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About 2 to 3 inches greeted residents when they awoke on Tuesday morning -- less than the 6 inches that was predicted. There is another 1 to 11/2 inches forecast, according to an early evening report from WTWO-TV's Jessie Walker.
Greene County remains under a winter weather advisory until 1 p.m. Wednesday.
"There will still be some snow bands come through tonight (Tuesday), so we are not completely done with the snow yet. There will be some small additional accumulation tonight. The big story through is the wind," Walker said. "We anticipate the winds will peak around 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. (Wednesday), so blowing and drifting will be here. Air temperatures are already down in the low teens so we are talking wind chills five-below-zero tonight."
Greene County Sheriff Terry Pierce says his deputies luckily had few weather-related calls on Tuesday.
"We've had one slide-off that I'm aware of. There wasn't anything bad," he said. "I drove past Walmart last night and it was very packed so I think people got what they needed and stayed home, which was a good thing."
The sheriff continued, "It's been fairly quiet today. We had all of the officers on-call just to be prepared in case something did come up, but so far, it's been good."
Greene County Highway Superintendent Mike Hennette said his crew -- that included three graders and 12 plow trucks -- were on the roads shortly after daylight Tuesday and made good progress on plowing the paved roads.
"I think we've got all of the main roads and all of the blacktops open and I think people can get around pretty good. The wind is going to blow tonight (Tuesday) and we're going to have some drifting," Hennette told the Greene County Daily World. "Most of the blacktops are clear, they (motorists) just need to be careful with drifts."
Hennette said the sun peaked out for a period on Tuesday morning and he believes may have produced enough melting to help the new snow sort of glaze over -- which could minimize the drifting.
"I'm hoping that is what happened," he added. "We obviously don't want to come out here in the morning and have drifts."
Hennette encouraged motorists to use extra care when traveling after dark tonight and before dawn on Wednesday morning.
"It's going to be travel at your own risk," he said. "If the snow gets to blowing it's going to be pretty hazardous."
Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) Vincennes District spokesperson Cher Goodwin said the snow removal process had gone without a serious hitch.
"Things have gone very well! We battle things great. No trouble spots. We will have partial forces out this (Tuesday) evening and overnight to monitor for re-freezing. Should another storm come through, we will pull in full forces," she said.
Goodwin reminds motorists to be careful during their late evening and morning commutes.
"Remember that after daylight disappears, temperatures drop quickly, air and pavement, and any moisture will re-freeze. Motorists are reminded to slow down, allow additional space between you and the car in front of you and to expect the unexpected."
Indiana State Police Bloomington Post Public Information officer Sgt. Curt Durnil said late Tuesday afternoon that light snow continues to fall throughout the Bloomington District, which includes Greene, Owen, Monroe, Lawrence and Brown Counties).
"The weather forecast indicates that snow will continue throughout the day tomorrow. State highways are snow covered and slick, but pavement is visible in most areas. U.S. Highways fall into that same category, however secondary and county roads remain snow covered."
Sgt. Durnil encourages people not to call their local, county or state police dispatch centers for road and weather conditions.
"Troopers and dispatchers are extremely busy at this time and are focused on providing assistance for those in need," he said.
Citizens can access statewide road information by going to: www.TrafficWise.IN.gov or by calling the Road and Weather Line at 1-800-261-ROAD (7623).
"Motorist who use common sense and drive with cautions should be able to navigate the snow covered roads," Durnil added.
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They keep missing forecasts like this, and the next time we do get a real snow, nobody will be ready.
Their accuracy would increase if they would put a window in at the weather station.
sure would be nice if the county would take care of the county roads that have hardly any gravel on them. but its up to the people that live on the road to keep it plowed.
I agree even if the county can't afford salt and sand for the county roads they at least need to send a plow!!!!!! If they were prepared for 6 more inches, they should have plenty of staff on call to get some of the county roads clean.
Not cleaning the roads is an inconvenience to the residents and dangerous! We've got young drivers on these county roads not used to driving in snow - at least they haven't had to go to school, but that doesn't mean they're all staying off the roads.
Personally I'd prefer to pay MORE in property taxes if the county could actually manage to plow my roads the 2 or 3 times a year when it needs to be done!
RB I do pay property tax thats what some of the tax's are for! thats the point here! we pay our tax's the same as blacktop residence do! we are punished!! no gravel, no plowing, and in order to pay tax's we work, we need to get to work!!! not just the young people need to get out but the worker's do tooo...
I understand. I pay property taxes too, but apparently the highway department doesn't have enough money.
Now I read their article that they can't afford overtime so they're only working 36 hour weeks, that's not even full time where I work?!?!!? Let's start with 40 hour weeks. Then how about workers earning comp time? Work extra hours now, to earn time off when there isn't as big a demand?? How about getting some salaried employees to drive the plows, then there isn't any overtime.
I read the article about not plowing after dark because it's dangerous, but it's also dangerous for the drivers after dark when the road isn't plowed - is the county going to be liable for any accidents that happen on unplowed roads? Also I've read that plowing is easier as the snow falls and after getting compacted when driven upon and freezing overnight, the plowing is actually more difficult and time consuming. C'mon get the plows out when the snow is falling and then let the workers take the next day off to save a few pennies...
I have to get to work and this morning I did so by spreading the salt I paid for with my money on a county road???? Can I send the receipt to the county for reimbursement??? Yesterday, I had my child get up to push my car so that I could get to work.
Really it's not like we get a lot of snow around here, why can't the county manage this the few days a year when it's needed????
County Highway isn't funded from property tax. It is funded mostly by fuel tax. This is one reason why cutting our budget didn't make much sense, but that is another story.
The employees do as they are told. We get the roads that are the most traveled.
Plowing while it is still snowing is pretty much a waste of time and money. Plowing makes it slick, and laying down material that just gets covered up makes no sense either. It is best to wait until the snow is over, unless it is snowing very hard.
Really? fuel tax funds our highway dept and not our tax dollars? What about the ditching? is it funded by the tax's? this is the first I have ever heard of that! I would like to know about that other story, I think... so what do our tax dollars go to pay within our county? I am not being sarcastic I really would like to know because I do not beleive that fuel consumption is less so the tax dollars should not have went down.
Some of the bridge fund is property tax, but most of the GCHD budget is fuel tax. All the fuel tax you pay is sent to the state, and they have a formula to see how much you get. They base it on how many registered cars are in the county. cars, not trucks. I think it is foolish to not count pickup trucks, but they do it that way.
When the GCHD has to submit its budget to the county council for approval, it is mostly just for show. The state sends us what they want. The council has some say over bridge fund and bituminous material, but that is all.