Snow way!

Motorists expecting a respite following a winter storm last week that dropped between eight and 16 inches of snow in Butler County got a rude awakening Sunday morning.

The white stuff began falling around 1 a.m., and before long had accumulated into multiple inches, making roads slick across the county.

For local street departments and PennDOT, it was a wake-up call that was not anticipated.

“We were not expecting this,” a dispatcher at the Butler County Communication Center said about 7:30 a.m. “It caught all of us coming in for daylight (shifts) kind of by surprise.”

A dispatcher at the state police barracks in Butler had a similar take. “Not expecting this,” he said, “Not at all.”

The 911 center between 4:30 and 5 a.m. started getting calls from police departments requesting plows to come out and hit the roads with salt and other treatment.

“It's been pretty widespread,” the county dispatcher said.

Only a couple or so minor accidents were reported, including one about 7:05 a.m. on Franklin Road in Jackson Township where a woman lost control of her car and traveled into a ditch. She was not injured but her vehicle had to be towed.

“We've only had a couple call for vehicles that slid off roads,“ the state police dispatcher said. On of those calls was about 7:10 a.m. for a vehicle into a median on Route 422 in Muddy Creek Township.

Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, admitted surprise, too.

Asked around 8 a.m. what happened, he said, “A little more moisture associated with this system than what everything was indicating until about 12 hours ago.”

At 6:20 a.m. Sunday, the weather service issued a special weather statement for Butler County and much of Western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, advising motorists to be alert for snow “sticking to roadways” in the morning.

The forecast for Monday calls for rain and snow showers, mainly after 3 p.m., with a high temperature near 37 degrees. Little or no snow accumulation is expected.

After 8 p.m., the precipitation is to be all snow. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch are possible.

On Tuesday, there will be a chance of snow showers before 1 p.m. The high will be near 36.