No driving restrictions planned as snow returns
3/2/2014This winter just doesn’t want to end.
Months of snowfall and bitter cold were expected to continue this weekend, as the National Weather Service said a winter weather advisory would be in effect from 7 p.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. today. Between 2 and 5 inches of snow were expected to accumulate in the area, with the snow possibly accompanied by sleet at times.
Though snow is once again in the area, local authorities were planning to to take a wait-and-see approach to the storm instead of jumping to a snow emergency. That, said Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp, was in part because of the expected timing of the snow.
By the time snow was expected to fall, most cars already would be off the road, Sheriff Tharp said, meaning plows would have reasonable access to clear roads, and that it likely wouldn’t be necessary to restrict driving.
Instituting a snow emergency without any indication that plows would have difficulty working could cause people to not take the emergency designations seriously, he said.
That doesn’t mean Sheriff Tharp would not pay attention to the storm; he said he’d be checking roads periodically through the night and told dispatchers to call him if road conditions appeared to deteriorate.
“I am going to monitor [the weather] through the night,” Sheriff Tharp said.