Residents weather storm by staying in

Winter Storm 2009

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The following is a series of images from Saturday, January 10 in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. From Western Reserve Road to East Market Street, residents dealt with a large accumulation of snow by working and playing.

Snow Fall

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Authorities reported few problems associated with the nearly 10 inches of accumulation.

By JON MOFFETT

Vindicator Staff Writer

Saturday’s snowfall made driving a little more dangerous, but didn’t adversely affect many Mahoning Valley communities.

The heavy snowfall, which accumulated an inch per hour at points, made road crews work overtime.

The Ohio Department of Transportation instituted 12-hour shifts for crews, said spokeswoman Theresa Pollick.

“Now it becomes a plow and salt game,” Pollick said. “It’s basically keeping up with the precipitation.”

Despite constant plowing, roads were often slick and covered in snow. However, local authorities reported few problems associated with the weather. Lt. William Centric of the Youngstown Police Department said the conditions kept a lot of people indoors.

“We’re not getting many accidents because there aren’t a lot of people on the road,” he said. “They’re showing good sense.”

He added that the department has been able to handle business as usual.

“So far, we’ve been able to keep up with things,” he said. “It’s pretty much nothing out of the ordinary for this type of weather.”

Eric Ryan, executive director of the Chevrolet Centre, said he noticed a reduced attendance at the facility.

“We had the Phantoms tonight, and the Phantoms have a lot of season ticket-holders who were no-shows. I sure didn’t see many people on the road,” he said.

Ryan added many people chose to use the Internet to purchase tickets for the Feb. 21 boxing match at the center between Kelly Pavlik and Marco Antonio Rubio.

“I think a lot more people bought tickets online than they bought at the box office.”

Local police and fire departments noted a minimal difference and made only slight alterations to their protocol.

“When the weather is super bad, people show a lot more common sense,” said Joe Rosky, assistant police chief in Boardman. “We’ve only had one accident all day and it was a little fender bender. Other than slowing down our response time, it’s been a pretty normal day.”

Austintown manned all four fire stations to combat the weather instead of the normal two, a dispatcher said.

Campbell police received complaints of snow being pushed into residents’ driveways by plows, and the fire department requested people to make sure hydrants are clear of snow from plows or blowers.

Canfield police reported two accidents, one involving two cars and the other just one, that were minor.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, Youngstown received nearly 10 inches of snow accumulation. The 9.9 inches Saturday added to an already snowy month of January. According to the National Weather Service in Cleveland, the snowiest month on record for Youngstown was January 1999, with an accumulation of 34.6 inches. The record for most snow falling in one year occurred between 2007 and 2008 with 102.8 inches.

The forecast for the early part of this week is much of the same. There is a 90 percent chance of precipitation today, a 50 percent chance Monday and 70 percent chance Tuesday.

jmoffett@vindy.com