Butler County hit by unexpected mid-March snowstorm
Following more than a week of moderate-to-warm temperatures in Western Pennsylvania, winter returned Sunday evening and Monday morning, with temperatures falling just below freezing and snow falling across Butler County.
While little snow is expected to accumulate Monday, more snow is expected over the week, according to meteorologist Lee Hendricks of the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
“We’ll have some lingering snow showers (Tuesday) morning,” Hendricks said. “Nothing of any great significance at this point. No real accumulation is expected.”
According to forecasts from the NWS, high temperatures in Butler are expected to hover around the low-to-mid-40s for the remainder of the week and likely will not get into the 50s until Sunday, March 24. Snow is expected to continue on Tuesday and Wednesday and resume on Friday.
“There’s a very large low-pressure system north of the Great Lakes that is continually keeping cold air moving into the Illinois/Indiana area and is pushing eastward toward us,” Hendricks said. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to have a real break from that here until possibly next week.”
The unexpected snowfall and drop in temperatures has taken a toll on at least one local business — Heasley’s Nurseries on Freeport Road in Butler. Although the plant nursery took steps to protect some of their stock from damage, flowers that were already in full bloom froze to death.
"The ones we have in full bloom now are probably forsythia, and that’s just one variety,“ said Linda Cranmer. ”The ones that are in tight buds, they’ll be okay.
Cranmer suggests homeowners who grow large collections of plants should take precautions in case of sudden, unexpected jolts of winter weather.
“They can use little sheets to cover (their plants). If they’re in cups, they can bring them into the garage,” Cranmer said. “You don’t want to put them in the house where it’s too warm.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation treated some of the state-owned roads in Butler County before the snowfall. However, at least three townships — Butler Township, Slippery Rock Township, and Cranberry Township — elected not to pretreat their roads.
“We do not pretreat,” said Butler Township public works director Dave Meeder. “My guys have not been out today. Our roads are wet and they’re melting off as the snow hits. That could change this evening, though, once daylight goes away and the temperature starts dropping.”
“We've got our crews out treating roads as needed. It doesn't look like we should get really a notable accumulation out of this,” said Christina Gibbs, community relations coordinator for PennDOT District 10. “We'll have the crews working through the overnight hours if we need to.”
