The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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  • Four-wheel drive vehicles and heavy-duty pickups carved a path through three-foot snow drifts Sunday morning on Skeleton Road. Most Garfield County roads, heading east and west, remained covered because of the blowing snow during the weekend winter blast. (Staff Photo by BONNIE VCULEK)

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March 21, 2010

Spring snowstorm dumps little on Enid area; temps to rise today

By Robert Barron, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — As city crews continued to clear off streets Sunday, temperatures reached 40 degrees and sunny skies helped thaw what Enid residents hope is the final snow of the year.

Garfield County Emergency Management Director Mike Honigsberg said temperatures were cold Sunday night but were expected to soar to the 50s or 60s today.

According to Honigsberg’s measurements, Enid received an average of 31⁄2 inches of snow during the storm that moved in Saturday and dumped snow across the western and central Oklahoma area.

The storm moved eastward Sunday and heavy snow fell on northeast Oklahoma and eastern Arkansas, with some places reporting between 8 to 12 inches, according to National Weather Service.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation urged people in the eastern part of Oklahoma not to travel on the snow-packed and slick roads if not necessary, but roads in the western part of the state were improving.

The storm is the third major winter storm to hit Oklahoma in the last three months, including a Christmas Eve blizzard that stranded holiday travelers at airports and on snow-packed highways.

Authorities reported dozens of wrecks amid heavy snow and high winds, many of them with injuries. Single deaths were reported in Missouri, Kansas and Texas, while Oklahoma reported two traffic fatalities.

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol dispatcher said Saturday afternoon there had been no serious accidents on area highways, just “slide-offs,” and Enid Police Department also reported there had not been any serious wrecks caused by the weather.

Honigsberg said many of the east-west roads in the county were impassable Saturday due to drifting and crews have been working to get those roads open in time for school buses today.

  Wind speed in Enid was a sustained 28 mph late Saturday afternoon, and gusts had been as high as 42 mph, according to the state Mesonet weather recording site.

 

Staff writer Bridget Nash and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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