Many Hoosiers woke up Friday morning to a sheet of ice covering almost everything.

“I wish I would have worn ice skates—it was really slippery out,” said LaToya Martin.

“The ice broke my windshield, broke my windshield wipers. It’s bad snow…couldn’t see before that. Lots of ice, lots of rain and once the snow covers the ice, it was worse,” said one driver.

Sidewalks and neighborhood streets that weren’t pretreated were the most affected, but drivers said the main roads and highways were manageable enough.

“The streets look like they’ve just been rained on. No ice, no nothing. The highways are perfect,” said Lynell Horne, an Indianapolis resident.

City and state road crews got the jump on the storm Thursday by pretreating and salting before the storm hit Central Indiana.

“They did a pretty good job salting the streets and stuff early before the snow or rain mixture hit,” said Horne.

Those efforts along with above-freezing temperatures helped melt the ice on many neighborhood streets and sidewalks. Many still need attention.

That’s why LaToya Martin was out salting sidewalks in her neighborhood near 30th and College.

“That’s a concern that I have because there’s a lot of old people in this community and a lot of them do have disabilities,” she said.

The latest winter storm is already creating a mess out on the roads. Police have been responding to dozens of crashes all night across the area. You should expect conditions to get worse in the morning — especially with the freezing rain making things extra tricky.

After 10 hours on the road, Jason King decided to park his truck for the night. First it was the snow. Then, it was the ice.

“It’s just bad. I couldn’t see where you were going, and lots of people were crashing,” said King, who drove from Brownsville, Texas. “I broke my windshield wiper. I had about an inch [of ice] on the hood of the truck. It was overheating my truck. I had to pull over and pound it all off of there.”

“It’s a mess. I wasn’t expecting sleet and it’s really really slick,” said Ariel Sergent, who was driving to work.

The RN is expecting a busy night at the hospital.

“I’ve already seen one truck on the side of the road turn sideways,” she said.

This wintery mix is expected to last until the Friday morning commute. It’s prompted Indy Snow Force to bring in another 90 drivers to work through the night. The Indiana Department of Transportation is also out in full force with its salt trucks. Road crews spent much of Thursday pre-treating with tens of thousands of gallons of salt water.

“With the influx of traffic in the morning commute and the timing that we’re looking at with the freezing rain, it could be a dangerous situation in the morning,” said Nathan Riggs, Spokesman for INDOT.

Police are urging drivers to brake early and often.

“If it stays like this, I guess I’ll probably drive for a little while. If not I’ll stop and see how everything goes,” said Lee Charles, a truck driver from Chicago.

Indianapolis Snow Force and state road crews are concerned about the timing of this storm and how it may affect the morning commute. That’s why they were busy early Thursday.

Ninety Indy Snow Force drivers showed up at 11 a.m. Thursday morning.They were going over their equipment, doing maintenance and making sure they are ready to go when the storm hits.

Ninety fresh drivers will relieve them at at 11 p.m. Those drivers will work through the Friday morning commute concentrating their efforts on bridges, overpasses, main roads and secondary streets.

INDOT is also getting ready. State trucks were out pre-treating using tens of thousands of gallons of salt-water.

The state said the timing of this storm and what’s expected could make for a dangerous situation out on the roads.

“With the influx of traffic in the morning commute and the timing that we’re looking at with the freezing rain and things like that in the morning, it could be a dangerous situation in the morning. We’ll have plenty of drivers out to keep roadways as safe as possible, but whenever you have freezing rain, it’s probably one of the worst conditions to be out driving,” said Nathan Riggs with INDOT.

Both city and state crews will concentrate their efforts in the areas that need it most when the storm begins.

Brian Wilkes Web Forecast Thursday

It won’t be a blizzard, but the timing of this storm will likely impact your Friday. Road crews are already formulating their plan on how to deal with this latest storm.

INDOT spent part of Wednesday pre-treating the roads. INDOT Spokesman Nathan Riggs said they are prepared to give their plow truck drivers some overtime. Indy Snow Force said they will be releasing a plan Thursday morning.

If you’re a born and bred Hoosier, folks like Lauren Weatherall are used to dealing with all types of weather in one week.

“I just got used to turning down my heat in my house and now I got to turn it back up,” she said. “That’s never fun.”

Mark it on your calendars — as of Wednesday, there are 27 days until spring!