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Here we snow again: 2-5 inches predicted for Valley by tonight
YOUNGSTOWN
Communities around the Mahoning Valley imposed street parking bans in anticipation of today’s snowstorm.
A winter weather advisory for as much as 5 inches of snow is in effect for the region until 10 p.m. today.
In Niles, Thomas M. Telego, emergency management director, announced a parking ban on city streets beginning at 10 p.m. Saturday.
Vehicles still on the streets as of 4 p.m. today may be ticketed or towed at the owners’ expense, he warned.
In Youngstown, the snow emergency and on-street parking ban begins at noon today and remains in effect until further notice, with noncompliant vehicles subject to being towed at the owner’s expense.
In New Middletown, Mayor Harry Kale imposed a parking ban on all village streets from 6 p.m. Saturday until further notice to facilitate snow removal.
Even politics got delayed by the storm, with a Mahoning Valley Democrat Club meeting postponed from Monday to 7 p.m. March 10 at Bogey’s Riverside Banquet Center, 3404 New Castle Road, Lowellville.
Saturday’s temperatures in the 40s reflected the calm before the storm.
Mike Joyce, 21 WFMJ-TV meteorologist, predicted 2 to 5 inches of snow in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys by Monday morning, with the higher accumulations more likely in Columbiana and Lawrence counties and southern Mahoning County, and lower accumulations to the north.
“Trumbull County might be on the 2-inch side of things,” he said.
This weekend’s storm follows the fifth snowiest and 10th coldest February in 117 years of recorded Mahoning Valley weather history.
The National Weather Service posted a winter weather advisory from 10 p.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. today.
The event was to begin Saturday night as snow and sleet, with a 100 percent chance of snow today and a high of 25 degrees, and a 70 percent chance of snow tonight.
Another cold snap is predicted, with single-digit morning low temperatures expected through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
With winds from the north at 13 to 16 mph, wind chill values were expected to plummet to 11 to 13 degrees below zero tonight and Monday, the NWS said.
‘‘The big deal for wind chills will probably be Tuesday morning, where we could actually see a low right around negative 3,” with a wind chill of 8 to 13 degrees below zero, Joyce said.
The winds from the north could cause snow to drift across the westbound lanes of east-west roads, such as U.S. Route 30 in Columbiana County, Joyce said.
High temperatures are predicted to be 18 degrees on Monday, 23 degrees on Tuesday and 27 degrees on Wednesday, with a warm-up later in the week, the NWS said.
High temperatures will return to the 40s Friday and Saturday, Joyce said.
“I think, if any schools are closed or delayed on Monday, it’ll be because the streets haven’t been plowed,” Joyce said.
“There may be a couple of delays” in school openings on Tuesday due to the low wind chill values, he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a massive closing event,” he concluded.