MOUNT VERNON — What a wild winter weekend it was for all of Ohio. Now we’re in for a cold snap that will test the hearty nature of all.
At this point, one can only hope that folks already did batten down the hatches, plastic wrap their windows and are prepared to snuggle under blankets.
Even though most of Winter Storm Fern’s snow has fallen, its painfully cold temperatures will linger through the week and folks’ efforts to fight the storm will continue.
Knox County has remained under a Level Two snow emergency since 8:23 a.m. on Monday and will be under a National Weather Service extreme cold warning from 7 p.m. on Monday to 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
The county’s plow crews, the City of Mount Vernon’s Street Department and volunteers at The Winter Sanctuary have quite literally been working around the clock to keep everyone safe and warm.
Without further adieu, let’s dive into some of the grueling schedules these winter warriors have kept and maybe find a light at the end of this cold, white tunnel.
Keaton recaps Knox County’s battles
Knox County Engineer Cameron Keaton shared the following information with several media members via email.
Twelve crews are running 13 plow routes with each plow route approximately 30 centerline miles long.
Keaton said crews started at 3 p.m. on Jan. 24 and “are working around-the-clock.”
“The number of passes is based on the particular roadway, the direction it runs and wind direction,” Keaton said. “Every county roadway has been plowed approximately five times since the start of the storm on Saturday, Jan. 24.”
The Knox County Highway Department is responsible for all county highways.
However, “When a storm impacts the entire county like this one, we send trucks out to all of the designated routes across the entire county at the same time,” Keaton added.
In the wake of a salt shortage across the region, Keaton said his crews have not used any salt on roadways or salt/gravel mix.
“When there are continuous plowing operations going on, we do not put material down on the roadways,” he said. “Going forward, we will continue to monitor the roadway conditions and apply the correct type material to the roadways as needed.”
The county engineer said his plows did not pre-treat any roadways.
Despite its scariness, Keaton said the Level Three snow emergency was helpful to his crews.
“Any time the roadways have fewer vehicles on them, that makes the job of my crews safer and more efficient,” he said.
However, the same can’t necessarily be said for the low temperatures.
“The lower temperatures both help and hurt the crews. The colder temperatures produced a dry, light snow that was easier to remove from the roadways and is less likely to turn into ice,” Keaton said.
“The drawback of the colder temperatures is that salt is less effective on the roadways and refreezing is something that is an issue at night.”
The county’s mailbox dilemma
Keaton said his office receives a number of calls about damaged mailboxes when big storms like this sweep through.
“Our policy is if a county plow truck struck the mailbox and damaged it, we will replace it with a standard metal mailbox,” he said.
“We do not repair any damage caused by the snow coming off of the plow of the trucks. Many times, the weight of the snow coming off of the plows is enough to break a mailbox post or knock a mailbox off of the post.”
To read the full mailbox policy, click here.
The Winter Sanctuary stays open well past normal hours
One of Mount Vernon’s homeless shelters, The Winter Sanctuary, typically stays open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with an emergency shelter open from 6:30 p.m. to 9 a.m.
Yet — ever since Fern unleashed snowmageddon on us all — the shelter has kept its lights on in all departments since 6:15 p.m. this past Saturday.
Lee Bonar, one of the shelter’s employees, said the shelter originally didn’t have a set plan for Sunday and Monday.
“I’m off my other job until Tuesday, so, I’ve just been kind of hanging around,” Bonar said. “Luckily, we have good communication between all of us on staff and our bosses.”
Bonar said the shelter’s Executive Director Joe Springer came in early on Monday and did a check of what was needed.
“He made sure we had plenty of frozen food that we could heat up and make sure everybody’s well fed and bottled water, too,” Bonar said.
“We have flashlights in case of a power outage as well.”
The shelter employee added that a local church came through on Sunday with hot meals for whoever needed one.
The shelter does keep track of who comes and goes and doesn’t just let anyone in at any time. The Winter Sanctuary has a maximum capacity of 14 and assigns beds to those they serve.
“We’ve had some guys here that just haven’t even left and that’s why we’re open — we don’t want them to leave if they don’t have to,” Bonar said.