Bad weather forces school shutdown
Butler County's schools, storm watchers and road crews saw Wednesday's storm coming from miles away.
Reported measurements of up to 8 inches of a unique mixture of winter precipitation forced all Butler County schools, including Butler County Community College and Slippery Rock University, to close their campuses Wednesday.
The storm arrived at about 3:30 a.m. in southern Butler County, according to National Weather Service of Pittsburgh meteorologist Matthew Kramar. He said an initial analysis showed a band of warm air that traveled eastward through the county.
“There's been a good deal of warm air that came in ... which has led to what we call a transition snow,” he said. “There's been a good deal of freezing rain and snow, especially in Butler County.”
Kramar said the warm air caused the unique mixture.
“It's typical when you have warm air,” he said. “It's a mixture of all major winter weather types.
Mike Mattis, Butler County maintenance manager, said the county's plow drivers had already pretreated the roads before the snow arrived.
“We had everybody out at 1 a.m. The snow started at about 3:30 to 4 a.m. It hit Cranberry and worked its way north,” he said.
The drivers worked 12-hour shifts from noon to midnight and vice-versa.
“We're going to be doing a lot of cleanup through the rest of this afternoon and into tonight,” he said Wednesday.
The heavy snow was not unnerving to the drivers, but it did take additional effort to clear the roads, according to Mattis.
“The only thing about the heavy snow is it's going to just lay,” he said. “The lighter stuff will blow off. The heavy snow will come down and just stick on the road. ”Kramar said cold air retook the area after the warm air passed through. He said the cold front should have transitioned the mixed precipitation back to snow.“It looks like the snow really tapers down around sunset,” Kramar said Wednesday while reading the radar. “There may be some snow showers lingering into the night.”Kramar said he anticipates the county will see temperatures rise heading into the weekend.
