Bismarck-Mandan city officials are drawing on manpower hours, salt and sand, fuel and equipment to manage December's record snowfall, but say they aren't running low on supplies yet.

Bismarck Public Works Director Jeff Heintz said this year's frequency and volume of snow has not been seen here for 10 years. He said other departments have been enlisted to help his staff of 30 remove the snow. According to Heintz, between Dec. 1 and Dec. 15, crews put in 500 regular hours of snow removal and 120 hours of overtime.

Heintz estimates they have used about one-third of the city's sand and salt mix to clean the city's 350 miles of streets. "We've put down 4,000 tons of sand and salt on the city streets. We have 15,000 tons in our sand storage shed."

He said that is not remarkable, since about two-thirds of winter remains.

"We've got contingencies set up to order more," Heintz said.

According to Heintz, crews have put in 7,000 miles with sanding trucks alone.

He said during big winter weather events, crews are out plowing and sanding just after midnight.

He said the snow gates are being used as required by ordinance.

"We have seven plow units that we break out when we're plowing a storm like this. … In those seven units, there is a motor grader, a front-end loader and a sander," Heintz said.

Bismarck crews were scheduled to continue their plowing until midnight Wednesday. If no additional snow is received, the street department will be removing snow in the Bismarck "No-Parking-Street Cleaning" signed areas.

Downtown snow removal will start at 1 a.m. Friday in the north-south streets in downtown signed areas.

Saturday's cleanup begins at 1 a.m. for the east-west streets in downtown signed areas.

Mandan Public Works Director Jeff Wright figures he has has used 3,000 tons of the sand/salt mixture to treat Mandan's 132 miles of streets. "We have less than 1,000 tons left. We used everything we bought." He said another 2,000 tons of the mix has been reordered for after the first of the year, but that will have to come from the 2009 budget.

Wright said cleanup for big snow systems requires split 14-15-hour shifts, including work after midnight.

Forecasters say compared to the past two weeks, Christmas Day should be a peaceful one.

Joshua Scheck, meteorologist at the Bismarck office of the National Weather Service, predicted today's low at 6 below zero and its high a welcome 20 above.

"On Christmas night, the low will be 10 above zero and there will be a chance of snow Christmas night. There will be freezing rain and scattered snow south of here."

Friday brings a 60 percent chance and blustery conditions by afternoon. Its high will be 18 above zero.

"We'll get between 2 and 5 inches of snow. Winds will start at 5-10 mph early in the day and then increase to 10 to 20 mph," Scheck said. "Winds will be gusting up to 30 mph. It will be spreading from the west to the east," Scheck said.

He said conditions will clear Saturday, although blowing snow will be a concern. A Saturday morning low of zero is expected. Its high will be 12 above. Winds will decrease to 10 to 20 mph.

"Sunday should be nice for travelers going back," Scheck said. "We'll have a high of 24. There will be no precipitation. Winds will be 5 to 15 mph."

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@;bismarcktribune.com.)