A sudden temperature drop overnight combined with heavy snowfall caused less than ideal conditions for area commuters Tuesday morning.
AccuWeather Meteorologist John Gresiak said temperatures in the area dropped from around 40 degrees Monday evening to 25 degrees early Tuesday.
“In addition to that, we had some fairly heavy snow showers move through the area so not only did the temperature drop but we had that snow, which was briefly heavy,” Gresiak said. “Visibility was down to a half mile or lower from time to time, so that did result in some slick conditions in the area during the course of the morning.”
The snow showers were a little heavier than predicted, Gresiak said, which was, in part, due to lake effect snow.
“That doesn’t happen often in this area but if the wind direction is just right you can get a band of snow coming down there and that is to some extent what happened [Tuesday] morning,” he explained.
Several vehicle accidents occurred in Marion County due to the weather, but Monongalia County fared a bit better, according to MECCA Director Jimmy Smith, who said only three weather-related accidents were reported – two single-vehicle crashes on I79 around the 143-146 mile markers and a third in the Daybrook area, near the Marion County line.
“We were very fortunate here in Mon County and it was not a very eventful day for us,” Smith said. “Of course with WVU being on spring break and no county schools today, the traffic volume was low today, so that helped.”
Gresiak said the weather should continue to improve with Wednesday’s high getting to around 46 degrees in the afternoon, which is still a little below the typical average of 50 degrees this time of year.
Thursday and Friday will be milder, getting into the 50s, with Thursday looking to be the nicest day of the week.
Gresiak said they are predicting rain moving in on Friday and then it will get colder again over the weekend but will not be as cold as Tuesday.
