Winter Storm Falls Short Of Predictions; Leaves Ice, Snow In Its Wake

By Joe LaRue, Managing Editor

Winter storm Landon, a 2000-mile-wide snowstorm predicted to dump more than a foot and a half of snow and ice across wide swaths of the United States, blew through Montgomery County last night. While the storm failed to live up to the calamitous predictions made earlier this week, it has still brought the county to a frozen halt.

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Crawfordsville officially recorded 12 inches of snowfall from the storm. Temperatures topped out yesterday at 18 degrees before falling to a low of 11. This snowfall is now the new record snowfall by Feb. 4 in Crawfordsville.

County Administrator Tom Klein confirmed that, “County offices are closed.” He went on to say that, “We will be reviewing the road conditions throughout the day to determine if there should be a change to yellow (travel advisory condition). Roads have ice pack under the snow and crews are applying the salt-sand material to them.”

Montgomery County Sheriff Ryan Needham confirmed the Sheriff’s office responded to 101 calls for service, including slide-offs, crashes, and other smaller incidents. He said, “We’ve had a lot of vehicle crashes, slide-offs, and property damage crashes. The roads have been bad because of the wind and so it’s been an uphill battle, but we’ve been staying on top of it.” He also confirmed there were no fatal accidents or major crimes reported during the storm.

Mayor Barton’s office was unavailable for comment. Crawfordsville Fire Chief Scott Busenbark also could not be reached for comment on CFD calls and actions prior to publication.