Winter conditions that caused the road to ice over brought traffic along North McKean Street to a near standstill Wednesday afternoon. The cold is expected to remain in the region at least through the weekend.

Typical winter weather returned to Butler County Wednesday.

After an initial round of snow fell on commuters in the late afternoon, National Weather Service meteorologists predicted another one or two inches would arrive overnight.

Temperatures, according to NWS meteorologist Patrick Herald, will stay low at least through the weekend. Thursday night looks like it'll be the coldest point with temperatures in the mid-to-high teens.

Saturday should bring another one or two inches of snow, Herald said. Cold weather from now until then means it'll land on the existing snow pack.

“It's pretty typical January weather,” Herald added.

The cold is coming from a familiar source: Canadian air being pulled over the Great Lakes. Low pressure in the northeastern U.S. is pulling the air down, Herald said.

Eagle readers gave reports of several roads with poor conditions Wednesday evening. Icy hazards were reported on Route 422, Glenn Avenue and North McKean Street, to name a few.

Snowfall was scattered, with some areas collecting a significant amount, while others merely got wet.

Herald said some roads may have frozen over quickly because it was so recently warm. The roads conducted the heat a few days ago and stayed warm enough to melt the snow quickly when it landed. From there, colder temperatures turned the snow melt into ice.

Still, dispatchers at Butler County's 911 station reported around 7:30 p.m. that they hadn't received many calls about icy road conditions or above average numbers of vehicle accidents.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crews started pretreating the county's roads during the department's early morning shift Wednesday, according to Erann Heltzell, PennDOT's assistant maintenance manager for the county.

Heltzell said the roads needing work were spread out sporadically, as snow fell unevenly throughout the region.

“Some roads have absolutely nothing on them,” Heltzell said. “Other roads are getting pounded.”

She said PennDOT staff didn't have any unusual trouble with the weather itself, but the timing was unfortunate.

“It was really bad timing,” she said. “Schools were letting out. It was rush hour.”

She reminded drivers to allow extra time on their commutes. Her crews worked into the night to get things prepped for Thursday morning.

“We're going to stay out as long as we need to to make sure it doesn't refreeze,” Heltzell said.