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A Winter Storm Watch was issued on Thursday and will run from 4 a.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday. Low temperatures will be in the teens Saturday night and drop to zero Sunday night, according to the NWS. It’s unclear how much snow is expected this weekend.
Meanwhile, local road crews said they’re prepared if the county receives snowfall at similar levels as last weekend, when as much as 10 inches fell.
From Jan. 12-14, the Butler County Engineer’s Office reported spreading 1,115 tons of salt and spending $161,090 to treat the county-maintained roads, said Chris Petrocy, public information supervisor. He added the county used 931 labor hours during those three days.
Scott Tadych, director of public works and utilities for the city of Middletown, said his department was assisted last weekend by temperatures hovering in the 30s that helped “promote rapid melting” once streets were cleared and salted.
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He said Middletown used 960 employee hours and spread 700 tons of salt. The estimated cost of the snow removal was $30,000, he said.
Fairfield Public Works Director Dave Butsch said the city ran between 12 and 14 trucks and had crews working from 4 a.m. Saturday until 3:30 p.m. Monday. It used 1,100 tons of salt and 600 gallons of calcium, he said.
He said the snow was the biggest he could remember since 2004.
For this weekend’s winter weather, Butsch said crews have “everything loaded up” and all trucks are ready.
“We’re good to go,” he said.
Two other Butler County communities reported spending more than $100,000 combined on snow removal. Liberty Twp. spent about $50,000 in labor and materials, and West Chester spent $59,445, officials said.
Winter weather that was predicted for Thursday and a water main break closed four Butler County schools. Edgewood, Madison and Talawanda schools closed because of the possible storm, and Hamilton closed due to a water main break.
The weather will be fitting for IceFest, which is held every two years in Hamilton. IceFest, a free event, runs from 4-10 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in downtown Hamilton.
Staff writers Denise Callahan and Michael D. Pitman contributed to this report.
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