Briarcliff Manor Sends Out ‘Advanced Storm Report’

The following “Advanced Storm Report” was sent out to residents by Briarcliff Manor Village Manager Philip Zegarelli Thursday afternoon:

A few pre-storm items:

The most recent forecasts are not good: the expected accumulation is somewhere between 6 and 8 inches depending on the storm track.  Yes, maybe higher. It’s the temperatures that will be the problem. Temperatures are expected to drop to the single digits by Friday morning and throughout most of the day into Saturday.  This means lighter (powdery-type) of snow being blown around since wind gusts could be around 20 mph. These types of temperatures will make our brine and liquid sodium solutions (added to our rock salt) largely ineffective. Watch the local weather forecasts.

What does this mean? 

Trust Me … it will be a constant battle for our DPW to keep the roads clear and safe.  You should avoid travel whenever possible. Expect snow drifts to show up in unexpected places. Because of the back and forth of recent freezing temperatures, we expect some road or surface heaving will occur. This will be even worse with the expected single digit temperatures throughout the next 36+ hours. This could cause potential damage to our water system.  If you see or know of a water main break report it to the DPW at 941-9105 and our Police Department at 941-2130.  If you have a power outage, FIRST  please contact Con Ed at 1-800-75-CON ED to report it and make sure to get a “file or incident number”.  Pass that on to our Police Department at 941-2130.

Remember Winter Parking rules apply.  In order to provide for snow storms like today’s we  have a “No Overnight Street Parking” rule that mean any cars left on the street parked after 2:00 AM are subject to being ticketed. Whenever possible, place your cars in your driveways and give our DPW guys the ability to keep the streets open.

We will attempt to keep to our New Year’s Week Sanitation Schedule with Friday being a regular pick-up day schedule. If you have not done so already, secure your 2014 Scarborough Railroad Station parking permit. Since this is a crazy calendar week, the approaching snow storm and many people are away, we are providing a short grace period for parking permit renewal/application … to the close of business, Monday, 6 January, 2014.  Thereafter, as of Tuesday, 7 January, permit parking will be strictly enforced.  If you do park at the station tomorrow, park up against the fence line along the north bound (westbound) track.  Please do NOT leave your cars over the weekend since our DPW will need to clear the parking area for Monday’s rush.

Village Hall and other administrative services will be on a delayed opening for 10:30 AM tomorrow; the Library is to open at Noon.

REPEAT of a REPEATED Timely Tip. Here we go again … with the extended cold temperatures coming, this is more important than ever. Our Fire Department recently responded to the remnants of a fireplace fire that ended up outside in the owner’s trash bin.  How?  … hot ashes in the wrong place.  First, you should keep your wood stoves and fireplace hearth free of excess ash buildup: that is because excessive ash buildup presents good circulation of air needed for efficient wood combustion. When removing the ashes, gently stir them in the hearth to see if embers are still hot … it’s just not a visual thing, you should be able to feel the heat, so to speak.  Burning embers can last days.  Remove the ashes by using a metal container with a tight-fitting cover.  Always place ashes in an outside location away from structures and do not combine them with your garbage.  Even warm ashes may contain smoldering charcoal and can spark up / re-ignite.  Lastly, do not close the damper or flue device UNTIL you have totally cleaned out your fireplace … this to prevent ember emitting poisonous gases from circulating into your home.