Relieved officials say it could have been worse

Saturday, December 06, 2003

By Cindi Lash, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Thank goodness it's Saturday.

Were today a weekday, many of us would be grousing and grubbing our cars out of last night's accumulation of flakes, then doing our best to negotiate the rush-hour mess that a winter storm is so good at creating.

Matt Freed, Post-Gazette A volunteer shovels snow from the turf field at Hersheypark Stadium before the start of last night's PIAA Class AAA high school football championship game between Pine-Richland and Manheim Central in Hershey, Pa. Manheim Central won the game in a driving snowstorm, 39-38, in double overtime. Two title games scheduled for today -- Central Catholic vs. North Penn (Class AAAA) and Aliquippa vs. Northern Lehigh (Class AA) -- were postponed until tomorrow because of the snowstorm.

What was being billed as the first real snowfall of the season held off for the most part until last night, giving many motorists and local snow-plowing crews some breathing room.

It didn't wait long enough to spare all evening commuters. Those who set out for home after sunset experienced freezing pavement, sliding and highways clogged by fender-benders.

State police responded to about 20 accidents along the parkways and city police were equally busy.

It could've been worse.

"It's always much nicer for commuters and commerce when [snow falls] on the weekend," said Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Dick Skrinjar. "The worst time is during a weekday rush hour. It's a bonus for everybody that it won't be a problem [today]."

Forecasters for a while predicted that up to 10 inches of snow would fall on Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties by this morning, and that a foot or more could dress the mountains to the east in Fayette and Westmoreland counties. A winter storm warning, issued by the National Weather Service when snow began to fall yesterday morning, was to remain in effect until 5 a.m. today.

The weather service later revised the snowfall forecast, saying 4 to 8 inches would hit Pittsburgh.

Yesterday morning's mishmash of snow, rain and sleet gave way by afternoon to all snow, leaving between 1 and 2 inches on the ground around the region. But forecasters were calling for heavier snows last night and into this morning, borne by a storm that was expected to move east from Ohio over Western Pennsylvania overnight.

Slick roads were blamed in a fatal crash in Armstrong County yesterday morning.

George Andrew Trnavsky, 74, of Ford City, was killed on Route 66 in Manor when an oncoming school bus lost control on wet pavement, crossed the center line and struck Trnavsky's car. He was not wearing a seat belt, the coroner's office reported.

That storm originally was part of a larger weather system that split in two, weather service meteorologist Terry Parrish said. The other storm section surged east to dump snow, sleet and rain yesterday over the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, Parrish said.

"For Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, it should pretty much be over by 9 a.m. [today]," Parrish said. "East of us, the mountain areas could get another inch in the morning, but it should be clearing everywhere by this afternoon. At least we don't have rush hours today."

Parrish said forecasters didn't expect enough snow by midnight to surpass yesterday's record of 4.8 inches for the day, set in 2002. Most of the snow was expected after that, through the early morning hours, he said.

One prognosticator who got it right was Guy Costa, city public works director, who said that within an hour after sunset, the troubles would start, as temperatures dropped and the snow began to cling to roads.

Indeed they did. Crane, Herron and Arlington avenues and numerous other hilly streets around the city were temporarily closed or blocked due to ice or accidents. Police and paramedics hustled to put chains on their vehicles between responding to fender-benders. On the Parkway East and West, crashes slowed traffic until cars were packed bumper to bumper.

City, Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation road crews adjusted work schedules to have full complements of drivers available through the night and today, then loaded their trucks with salt or anti-skid material for repeated forays over hundreds of miles of streets, roads and highways.

Unlike last winter, municipal and PennDOT crews have had no trouble obtaining ample supplies of road salt. As of last night, the city had 20,000 tons stored away; Allegheny County had another 12,000 tons of salt as well as 10,000 gallons of liquid calcium and 12,000 tons of anti-skid mixture.

Nor were snow crew supervisors particularly worried about spending overtime to keep salt trucks on the road all night and through the day, noting that they budget for overtime and that this is the first time they've had to tap that money this season.

"It's an emergency and a safety issue. We have to make it work," said county Public Works Director Tom Donatelli, whose department had 110 trucks on the road. "And it is December. We are supposed to get snow, right?"

Costa, however, worried that recent budget cuts and layoffs would make it harder for city crews to clear and salt streets quickly. He planned to have 30 to 35 trucks and drivers on the road overnight and today -- 10 fewer drivers and 13 fewer trucks than last winter.

"We used to try to get everything done in 24 hours," he said. "In the past, we pretty much knew how long it would take to do primary routes first, then secondary and side streets. It will be a test for us, and we ask people to slow down and be patient with us."

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