Weather, road info available at your finger tips

  • Published
  • By 86th Airlift Wing public affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  The cold weather season has officially arrived. Temperatures are dropping drastically at night, forcing motorists to scrape ice off their windows each morning. Along with the change in temps, road conditions may change from day to day.

Color-coded road condition summaries provide vehicle operators awareness of general conditions of primary roads in the immediate vicinity of KMC installations such as the B-40, B-270, and autobahns. The summaries do not apply to the many smaller roads throughout the KMC such as those connecting Hütschenhausen with Miesau, Bann with Landstuhl, or Enkenbach with Sembach. Additionally, road conditions in higher elevation areas, such as south of Landstuhl and in the Sembach area, may be more hazardous than the road condition summaries indicate.

"We urge personnel and their family members to use caution when traveling during this period of frequently changing weather conditions," said Col. Doug Sevier, 86th Airlift Wing vice commander. "Though road conditions may be 'green' on base, we realize there may be more hazardous weather in outlying areas of our community. Be safe, and use your best judgment during these times of inclement weather."

This is also important for school bus routes, as buses often have difficulty transiting areas, or temps are often very brutal for children waiting at bus stops.

"Just like we do with our servicemembers, we ask parents to make that call on whether it is safe for your students to travel or wait for the bus," Colonel Sevier said.

Late-reporting or installation-closure decisions are normally made no later than 4:30 a.m. to allow adequate time to complete notifications, to include school systems and bus operators. For the same reason, any decisions made to release early are normally made by 10:30 a.m. This allows non-mission-essential personnel to arrive home during daylight hours and permits parents to meet children returning home from school early. However, commanders may consider early release whenever weather conditions significantly deteriorate.

In order to stay informed about these changes, there are a variety of ways to get information on the current road condition before leaving the house.

The following phone lines are available to ensure 24-hour up-to-date information on road conditions: 480-COLD (2653) - 06371-47-2653 - and 479-TALK (8255). Dialing either number will lead callers to a voice-messaging service with three options. The first and second options inform the caller about the current road conditions and explain the different colors of road conditions. The third option is for the KMC Straight Talk Line, which gives information about other important topics. Messages will normally consist of highly visible topics that affect the entire KMC.

"This service is provided to members of the KMC to ensure that important information is made available when it's needed," the colonel said. "For this service to be valuable, we place top priority on ensuring that it is updated regularly."

The 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs office updates the system as needed with current road conditions, early release from schools and work, other weather-related information, and community information.

In addition to dialing 480-COLD and 479-TALK, KMC members also can listen to AFN live programming on Z-100.2 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Disk jockeys update changes regularly on the air. In addition, the Ramstein public Web site will also have an update of road condition posted in the upper right hand corner, which can be accessed at www.ramstein.af.mil.  

Before leaving for work in the morning, or if there are questions on road conditions or other events check out the above resources for information.

Road conditions defined:

Green: Road conditions are normal. Vehicle operators should exercise normal precautions.

Amber: Road conditions vary from normal to dangerous. Vehicle operators should exercise additional precautions. One or more of the following may apply: packed snow, snow slush, snow less than 4 inches, black ice, visibility of 20 to 50 meters (65 to 164 feet) and temperatures hovering around freezing.

Red: Road conditions are hazardous. Government-owned vehicle use off base/post is limited to emergency and mission-essential driving. Individuals are discouraged from driving privately owned vehicles unless absolutely necessary and then only with extreme caution. One or more of the following may apply: snow drifts, snow greater than 4 inches, extensive ice, visibility less than 20 meters (65 feet) and temperatures below freezing.

Black: Road conditions are hazardous to extremely hazardous. GOV use off base/post is at the discretion of the owning commander. POVs should not be on the road. One or more of the following may apply: heavy snow drifts, more than 8 inches of snow, extensive ice, visibility less than 15 meters (50 feet) and temperatures well below freezing.