On heels of snow, bitter cold to return

Snow Fall

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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.

Get prepared now for a cold snap expected to hit by the middle of the week with lows dipping below zero.

STAFF/WIRE REPORT

Despite near-record snowfall that made driving treacherous in the Valley and throughout Northeast Ohio over the weekend, no fatal accidents were reported in Ohio as of Sunday evening.

The National Weather Service of Cleveland recorded 11.3 inches of snowfall in the Valley on Saturday alone, more than doubling the amount of snow seen in the first nine days of January.

The heavy precipitation, up to an inch per hour at some points throughout the day, made it difficult for street workers to keep the roads clear, and police said motorists seemed to understand.

No fatal accidents were reported in Ohio, and many local departments reported a slower evening than usual.

“I think it’s because people learned their lesson with the first part of the week,” said Dale Hahne, supervisor for Trumbull County 911.

He said he also thinks timing and warning contributed to motorists’ staying home.

“The timing of this one was more toward the morning, so people weren’t stuck coming home from work,” Hahne said. “The first ice storms hit more around 2:30 or 3 p.m.

“People started to take this more serious.”

He said the post did receive some calls, but that was to be expected.

“We didn’t have too many problems, at all, even with the way it was coming down,” Hahne said. “We had people sliding off here and there, but it wasn’t near as bad as we thought it would be.”

The Valley wasn’t the only part of Ohio hit hard by the storm.

In other parts of the state, the heavy snow delayed flights to and from Cleveland and created hazardous travel conditions that had vehicles slipping and sliding across icy highways. The wet weather also prompted schools and churches throughout the region to cancel events, and the Akron Zoo was closed Saturday.

Two tractor-trailers jackknifed in northwest Ohio’s Seneca County, and two cars and a tractor-trailer lost control on Interstate 75 in Lucas County early Saturday.

In Sandusky Bay, a freighter heading to the coal docks became trapped and had to wait for a U.S. Coast Guard cutter to clear a path through the ice.

The 11.3 inches that fell between Friday and Saturday is the seventh most the region has seen in a 24-hour period. The top three largest snowfalls were 20 inches on Nov. 24-25, 1950; 14.7 inches on March 13, 1993; and in 2007, when St. Valentine dropped a little love for everyone in the form of 13 inches.

The winter storms may be over for now, but the National Weather Service is predicting bitter cold temperatures throughout the week, with highs some days reaching only about 10 degrees and lows hitting 5 below zero.