Most roads clear; disruptions seen as minimal
By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com
The Unionville area got off light during Sunday's snowstorm. Roads in Willowdale were open and clear by midday Monday.
While New York and Philadelphia ere buried by a severe winter storm, much of the Unionville area appears to have ducked the worst of the storm.
Snow totals ranged between 2.5 and four inches across the area — a far cry from the nearly one-foot that was dumped on Philadelphia and two feet that fell on parts of New Jersey and New York. Most local roadways were clear, the only slippery areas being where high winds drove snow onto the roadway continually. Care in driving remains the sensible course. The National Weather Service has a wind advisory in effect until Monday night.
Still, Sunday afternoon and evening local roads were slippery with local public works crews working to keep main roadways clear. Still, most primary and secondary roadways had been plowed and salted by early Monday.
Despite the minimal impact on the immediate area, there were a few disruptions. Chester County offices opened an hour later than usual because of the weather, while the Pennsylvania Turnpike lowered speeds across the state to 45 MPH through Monday. Philadelphia International Airport was in a groundstop condition through midday, with dozens of flights cancelled. And Sunday night’s Eagles-Vikings game was postponed until Tuesday night.
Bright sunshine a just enough snow give the sleepy valley shared by Pocopson and Birmingham a postcard look.
As compared with the three massive storms during the 2009-10 winter, this weekend’s event was handled fairly in stride — despite some dire early warnings that the storm system could dump a foot or more of snow on Chester County. Luckily for Unionville, the storm veered to the east, dumping just enough snow to make it fun for the kids, but not so much to massively hamper local transportation.
With students from the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District already on holiday break, sledding became the big activity of the day. The giant hill at Pocopson Elementary was a popular place, with nearly 50 kids and adults on the hill by midafternoon. In addition to dozens of kids — some on their brand-new Chistmas sleds, there were a handful snowboarders and skiers taking their runs down the hill.
