Rescue Mission open, animal welfare agents responding, but restaurants still filling in cold

High winds and early snowfall led to an impact at area restaurants on Valentine’s Day.

“Whenever we have an early day snow, it scares people into staying indoors,” said Thomas C. Smith, general manager of Springfield Grille, 7413 Tiffany South in Boardman. “I don’t think the coldness affects people too much because we’re all accustomed to this in Northeast Ohio.”

Brian Moore, general manager of Smokey Bones Bar and Fire Grill, 6651 South Ave. in Boardman, agreed.

“We were definitely down versus last year, for sure,” he said “It got better through the course of the day. Lunch was definitely slower than expected and so was dinner.”

“We did notice a kind of slow-up in the guests who didn’t have reservations,” said Smith. “We aren’t seeing the ones walking in without [reservations] like we did in the past.”

Some of the restaurants noted that they expect holiday traffic that started Friday to continue through tonight as some have specials on all those days.

On local roads, authorities reported mostly minor accidents, if any. In Erie, Pa., 100 vehicles were locked up after 20 to 25 vehicles rear-ended each other or slid off the road after a tractor-trailer lost control and slid off the road, blocking both lanes of Interstate 90.

Due to anticipated severe cold weather today, the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley was filling up its beds.

Local animal welfare officials are reminding residents to bring their pets inside, provide extra food and more water than usual during this cold spell .The dog warden and Animal Charity humane agents are responding to all calls about animals in need.

Andrew DiPaolo, WFMJ meteorologist, said temperatures as low as today’s haven’t been seen since a bitterly cold stretch in January 2014. He said today’s high is expected to be minus-1.

Read more about the weekend conditions in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.