Warren countians apparently learned their lessons from the last round of winter weather as people hunkered down at home Thursday, averting a repeat of the pandemonium from the ice storm just two weeks before.
“I think people heeded good advice and stayed at home,” said 911 Director Chuck Haston of the Thursday morning snow and ice event that deposited a thin sheet of ice capped by a light dusting of snow. “I think folks were much more inclined not to test the roads.”
There were, however, some issues during morning drive-time as some motorists decided to brave the elements.
“Between 5 and 7 a.m. we started getting calls of cars in ditches and wrecks with property damage,” Haston revealed. “We were dispatching one wreck about every 10 minutes.”
There was little to report after morning drive-time. Haston said there were no major issues concerning power outages and that overall medical calls were at their normal levels Thursday. All in all, Thursday was nowhere near the headache that the ice storm brought two weeks ago. According to Haston, timing was everything in this case.
“A few years ago there was an ice storm that hit right in the middle of the day. We immediately worked 15 wrecks with 30 more holding, waiting to be worked,” Haston said. “This time, people knew it was coming and it happened while people were already home so they could just stay put.”
Better weather ahead
The jet stream has come to the rescue, finally pulling the Nursery Capital out from under one of its worst winters in recent memory.
Long-range forecasts from the National Weather Service predict not only warmer temperatures for the coming two weeks but above normal highs.
The revelation comes following three weather events in the midsouth including an ice storm, flash snow storm and Thursday morning’s sleet and snow event.
The trio combined to claim thousands of dollars in personal property damage through wrecks and home structural damage, tens of thousands of dollars in road damage and what is likely to be hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage in utility damage.
The upturn in the weather, which comes just in time for the official beginning of spring, has already arrived as lows will be above freezing tonight for the first time in a week while the high today will hit the mid-50s. The warming trend is expected to continue through the week with highs getting up to the mid-60s by Friday. The 10-day forecast has no mention of lows dripping below freezing.
The reason for the sudden rescue from the deep freeze is the southerly bend in the jet stream that will bring warmer air from the southwest to the midsouth.
