News From Terre Haute, Indiana

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  • Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis On the road again: Terre Haute City Street department employee Mike Key drives his salt and sand truck along Poplar street late Thursday afternoon.

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  • Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Getting ready: Terre Haute City street department trucks get their loads of salt/sand mix late Thursday afternoon. They try to get the materials onto the streets just after the snowfall starts, keeping it from being blown aside by traffic.

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February 22, 2013

Ice, iced Valley: After an icy morning, weather service says storm will give way to clearing this afternoon

Brian Boyce The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Snow and ice moving across the Midwest isn’t expected to pose as great a problem in the Wabash Valley, officials said Thursday night.

National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Skowronek said that what started out as snow in Terre Haute would likely become freezing rain throughout the night and early morning.

“It looks like you’ll probably get an inch of snow and between 0.1 and 0.2 an inch of freezing rain on top of that tonight,” he said shortly after 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that powdery snow — up to a foot and a half in some places — bombarded much of the nation’s midsection Thursday, impeding travel and shutting down airports, schools and state legislatures.

Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett was out driving on the streets Thursday evening, and said city crews were likewise working.

“We have full crews out. We’ll be out all throughout the night and into tomorrow,” he said. The primary concern was the freezing rain, Bennett said.

Street Commissioner Brad Miller said city had trucks out with sand earlier in the day and plows were ready if needed.

“Yeah, we’re prepared,” he said.

According to the NWS’ Skowronek, today brings a 20-percent chance for rain early in the day, clearing later with highs in the upper 30s. The weekend should be dry, with highs moving from upper 30s to 40s by Sunday.

Another chance for rain comes both Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures in the 40s. And there is a slight chance of snow for Wednesday, he said.

The widespread winter storm system swirled to the north and east Thursday night, its snow, sleet and freezing rain prompting winter storm warnings in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.

Corey Mead, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the winter storm would be centered in the upper Midwest by this morning.

“Even across Kansas, the snowfall rates should continue to taper off through the evening,” Mead said.

The system left behind impressive snow accumulations, especially in western Kansas, where 17 inches fell in Hays.

Several accidents and two deaths were blamed on icy and slushy roadways; two people died in crashes Wednesday. Most schools in Kansas and Missouri, and many in neighboring states, were closed Thursday and legislatures shut down in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska and Iowa.

National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Truett said it was “pouring snow” earlier Thursday, with it falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour or more in some spots.

Topeka, Kan., got 3 inches of snow in a 30-minute period, leaving medical center worker Jennifer Carlock to dread the drive home.

“It came on fast,” Carlock said as she shoveled around her car. “We’re going to test out traction control on the way home.”

Snow totals passed the foot mark in many places: the Kansas cities of Hutchinson, Macksville and Hanston all saw 14 inches, and Wichita, Kan., had 13 inches. A few places in far northern Oklahoma saw between 10 to 131⁄2 inches of snow.

Missouri’s biggest snow total was 10 inches, shared by the Kansas City metropolitan area, Rockport in the northwest corner and Moberly in the central part of the state.

Transportation officials in affected states urged people to simply stay home.

“If you don’t have to get out, just really, please, don’t do it,” Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said. Interstate 70 through Kansas was snow-packed, and a 200-mile stretch between Salina and Colby was closed.

In Iowa, visibility was down to a quarter- to a half-mile on some southern and central Iowa roads, the state Department of Transportation said early Thursday evening.

Cases of wine and beer — as well as bottles of scotch and whiskey — were flying off the shelves at Ingersoll Wine and Spirits ahead of the storm’s arrival in Des Moines, Iowa.

“A lot of people have been buying liquor to curl up by the fire,” wine specialist Bjorn Carlson said.

NWS forecasts showed 3 to 9 inches of snow were expected in Iowa overnight, and Nebraska will see an additional 2 to 5 inches.

Heavy, blowing snow caused scores of businesses in Iowa and Nebraska to close early, including two malls in Omaha, Neb. Mardi Miller, manager of Dillard’s department store in Oakview Mall, said most employees had been sent home by 4 p.m., and she believed “only two customers are in the entire store.”

The storm brought some relief to a region that has been parched by the worst drought in decades.

Vance Ehmke, a wheat farmer near Healy, Kan., said the nearly foot of snow was “what we have been praying for.” Climatologists say 12 inches of snow is equivalent to about 1 inch of rain, depending on the density of the snow.

Near Edwardsville, Ill., farmer Mike Campbell called the precipitation a blessing after a bone-dry growing season in 2012. He hopes it is a good omen for the spring.

“The corn was just a disaster,” Campbell said of 2012.

Areas in the Texas Panhandle also had up to 8 inches of snow, and in south central Nebraska, Grand Island reported 10 inches of snow. And Arkansas saw a mix of precipitation — a combination of hail, sleet and freezing rain in some place, 6 inches of snow in others.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Thursday morning. All flights at Kansas City International Airport were canceled for Thursday night, and officials said they’d prepare to reopen Friday morning. More than 320 flights at Lambert Airport in St. Louis were canceled by Thursday afternoon. Traffic throughout the state was snarled by hundreds of accidents and vehicles in ditches.

The University of Missouri canceled classes for one of the few times in its 174-year history. At a nearby Wal-Mart, some students passed the ice scrapers and snow melt, heading directly to the aisles containing sleds and alcohol.

“This isn’t our usual Thursday noon routine,” Lauren Ottenger, a senior economics major from Denver, said as she stockpiled supplies.



Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

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