MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — By 4 p.m. Sunday the Morgantown area had reported 4 to 6 inches of snow under a coating estimated to be about a tenth of an inch.
The storm hit later than expected but still delivered the most serious blow if the winter season. Monongalia County Sheriff Todd Forbes said the combination makes for treacherous conditions throughout the county. Thankfully, the timing of the storm kept the roads clear for road crews to do their work.
“A good safe speed around here is between 15 and 25 miles per hour; anything faster than that, you might not be able to stop,” Forbes said. “So if you have to be out there, use good common sense and go slow.”
First Lt. and Executive Officer of Troop 3 of the West Virginia State Police in Elkins Kyle Toten urged those out seeing the effects of the storm to stay home. An untimely minor incident could divert important resources in the event of a major emergency.
“If you do cause a crash or you do get stranded, that’s draining resources from another scenario that could be a real emergency,” Toten said.
The storm was the second time private forces assisted the state Department of Highways (DOH). House Bill 2960, sponsored by David McCormick, R, Monongalia, 82, allows a private contractor to help clear roads. Major roads like the Mileground and 705 leading to the hospitals in Morgantown.
State DOH spokesman Brent Walker said crews pretreated roads in advance of the storm and continued their statewide work as the storm began to take shape. The DOH clears “Priority 1” roads, such as interstates, expressways, the National Highway System, and other US and West Virginia routes. Some high-traffic roads that fall into those categories can also be treated as “Priority 1” on a case-by-case basis.
“They’ve been out 24/7 , around the clock on 12-hour shifts trying to make it safe for cautious travel,” Walker said.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Jason Frazier said warmer-than-forecast temperatures aloft delayed the start of the storm. Once it did hit, the precipitation amounts were largely correct; it was just the form of precipitation that was off.
“It started a little later because some dry air at the surface prevented the snow that was falling from hitting the ground,” Frazier said. “We did get a period of accumulating snow this morning before a little nose of warm air worked it’s way in changing the snow.”
The city of Morgantown has at least seven pieces of equipment moving snow throughout the city. The director of engineering and public works, Damien Davis, asks residents who park on the street to get as close to the curb as possible.
“If they park their cars so they’re not hanging out in the street and hug the curb,” Davis said. “Getting it over as far as you can will help us a lot because we do have a lot of narrow streets here.”