Frigid Temperatures and Snow Close Schools Just Five Days into the New Year

Baby, it's cold outside. And my small town of Athens, Ohio, is no different. Since ringing in the New Year, temperatures have not been above freezing. In fact, January 1st was the warmest thus far at a chilly 28 degrees with the averages being in the mid-teens.

Snowfall hasn't been overly deep. However, it has been steady. Snow started falling on Monday morning January 4th and continues to fall into the afternoon of the 5th. Accumulation has been recorded at 3-4 inches. Another 2-3 inches is expected to fall between Wednesday January 6th and Thursday January 7th. While this may seem a mere drop in the bucket compared to accumulation reports in the Northeast, travel conditions have been less than desirable.

Traveling in this area in any amount of snow can be interesting. This area is predominately farm land and is home to what many would call "back roads." Back roads around here generally mean roads in poor townships and counties, away from heavily traveled areas and town, and many times made of gravel. These roads are often neglected in order to treat the heavier traveled highways and state routes. In my own personal experience, we consider ourselves lucky to have sand, salt or cinders spread on our roads before we must commute to work or school-if they are in session.

Schools around here close frequently due to inclement weather. All of the city and county schools (16 schools total) were closed today, January 5th, due to the 2-3 inches of snow that had fallen overnight, and for good reason. I had to start out at 4:30 this morning for my 1.5 hour commute to Our Lady Of Bellefonte Hospital in Russel, Kentucky for nursing student clinicals. This commute keeps me on the heavily traveled State Routes 32 and 93, however, due to the icy and snowy conditions I maxed my speed out at 40mph and arrived at 7:10am. The bridges were iced over making them treacherous to cross if unaccustomed to traveling in these conditions. On the main roadways, the snow had been packed down to form a slick covering on the pavement. State Route 93 South covers 3 counties and winds through hills and valleys. It is a major route for trucks coming from the Huntington, West Virginia and Ashland, Kentucky areas. When I traveled through this morning, many trucks had come to a stand-still at gas stations and other stops due to road conditions. Some of the hills were too curvy and steep to navigate given the snow and ice. A few 2-axle vehicles also had some difficulty passing, including a Ford Explorer that had trouble gaining traction after stopping at a traffic signal.

As we come to the end of this week, temperatures are not expected to rise beyond freezing, keeping us down here in Southeast Ohio shivering for a few more days, at least. Perhaps we should consider ourselves lucky, though- we do not have over a foot of snow as do the New Englanders!

Sources:

(10/05/2010). Yahoo! News Weather. Retrieved from http://weather.yahoo.com
(10/05/2010). WXTQ School Closings and Delays. Retrieved from http://www.wxtq.com