Officials report little trouble following winter weatherBy Steve Moyer

Traffic flows freely down Austin Street Monday night following a small winter storm, which left about 1/4 inch of ice on the ground Sunday. City crews worked throughout the day Monday to clear major streets and reported little or no difficulty in completing the maintenance. -- Michael Pommier/Special to the Daily Mail

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

The storm that broke Sunday evening with hail and sleet over the area caused few problems for local authorities. Joe Charles, City of Nevada public works director, said crews were out taking care of problem areas but the storm didn't cause too much disruption.

"We had crews out about 5 a.m. salting and sanding high traffic intersections and hills," Charles said. "There really haven't been any problems, it's been pretty routine."

Randi Marti, City of Nevada administrative services director, said city crews worked off of prepared maps that showed which areas were most heavily used.

"The crews have maps of the high traffic areas that they use and they work from the main streets down to the less used streets," Marti said. "Austin is done by MoDOT so city crews don't have to do it."

The Nevada police hadn't worked any accidents that could be blamed on the weather early in the morning but by 5 p.m. at least 11 accidents had occurred in the city. Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman said there had been some vehicles that slid off of the road out in the county but he didn't have definite numbers and there was at least one significant accident on E highway.

"There were a few slide offs last night but I couldn't say for sure how many," Peckman said. "There was an accident on E but that was about the only one of significance."

Peckman said the roads were very slick and drivers needed to take care, even if the roadway didn't appear to be slick. He also suggested that unless someone had to be driving for an important reason it would be best to stay off the roads.

"There is still a lot of ice on the roads," he said. "The main travelled roads are pretty clear but there are still patches even on them. I heard the forecast that after 9 p.m. we're going to get another two to four inches of of sleet and snow. I'd say that people should stay home if they don't have to get out."

The National Weather Service Web site called the Sunday storm "one of the most powerful arctic fronts we have seen in a long time," and said that temperatures dropped 30 degrees in one hour in some areas.

The forecast for the area shows the temperatures remaining in the teens for Monday and Tuesday with a possibility of more icing accumulation. The weather graph for Sunday from the Vernon County EOC weather station shows a 10 degree drop in temperature in just five minutes, from 1:18 p.m. to 1:23 p.m. and a 20 degree drop in about an hour.

Nevada R5 Superintendent Dr. David Stephens said the district's bus drivers had few problems.

"They did fine," Stephens said. "All the busses ran their routes and got in on time. They took their time and took care and had no problems."