Winter didn't hit hard, county officials agree

Mostly business as usual for road crews, schools

By DAVID J. COEHRS

Expositor Features Editor

Snow seemed to dominate the weather in the past couple months, but apparently its effect on Fulton County roads and school districts wasn't dire.

A total of 32.8 inches of snow fell on the county from December through February, according to NOAA records kept at the Wauseon water treatment plant. February recorded the most, with 19 inches, as two major snowfalls dumped 10 inches on Feb. 10 and 3 inches on Feb. 27, respectively.

The only other significant snowfall this year - five inches - was recorded on Jan. 8. January received a total of 8 inches, and December 5.8 inches.

Those figures compare with 29.5 inches during the same three-month period last winter. They include 21.3 inches in January 2009, the heaviest monthly snowfall recorded in 50 years.

Despite this season's accumulations, the winter has seemed milder for the city's Public Works department. Superintendent Dave Murry said just 250 of the 400 tons of salt purchased for the season have been used.

"It's been a good winter, actually. I don't think there's any major complaints for concerns," he said. "But it's not over. I'm sure we'll be out again."

Murry said although the city experienced record snows recently, "all went well. It hasn't been bad at all."

That's probably because the county wasn't hit with any surprise storms, said Lou Thourot, water plant supervisor. The snow that did fall usually dispersed over days rather than hours, allowing communities to maintain roadways.

"We dodged every bad storm," Thourot said. "What we got, everybody around us got worse. The plows were always on top of it and able to stay ahead of it."

The county garage has tallied 37 snow plow runs so far this season, one shy of last year's total. Fifteen of those runs were in February. Snow removal cost this season has reached $269,000, which is $14,000 less than last season.

The garage has used 804 tons of salt, as compared to 901 last winter.

Superintendent Randy Merillat said the amount of work clearing snow this season is comparable to last season. He said road crews have been busy clearing numerous one-inch snowfalls, and were hindered by drifting snow.

"Until we hit February, it was easier," he said. "I think it was probably pretty close to last year. But we fought a lot of wind this year."

Wauseon schools have used their five allotted calamity days for the year, but only three were used for snow. Two others were called for fog early in the school year, Superintendent Marc Robinson said.

Should any more school days be canceled by snow, they'll be made up at the end of this school year. The final day of school is May 28.

Other than that, the frosty weather had no serious effects on the school district, Robinson said. At Wauseon High School, two basketball games and a wrestling match were postponed, and one junior high basketball game was lost after being postponed and not rescheduled.

But completion of the new grades 3-8 building was not hampered by the weather.

Robinson said the situation could change slightly next school year, when the state will permit only three calamity days. During the 2011-12 school year, none will be allotted.

At that point, the school district will have to consider three-hour snow delays when necessary, and place an additional hour onto the end of a delayed day.

Evergreen Local Schools owe one day to snow, which will be made up May 26. Three days were lost to winter weather, and three to fog in the fall.

A few sporting events were postponed in January and February including a state bowling tournament, Superintendent Jim Wyse said.

Its biggest effect on the district came on Feb. 25. Inclement weather caused a two-hour school delay, then kicked up again unexpectedly as classes ended.

"We thought it would clear up. In retrospect, it would have been better if we'd canceled," Wyse said.

Although the weather made transportation dicey, "the bus drivers did a great job in getting the kids home," he said.

Wyse said other than causing havoc with the transportation and some after school activities, the winter weather has been uneventful. for the district.