Friday, January 21, 2000
Next winter challenge: Severe cold
Wind chill may stay below zero all day
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tristaters woke up today to a temperature near zero and a wind chill near 20-below. And it'll be more of the same Saturday morning, with more snow forecast Saturday.
“It's taken a while ... but winter is here,” said Myron Padgett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Today's high will be in the low 20s, but winds will make it feel like it's below zero. Overnight temperatures are expected to dip to near zero again.
The snow forecast is for 2 or more inches starting Saturday afternoon or evening.
The year's first snowfall posed few major problems Thursday. Drivers who gave themselves extra time to battle ice and snow Thursday morning found interstate drive times were normal.
“The roads were treated very well and we had relatively few problems,” said David Leonard, a supervisor at Greater Cincinnati's ARTIMIS traffic management center. “We actually had bigger problems (Wednesday) afternoon when they first started treating the roads.”
The overnight snow kept Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers busy along Interstates 75 and 71 in Butler and Warren counties, as nearly a dozen cars slid off the two interstates during the snowstorm. There were no injuries.
“It didn't seem to be (as bad), like I have seen it before,” said OSP dispatcher Jerry Redfern. “I think the Ohio Department of Transportation got on it right away and got the roads cleared off. And we just didn't have the problems.”
Mark Gaffin cruises the northern portion of Hamilton County in a white Good Samaritan van, sponsored by CVS and ARTIMIS. Mr. Gaffin, an emergency medical technician and certified mechanic who helps stranded motorists, didn't encounter weather-related problems Thursday morning.
Instead, he played a big role in quickly taking care of one of the biggest tie-ups in morning rush hour. He recharged the battery in a semi-truck that stalled in the middle lane of westbound Interstate 275 between the Reed Hartman Highway exit and the Interstate 71 split. In about 10 minutes, he had the truck — and traffic — moving again.
“It would have taken at least an hour to get the tow truck,” said J. Crowell, a Montgomery police officer who was at the scene. “It could have been hours in delay, literally.”
Mr. Gaffin did get down on the snow-covered shoulders to help a couple of motorists change flat tires and he checked a few cars off the side of the road to make sure someone wasn't still waiting in them.
Drivers didn't have the volume of problems they had about a year ago when several inches of snow and a thick coating of ice hit the region.
Calls to AAA Cincinnati for help were a “tick” above the average volume Thursday morning, spokeswoman Jennifer Ledonne said. Mostly, it was people who slid off their own driveways and people who locked their keys in the vehicle while it was still running.
And with the temperatures dipping again, AAA Cincinnati expects call volumes to be high again this morning.
“With the colder weather, we expect our call volumes on dead batteries and lockouts will be up,” Ms. Ledonne said. “We know it's coming and we're going to be ready.”
Kenneth Crooker, chief road technician for Boone County public works, said the snow may be cleared off the roads, but drivers still need to be aware of icy spots.
The salt mixture used on roadways becomes less effective once it gets below 17 degrees, he said. For example, at 30 degrees, a pound of salt melts 46.3 pounds of ice. At 6 degrees, a pound of salt will melt 3.2 pounds of ice.
Mr. Crooker said: “Anytime it gets below 32 degrees, drivers need to be aware of ice forming, especially on the overpasses.”
Tanya Albert, Walt Schaefer, David Eck and William A. Weathers contributed to this report.
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