Area pounded by winter storm

For the second time in less than three weeks, Franklin County residents have been able to enjoy the snow – a rare event for the area.

But residents have been able to enjoy more than twice as much snow this time as they did on Christmas Day.

According to the National Weather Service, Franklin County received nine inches of snow Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Meteorologist Jennifer Lee said the snowfall was not a record because the snowfall on New Year’s Day in 1964 saw snowfall accumulations in the teens, but she did say it is uncommon for the area to see snowfall accumulations over a few inches.

“I would say this is one of the top four snowfalls the Franklin County area has seen,” Lee said.

And thanks to freezing temperatures, residents can expect the snow to stick around for a while longer.

“The high is expected to be in the upper 20s on Wednesday and will continue to be below freezing on Thursday,” meteorologist Lee continued. “With cold temperatures like these, we can probably expect the snow to stick around until Friday.”

While the long-lasting snow is good news to some people, others have discovered the downfalls of the nine-inch snow that still covers the ground.

According to Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett, roads in the city limits of Russellville have caused trouble for several motorists. Roads were officially closed on Monday but were reopened on Tuesday.

“We’ve decided to leave the roads open as of now, but we still strongly encourage residents to stay off of them,” Hargett said. “Most of the main roads are passable but there are still slick spots, and all the side roads are still pretty bad. We’ve had several motorists that have slid off the road and into the ditch that we’ve had to pull out.”

As for how the road conditions look for the remainder of the week, Hargett said his department will take it one day at a time.

“We can’t be certain what the roads will look like on Wednesday or Thursday. We just urge motorists to use extreme caution.”

Franklin County Probate Judge Barry Moore said he will also be making decisions on a day-to-day basis. The Franklin County Courthouse was closed on Monday and Tuesday, a decision Moore made with safety in mind.

“We understand that people have business to attend to at the courthouse, but the safety of our employees is our number one concern,” Moore said.

Moore added that he has been coordinating with each of the Franklin County commissioners, county engineer David Palmer, Sheriff Larry Plott and the Franklin County EMA in an effort to make the best decisions for everyone involved.

“We plan to keep an eye on the road conditions and make sure that safe and smart choices are made,” Moore said.

Franklin County Emergency Management Agency Director Roy Gober said motorists who did decide to travel on the slushy roads should be driving around five to 10 miles per hour.

“People who are driving any faster than that are going to slide off the road. It’s best to play it safe.”

Gober said the snow has caused icy conditions on all roads in the county – a situation they started preparing for this past weekend.

“We received a briefing from the National Weather Service that our area would receive four to seven inches of snow, but most areas received around nine inches,” Gober said.

“We set up a command post at the Russellville Fire Department that has been equipped with three Humvees from the National Guard that we’ve had to use to transport emergency personnel to and from work. These people have really been busy trying to make sure that residents get around safely.”

Gober added that the state and county highway departments as well as the city street departments have been working tirelessly to make the roads passable.

“All of the street departments did everything they could this past weekend to get enough sand and salt ready to put out on the roads,” Gober said. “They’ll also be working hard on the roads [Tuesday] to get Highway 24 and 43 taken care of.

“I think the roads will get progressively better with the exception of the icy patches that will still be around after the extremely cold weather Tuesday night and then Wednesday night.”

Lee added officials at the National Weather Service expected the below-freezing temperatures to potentially pose a problem for some motorists later in the week.

“Lows are expected to be in the teens on Tuesday night, which could make for some treacherous driving conditions on Wednesday,” meteorologist Jennifer Lee said. “Motorists should be very careful if they get out on the roads.”