The season's first sustained snowfall turned Butler County into a full-sized snow globe Tuesday.

Thick snowflakes drifted in the region throughout the day and into the evening as the weather front made good on its promise to bring several inches to the area.

Parts of the county reported 5 to 6 inches, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jared Rackley. He said Tuesday morning brought the heaviest snowfall.

Rob McClafferty, 911 coordinator for Butler County, said county dispatchers received around 61 calls for car crashes Tuesday, most of which were minor.

Coinciding with the morning commute, snowfall likely caused roughly 21 reported crashes between 6:30 and 9:30 a.m. Additionally, about 30 reported crashes came between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. McClafferty said there were other calls regarding people getting stuck and blocking roads.

“It's significantly above what we would normally have during that time. I think it's safe to say they're weather-related,” McClafferty said, noting that the concentration of morning crashes was higher than normal. “We had weather-related crashes and weather-related trees and wires down.”

No significant power outages were reported.

Rackley said roads in the county were warm enough that ice did not appear to be an issue.

But conditions could have been worse without the regular salting undertaken across the county by public works departments such as Cranberry Township's.

Kelly Maurer said Tuesday that she had a good first day as the director of public works for the township.

“Our crews did a great job, and everything went well,” Maurer said. “We were very fortunate that we had yesterday to prepare. Our vehicles get transferred from road crews to snow removal equipment in mid-November. And last night, we tested all the equipment and loaded them up.”

Cranberry has 20 trucks covering 14 routes over 132 miles of township roads, according to Maurer.

To keep the roads clear, Maurer said, the crews began spreading salt before dawn. By the afternoon, they had covered their routes two or three times.

“And our challenge is we have 320 cul-de-sacs — it takes a little more time to maneuver, and we asked people not to park on the street, so that the trucks have more room for doing everything,” Maurer said. “Normally, we use salt and liquid brine, but we didn't use brine because of the rain.”

Maurer said the morning commute constitutes 60 percent of daily traffic in the township. She attributed the reduced traffic to people still working from home and Seneca Valley School District's decision to hold remote learning.

“But we also noticed college kids are home, so there was some traffic from that,” she said. “We'll be out there through evening rush hour.”

Like other townships have pointed out, Maurer said salt is a high-priced commodity.

“We were very fortunate that last year was so mild, so we had a surplus this year,” she said, noting that the township has about 6,500 tons of salt. In a typical winter season, it uses 4,000 to 5,000 tons.

“The municipality is facing some financial impact from COVID. So, luckily, we don't expect to have to get more salt,” she said.

For Wednesday, she said they will improvise based on the weather.

Temperatures Tuesday night were expected to drop to 25 degrees with some snow, according to Rackley. “It's going to be on and off. Later tonight it will be tapering off.”

He said there might be a few light showers Wednesday morning, but after that the snow should be clearing away — for now.