Rain makes roads slick in county
Snow, slush, sleet, ice and rain this morning made for tricky travel and at times white-knuckle driving for motorists on slippery roads across Butler County.
The spinouts and skid-offs began to mount as commuters took to the roads.
The conditions were bad enough to convince superintendents in all but two school districts to close schools for the day.
Only Mars and Seneca Valley school districts and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School started classes two hours late.
The Butler County Communications Center received calls for seven accidents in a 20-minute stretch beginning at 5:40 a.m.
“They all looked like they were minor — cars into ditches and poles,” said Steve Bicehouse, the county’s director of county emergency services.
No injuries were reported in any of those accidents.
In one of the wrecks, a car shortly before 6 a.m. slammed into a utility pole on Sarver Road near the Buffalo Township fire station.
Penn Township police were busy this morning responding to a call for a car into a ditch at Winters and Mushrush roads and to a pair of other crashes in Middlesex Township, where they have a mutual aid agreement.
“The roads here are like they are everywhere, a little slushy,” said Penn Township Patrolman Dennis Crawford.
North Main Street hill in Butler proved particularly tricky for drivers. Two motorists about 5 a.m. weren’t able to make it up the steep grade and ended up giving up.
Moments earlier, Butler police had called the state Department of Transportation, requesting plow and salt treatment of the road.
But slick roads weren’t the only weather hazard. Flooded and water-logged roads and basements started springing up Tuesday afternoon.
“In Butler County some pretty heavy rainfall was recorded,” said Lee Hendricks of the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. “All that rain on top of warming temperatures that melted the snow, caused problems since unfortunately the storm drains are still frozen.”
In Winfield Township, emergency responders had to be called to Brose Road and Helmbold Avenue shorty before 5 p.m. for the report of 8 inches of water across the road.
A portion of Sarver Road in Buffalo Township was reported flooded about 6:40 a.m. today.
Fox Run in Cranberry Township recorded the heaviest rainfall — 1.5 inches — in Butler County from 8 a.m. Tuesday to 8 a.m. today, Hendricks said.
Portersville, Butler and Harmony recorded 0.91, 0.90 and 0.81 inches of rainfall, respectively, during the same time period.
A flood watch was in effect for Butler County until 7 p.m. today. But unlike much of the region, the county is not under a winter weather advisory.
The forecast for today called for a high temperature near 34 degrees and a 50 percent chance of snow. Accumulation of a trace to an inch was expected, Hendricks said.
New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches overnight is possible, with a low around 13.
On Thursday, another inch of snow could fall. What definitely will fall is temperatures. The daytime high of 13 will be followed by the overnight low of minus 2 with wind chill values as low as minus 10.
