On Friday, Jan. 23, Gov. Josh Shapiro declared a “disaster emergency” for the entire Keystone State, as the western part of the state braced for its most severe snowstorm in years.

A few municipalities in Butler County took matters a step further and declared some variant of “snow emergency” on Sunday or prior to it.

For at least two of these municipalities, this was the first time they had had to do so in several years.

The two municipalities issued a joint news release to declare a state of emergency for their respective areas effective at midnight on Saturday. The emergency was set to expire at 7 p.m. Monday, barring a last-second extension.

“(Until now) I have not had a snow emergency in my 10 years as mayor,” said Mars Mayor Gregg Hartung.

According to section 181-33 of Adams Township’s code, the purpose of a “snow emergency” is to “...facilitate the movement of traffic and to combat the hazards of snow and ice on snow emergency routes.”

During a snow emergency in Adams Township, it is unlawful to either park a vehicle on a snow emergency route or drive on a snow emergency route without snow tires or chains. Anyone who is caught doing so will be fined $25.

The City of Butler declared a general state of emergency on Sunday morning shortly before 10 a.m. and it is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the text of the declaration, the state of emergency was brought about due to “the City of Butler’s limited snow removal equipment and personnel.”

According to Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy, the state of emergency declaration allowed the city to procure emergency supplies without having to vote to purchase them through the usual process.

“What it allows you to do is to move a little bit more quickly with things that have to be taken care of right away,” Dandoy said. “Anytime we have to spend money, hire people, contract services, we have to go through council. What this allows us to do within certain limits is to circumvent that process so that we can get things done quickly when it is absolutely needed to help people.”

Evans City declared a “snow route emergency” which took effect Saturday at 8 a.m. It was set to expire Monday at noon.

During a snow route emergency in Evans City, residents are advised to remove their vehicles from and avoid parking on the 12 designated emergency snow routes to allow borough crews to treat the roads.

During a snow emergency, alternative parking is allowed at EDCO Park, the former elementary school and the rear parking lot of Boylan Funeral Home.

Saxonburg Mayor David Johnston, declared a snow emergency for the borough, which was still in effect as of 3 p.m. Monday.

“Yesterday, we were on calls with Butler County dispatch,” said borough manager Steven May. “And they pretty much tell you, ‘Hey, it’s coming. If you’re low on salt or low on drivers, just prepare yourself.’ Once we started to see the other townships doing it, we were like, ‘Better make sure we're on top of things.’”

According to May, Saxonburg hasn’t had to declare a snow emergency since before 2016.

In Saxonburg, a “snow emergency” is primarily intended to keep borough roads clear of vehicles.

“It allows us to keep vehicles off the street,” May said. “In Saxonburg, our streets are narrow and we don't have very much space to pile the snow. It's important that the vehicles are completely out of the way.”

In effect, this made Saxonburg a ghost town on Monday.

“Library’s closed, bakery’s closed, coffee shop’s closed,” May said. “Everybody's cooperated. We've scraped down as far as we can go and got a nice coat of salt on it. Everybody here followed the rules and helped us out with it.”

Zelienople Mayor Thomas Oliverio officially declared a snow emergency for the borough effective at 10 a.m. on Sunday to remain in effect “until terminated by the undersigned.”

The text of the snow emergency declaration, available on the borough’s website, contains a list of 20 traffic routes on which parking is prohibited during the duration of the emergency to allow road crews to clear snow.