RDU says it’s ready for ice and snow. Here’s how it keeps runways clear.
The crews that keep the runways at Raleigh-Durham International Airport clear during a winter storm have basically the same goal as those working on highways such as Interstate 40.
But RDU has a wider array of tools and equipment available to make sure planes can take off and land when snow and ice are falling. And the airport is ready to use them this weekend.
Because the forecast now calls for sleet and ice to fall first, the effort will likely begin with a healthy coating of de-icing chemicals, said Mark Wood, director of field maintenance.
Instead of salt or brine, the airport uses more expensive potassium acetate de-icers that are good to 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and aren’t corrosive. Salt eats at pavement, causing potholes and chipping that can play havoc with a jet moving at more than 150 mph.
“We can’t have that on the runway,” Wood said.
RDU applies the de-icing chemicals in both liquid and solid form. A 4,000-gallon tanker truck with spray arms that stretch 75 feet across can cover the entire 150–foot wide runway in one pass down and back.
As snow and ice come down, crews hit the runways with giant brooms and blowers that push it off to the side. Last year, RDU acquired two Oshkosh machines that can be fitted with blowers or 22-foot-wide brooms or plows. The airport also has three 16-foot-wide brooms on standard trucks.
If snow gets five inches deep, crews will switch from brooms to plows. Besides the two Oshgosh machines, the airport has 20-foot plows that can be put on dump trucks and earth-moving equipment provided by a contractor.
RDU has two commercial runways, and the goal is to keep at least one of them available for landings and takeoffs at any time, Wood said. Crews will alternate sweeping and plowing, spending an hour or so on one runway before switching to the other.
“We’re going to hit it as hard as we can just to keep one runway open,” he said. “As many planes that want to fly out of RDU, they should be able to.”
Snow and ice don’t close RDU often. Curtis Henderson, who has worked in airport maintenance since the spring of 2000, doesn’t recall any closures in his time there. Henderson joined RDU a few months after the biggest snow storm in modern history in late January 2000, when more than 20 inches of snow and bitter cold temperatures closed the airport for two days.
The Triangle hasn’t seen much snow in recent years. RDU’s snow-removal crews try to keep sharp by sending someone to the annual International Aviation Snow Symposium in Buffalo, New York. They also run through the paces on a runway once a week starting in the early fall.
“We practice just like there’s a snow storm,” Wood said. “We practice our turnarounds. We practice our formations. We practice all that just to make sure that the equipment is operating right and all our staff knows just what to do.”
If you’re expecting to fly out of RDU or meet an incoming passenger this weekend, check on the flight status with the airline before heading to the airport.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 12:42 PM.
