FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): The Indiana Department of Transportation is preparing for the possibility of winter weather.

“Basically there are four stages of snow fighting,” Nichole Hacha-Thomas with INDOT said. “The first phase we are always doing during the winter and that’s watching the weather.”

INDOT closely monitors multiple forecasters.

The next phase is called patrolling. That is when crews are out driving around the district watching for winter weather to come in. When crews are out patrolling, they will also be pre-treating the roads.

“Today we are out pre-treating bridges, overpasses, underpasses and ramps — those are the first place to kind of slick over,” Thomas said. 

The next phase, the call out, it when INDOT determines how many drivers they need, where the drivers will be dispatched and what kind of tools they will use on the roads. 

The fourth phase is the clean up. After the storm dies down. INDOT cleans up the medians, the turn lanes and ramps.

RELATED: Indiana Department of Transportation warns drivers about winter weather