Iowans, How Should You Navigate a Snow-Covered Traffic Light?

Iowa is finally getting its first taste of actual winter this month. Most of Iowa was struck by a winter storm that brought heavy snow accumulations and blizzard like conditions on Monday, January 8th.

Wind gusts up to 40 MPH and light ice accumulations were reported which created the perfect conditions for a rough first snowstorm of the season.

Our weather partners at KCRG are predicting that on the evening of Thursday, January 11th into Friday, January 12th Eastern Iowans will be seeing even more snow.

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When it rains it pours…

While most of Thursday will be dry, snow is expected to come on through in the evening and will continue through Friday morning. It also looks like four to eight inches of snow is likely to hit us here in Eastern Iowa.

And the wind gusts between 35 to 45 MPH will probably cause quite a bit of drifting.

Travel conditions will be rough this time around, so if you can help it try to stay off the roads during peak snowstorm times.

If you have to be on the road or the snow stops and you need to run errands, there is a good chance you might run into a traffic light that is completely covered by snow.

What Do You Do If You Come Across One of These?

First of all, the snow accumulation and strong wind gusts will make driving difficult at times, according to officials.

I was on the roads during the snowstorm earlier in the week and it was a very precarious situation that I ended up putting myself in. My car was slipping all over and I could not figure out where I was due to the bad visibility as well as the snow covering street signs.

If you are ever in the same situation as me, but you come to a traffic light that is completely covered in snow, there's a few things that you should know.

Officials from the City of Ames posted a reminder on their Facebook page that was a great guide to this instance.

If you happen to be out on the roads and reach an intersection and the lights are covered completely by snow, here is what you should do:

• STOP
  • Treat it like a stop sign
• Slowly enter the intersection
  • NEVER assume that drivers coming from other directions are going to stop
• Continue on through

You should always take into account some extra time to go through the intersection.

Even if you think that you have a green light, don't treat it like that.

Maybe use this as a good rule of thumb, "It's not a green light if you can't see it."

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