roadways as opposed to actually melting the ice.

We will wait and see how bad Wichita Falls gets hit this weekend. For anyone needing a place to stay warm, several warming centers are opening this weekend as well.