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Crews Prepare for Snow in Ohio Valley

West Virginia Division of Highways truck diver Jason Vansickle gases up a snow plow at the DOH District 6 Triadelphia facility Thursday afternoon in preparation for possible snow accumulation today.

WHEELING — The first noticeable accumulation of snowfall this year was expected to hit the Ohio Valley today, and plow crews were out Thursday preparing for the weather.

A few inches of snowfall were expected to begin accumulating between 2 to 4 a.m. in Ohio and Belmont counties, and slightly later this morning in Marshall County.

“We figure the Wheeling area, around 2-3 inches of snow,” said Pat Herald, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh. “We don’t consider that a snowstorm, though.”

The early morning snow, combined with rainy conditions Thursday, had several local agencies preparing. In Bethlehem, the street department readied their equipment, which had gone unused for much of the mild winter.

Ben Gilbert, head of maintenance for Bethlehem said their road crews were fully prepared to treat village roads with a mixture of salt and cinders for any predicted accumulation of snow for the area. He said because it’s been a mild winter, the village has a full stockpile of about 120 tons of salt in its shed located behind the village municipal building at Bethlehem Memorial Park.

Gilbert said they blend about a 50-50 mixture of salt and cinders. He said they expect to be able to make it through the remainder of the winter season with village’s current stockpile. Gilbert added they have two pickup trucks with salt spreaders that are loaded at the supply shed with a backhoe when needed.

“We usually run a blend of salt and cinder mix that we mix up ahead of time. We try to stay ahead of it,” Gilbert explained. He said with the snow predicted to hit the area in a early morning hours, they will schedule crews to get out ahead of any inclement weather that could cause problems for motorists.

West Virginia Division of Highways District 6 Assistant District Engineer Tony Clark said crews were kept current on weather conditions through the internet, and were ready to go out and keep the panhandle’s roads treated.

“We are absolutely, top to bottom — our district is as prepared as they can be,” Clark said. “Our guys monitor the weather on any kind of weather source that they can get, and try to monitor it constantly, and try to be as prepared as we can be.

In St. Clairsville, road crews were on standby with their equipment ready to hit the streets before first light.

“We’ve got the fleet all fueled, loaded, plows on, and all our equipment’s ready to go,” said Don Smithberger, superintendent of general services. “Hopefully we don’t get too much (snow).”

Ohio County schools were canceled today, due to a combination of sickness and the potential for inclement weather. Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones said the district would take the long weekend to clean the schools.

“We have a lot of sickness, flu and stuff going around, as well as the snow coming, so this is just a day we need to use for all these reasons,” Jones said. “We’re just going to cancel everything, clean the buildings and give them an extra day on the weekend. Hopefully by Monday it’ll be over with.”

This is the first day off Ohio County schools have had this school year, although a pair of two-hour delays were taken.

“We have days off built in for this purpose,” Jones said.

NEWSLETTER

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