Area dodges a bullet weather-wise

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

?It looks like we dodged a bullet,? assessed Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss this morning.

Much of Iowa was under either a blizzard or winter storm warning beginning last night. However, temperatures in southeast Iowa remained at or above freezing. Consequently, when northern Iowans woke up to inches of snow, residents in the southern part of the state saw sleet, but not white stuff, when they rose.

Hotchkiss said all county trucks hit the roads at 7 a.m., this morning. ?The temperatures are hovering right around freezing now,? he noted, ?so the sleet should be changing over to rain. The road temperatures are the key and they are rising.?

But until the precipitation turns to rain, Hotchkiss said motorists should use caution. ?There are some slick roads this morning and conditions can change rapidly. It was mainly raining at 6:30 a.m. today, and then it changed over to sleet. I would just urge motorists to drive cautiously.?

A dispatcher with the Henry County Sheriff?s Office said no major accidents had been reported as of 8 a.m. The office did receive a call of a vehicle in the ditch off U.S. Highway 34 and one that slid off Iowa Avenue. However, there were not any injuries in either accident, the dispatcher said.

Drew Schumacher, of the Mt. Pleasant Public Works Department, said street crews have been sanding and salting streets. ?It really isn?t too bad out,? Schumacher said.

However, it was bad enough that the Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield School districts canceled classes for today. Mt. Pleasant initially was under a two-hour delay.

Although the sleet was an inconvenience, a glance at the weather map says it could have been much worse.