If the city’s snow-removal crews were athletic teams, Tuesday would have been their final preseason game.

“It went well,” Chuck Soules, Public Works director, said after his crews drove routes in the city’s 15 snow plows as practice for coming snow season. “The guys got the equipment out and ready to go.”

Just as well.

6News meteorologist Ross Janssen is predicting a mix of snow and rain this afternoon and more freezing temperatures later this week.

Soules said the city was ready for a long, cold winter with plenty of road salt on hand  in city storage at 11th Street and Haskell Avenue, as well as the “north 40” near the Clinton Reservoir Water Treatment Plant on Wakarusa Drive  to keep the roads clear of slush, ice and snow.

“We’ve got that all in,” Soules said. “The salt bins are all full  we can’t hold any more.”

And as always, the city’s pothole response crews are ready for the winter rush, he said. People who see a pothole can call the city’s pothole hotline at 832-3456.

“We try to respond within 24 hours,” Soules said.