Crews across the region grappled Friday with the aftermath of Thursday's snowstorm and worked to clear ice and hard-packed snow from roads, just as a round of lighter snow was forecast to fall late Friday. 

Higher temperatures during Thursday's snowstorm initially had caused snow to melt, but temperatures later dropped and "everything froze solid," said Gary Lessor, assistant director of The Weather Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.

AAA Emergency Roadside Service reported in a news release that it got more than 1,000 calls as of noon Friday for extrications, as well as for tow service, dead batteries and flat tires, for the greater Hartford area, which includes New London County.

“We expected to be busy today, given the extreme cold overnight and the fact that many vehicles sat idle yesterday, but these numbers are by far the highest I’ve seen,” Amy Parmenter, spokesperson for AAA in greater Hartford, said in a statement. “At one point we got more than 70 calls in 10 minutes.”

On Friday afternoon, State Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick said state roads were passable, and the state basically had recovered from the major blizzard, except for remaining snowpack in isolated areas.

Prior to Thursday's storm, the DOT had pre-treated critical areas statewide, including the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, and then plowed and put down salt throughout the blizzard, Nursick said. The department called in every asset, including 634 state trucks and nearly 250 more from contractors.

"We brought everyone in," he said. "We activated statewide at 4 a.m." 

State trucks continued to treat and plow roads and push away snow overnight into Friday, he said. 

But plummeting temperatures made it challenging to melt the covering of snow and get down to bare, wet asphalt on roads for Friday's early morning commute, even with the treatment. However, Nursick said, everything changed once the sun came out about 8 a.m. and helped melt the snow, despite the low temperatures.

East Lyme Public Works Director Joe Bragaw also said on Friday afternoon that the storm, with the wind and a more than typical snowpack, was tough.

"It was a more complicated storm than usual, but it is the Northeast," he said.

On Friday, the sun, along with traffic returning to the roads, was helping the treatment work to melt the snow and turn it to slush, he said.

Joseph Sastre, Groton's director of emergency management, said early Friday afternoon the roads were as good as could be expected under the conditions.

"There is a lot of ice and packed-down snow on the roads," he said. "As long as it stays as cold as it is, it's not going to melt any time soon."

"Our entire snow-clearing crew is out there today," he added.

More snow

Lessor said the next snowfall, expected to begin between 9 and 11 p.m. Friday and end by 7 a.m. Saturday, would bring one to two inches of snow to the region.

"It will be a nice light snow, nothing like the intensity we saw (Thursday)," he said.

Temperatures will warm up Saturday, with highs between 40 and 45 degrees and lows in the 30s, which would help melt snow, according to Lessor. Periods of rain were forecast for Sunday, he said, with the potential for rain to transition to a snowstorm on Sunday night.

With more snow predicted, the public works crews and state crews were again expected to be called to work.

Nursick added that salt residue from treating the roads for Thursday's blizzard would remain on the roads for a couple of days.

"That salt residue acts as a barrier and starts to work before we’re even out on the roads to plow," he said.

Nursick thanked both the crews and the public, who heeded the advice to stay off roads during the storm.

"Integral to the Department of Transportation doing its job effectively is keeping excessive traffic off the roadway," he said.

k.drelich@theday.com