Depending on your location Wednesday in Butler County, the area’s first major snow storm in nearly two years either wreaked havoc or was a minor irritation during morning and afternoon commutes.

Butler County received 2 inches to 6 inches of snow Wednesday, with western areas getting hardest hit, according to Mike Kurz, a National Weather Service forecaster.

“The snow is much heavier in the Oxford areas and it is a different situation down toward West Chester and Liberty Twp.,” Butler County engineer Greg Wilkens said.

“We were fortunate here,” Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said, noting that much of Butler County did not get the snow levels forecasters originally predicted — up to 8 inches in some areas. About 50 or 60 minor, and slide-off crashes were reported throughout the day, according to the sheriff.

Jones issued a Level One snow advisory Wednesday for the county, which meant motorists were urged to drive cautiously.

“The first snow is always the most difficult for people. They have to get their snow legs,” Jones said.

Hamilton police Detective Richard Burkhardt said the department mostly received calls for disabled vehicles.

“There’s no school and people are off (work), so we haven’t gotten too many wrecks,” Burkhardt said.

By the end of the day, Hamilton had responded to two accidents and one car fire, said Troy Pugh, an assistant chief with the fire department.

Middletown Police responded to less than five accidents and about 10 disabled vehicles Wednesday, according to Dispatcher Lynn Crank with the Middletown police department.
Road conditions in Middletown were “slushy, but we haven’t gotten any complaints,” she said.

At about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, county snow plows hit the streets and began a full day of plowing heavy, wet snow. Crews continued to plow until the heaviest snow bands moved through late Wednesday afternoon, then focused on salting roads.

“As long as the temperatures stay in the 30s, we should be OK,” Wilkens said.

More than 2,300 Duke Energy power outages had been reported in Butler County earlier in the day; by 2 p.m., outages had dwindled to only two in Butler County.

According to Tony Pochard, Hamilton director of electric, there were no outages in the city.

The weather had a chilling effect on post-Christmas shopping and holiday returns.

Target in the Bridgewater Falls shopping center opened an hour earlier than usual at 7 a.m. Wednesday, but the amount of shoppers and customers making holiday gift returns was noticeably down, according to store officials.

“Comparatively to last year it (the weather) has definitely affected the store in that there’s not as much foot traffic,” said Lauren Hockett, the store’s human resources manager. “Last year we probably had 15 to 20 guests lined up at the doors to come in. This year there were only about five guests at the doors.”

Retail foot traffic was also down at Meijer, 8145 Town Blvd., Middletown, according to store officials there.

The store, which only closes on Christmas Day, reopened at 6 a.m. Wednesday, and the amount of customers shopping or making holiday returns was minimal, said Frank Greenfield, store director.

“I would definitely say the weather has an effect,” Greenfield said. “Weather like this always does.”

Butler County could see as much snowfall this week as it did all of last winter season. The area received 5.6 inches of snow from November 2011 through March 2012, according to Kurz.

This snowstorm could be the last of 2012, said meteorologist Myron Padgett of the National Weather Service. There are no snow or storm fronts expected   in the region  next week.
For the rest of the week, the forecast is for weather to be partly cloudy and cold, with high temperatures in the low to mid 30s, and the daily low temperatures to be in the low 20s.

Staff writers Lauren Pack, Michael D. Pitman and Eric Schwartzberg contributed to this story.