Heavy snowfall hampered the morning commute Wednesday, Jan. 25, closing schools and businesses throughout the afternoon, but total accumulated snowfall ultimately fell well short of earlier projections for Logan County and the surrounding area.
Snow began to fall sometime around 3 a.m. Wednesday and local schools wasted no time canceling classes for the day.
The Logan County Sheriff’s Office had declared a Level 1 snow emergency by 4 a.m. as several motorists attempting to traverse the snow-covered county thoroughfares ended up sliding off the roadway.
Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol assisted with an early-morning crash along the north and southbound lanes of U.S. Route 68. Officers from the Washington Township Police Department reported around 7 a.m. a white Jeep lost control along
State Route 366, drove on top of a guardrail and had to be towed from the scene.
The Ohio Department of Transportation cautioned those who did not have to travel, to just stay home as plow crews began to clear the roadways.
Bellefontaine Service-Safety Director Wes Dodds quipped during the Tuesday, Jan. 24, meeting of the Bellefontaine City Council that projections called for, “somewhere between zero and eight feet of snow.”
Despite the broad spectrum of snowfall projections, Dodds maintained that city street crews would be prepared to clear the roads, prioritizing primary routes before beginning to work on secondary roads and residential streets.
By early afternoon though, most roads throughout the city and county were passable. Forecast rain, initially projected not to begin until later on in the day Wednesday, started to fall much earlier than expected. The snow emergency was lifted by late morning.
According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, “the warm air surge on the southern side of the system moved in quicker and further north, with snow changing to light rain for most of the area by mid-morning.
“The end result was less snow accumulation for much of the local area with a quicker transition to rain and melting (snow).”
Some additional snowfall is forecast for overnight Wednesday into this morning, but accumulations are expected to be small. As temperatures dip back below the freezing mark overnight, motorists are urged to use caution and watch out for patches of black ice throughout the day today.