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Snowed in — but who cares?
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Winter Weather January 2009
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STAFF REPORT
The good news is, there are only three more days of January, including today.
The wicked weather that arrived early Wednesday closed most Mahoning Valley schools.
It also shuttered the Mahoning County Juvenile Court. Youngstown Municipal Court opened for business, as did Mahoning County Common Pleas Court — but that was short-lived. Municipal court closed at 2 p.m., and night court was canceled. Common Pleas Court and the courthouse closed at 1:30 p.m.
For today, the meeting of the Mahoning County commissioners has been canceled due to uncertainty over the weather, said Judith A. Tesone, office manager. The next board meeting will be at 10 a.m. Feb. 5 in the county courthouse basement.
Justin Chesnic, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation District 4, which includes Mahoning and Trumbull counties, said crews began working late Tuesday afternoon and would remain on the roads throughout the snowstorm.
“They started out plowing and just salting critical areas like intersections, ramps and bridges,” he said. “About 3 to 3:30 a.m., it switched to rain and freezing rain, and that’s when we switched over to salt to help break that up.”
District 4 said it had 15 crews attacking 8 inches of snow in Mahoning, and 26 crews on 8 inches of snow in Trumbull.
Morning commuters had a tough go with ice-slicked roads and freezing rain. By 9:15 a.m., Youngstown police had responded to eight crashes. The Ohio State Highway Patrol Canfield post said the icy conditions caused some drivers to slide onto the berm or median but nothing more serious.
Police dispatchers in Austintown and Canfield reported no accidents Wednesday afternoon but said drivers should use caution because roads were still covered in ice, snow and slush.
ODOT responded to winter’s wrath with 15 crews in Mahoning County and 25 in Trumbull. Each driver is equipped with the materials needed to address the weather as it happens — a plow on the truck front to move through heavy snow and a truck bed of salt.
“He’s the expert,” Chesnic said of the plow drivers.
ODOT also cautions drivers to allow plenty of room for snowplows — don’t crowd them. A plow driver’s field of vision is limited, so if you can’t see the plow’s side mirrors, the driver can’t see you. ODOT advises drivers to stay two to three car lengths behind a plow and avoid passing them.
Road conditions began to deteriorate about 9 a.m. Wednesday in Trumbull County, as rain turned back to snow and started coming down in large quantities. The Ohio State Highway Patrol barracks in Southington reported that a number of “slide-offs” had been reported during drive-time but no serious accidents.
The icy conditions kept state troopers and tow-truck drivers busy throughout the day, the patrol reported late in the day.
The Trumbull County 911 center reported numerous accidents throughout the morning with nine of them recorded between about 6 and 9:30 a.m. The accidents continued throughout the day, the county 911 center reported late in the day.
The Niles dispatching operation, which also handles Weathersfield Township, reported that a couple of slide-off accidents had occurred Wednesday morning on Tibbetts-Wick and Four-Mile Run roads, both in Weathersfield Township.
In Columbiana County, Barry Minor, the head of the ODOT garage near Lisbon, said the state used double plows during the storm. Minor said that one driver would plow the center of the road and the rear truck would do the edging in the right lane.
The state also did a triple plowing with three trucks early Wednesday from East Liverpool to the Mahoning County line.
A sensor in the ODOT’s on-line weather observation system Wednesday at the boundary of the two counties showed snow was falling at the rate of 0.6 inches an hour. “That’s pretty good,” Minor said.
Minor said the state would spend a couple of days clearing the remaining snow.
Paul Parks, the superintendent of the Columbiana County Highway Department, had all 14 department trucks out Tuesday into Wednesday, with some drivers replacing tired ones.
Kenny Moran, Girard road superintendent, said crews have been working 12-hour shifts since late Tuesday, but still had not been able to keep up with the heavy downpour Wednesday. The work has been taxing on his employees and equipment, leaving one truck on the sidelines with mechanical problems.
“Right now things are just not looking good. We are not getting ahead of this at all. You go over one street and it looks like you didn’t even touch it,” he said. “It’s just been a lot of wear and tear on the vehicles and my guys.”
Salem’s street workers worked most of Tuesday and Wednesday with a three-hour break before starting to plow again, said Steve Andres, the service director. The snow was so heavy that one street near city hall had to be plowed three times, he said.
In Pennsylvania, dispatchers and state police in Mercer and Lawrence counties said there were countless fender benders and stuck vehicles, but no serious accidents as of Wednesday afternoon.
Those venturing out were advised to call ahead and verify events hadn’t been canceled. Among the events canceled Wednesday were two high school girls basketball games at the Chevrolet Centre in Youngstown. The weather caused the cancellation of Hubbard vs. Lakeview and Howland vs. Canfield. The games will be played today with the first one starting at 6 p.m. and the latter with an expected start time of 7:45 p.m.
Those with tickets for the games can use them today. Also, $7 tickets will be sold at the door.
The weather also caused the center to close its box office Wednesday.
There are a number of Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle deputy registrar locations across the state that may be closed or offering limited services due to the ice and snow. Call ahead to your local deputy registrar or driver exam station to verify they are open today and the rest of this week. A list of deputy registrar and driver exam locations and phone numbers can be found online at: http://bmv.ohio.gov/county/cnty_lst.htm.
Every public school in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana County canceled classes Wednesday as did most of the public schools in neighboring western Pennsylvania. Many private, parochial and charter schools were closed across the region as well.
Youngstown State University had planned to maintain its regular schedule Wednesday but decided to shut down at 1 p.m.
Some other institutions of higher learning in the region never opened their doors Wednesday. Kent State University closed its main campus as well as its branches in Warren, East Liverpool and Salem. Penn State Shenango in Sharon also closed for the day.
Home Savings and Loan closed its corporate offices downtown and all of its local branches at 3 p.m. Wednesday. They were expected to reopen today.
For Vindicator staffer Katie Seminara's peek at life behind a plow click here.