Staying true-to-form with the rest of this winter thus far, Tuesday night brought and early Wednesday morning is expected to bring complicating weather to Athens County and most of Ohio.
"Tonight's weather will be very difficult, as Athens is on the border of the rain and freezing rain line," according to the most recent forecast available through Ohio University's Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis. "All types of precipitation will be expected over southern Ohio. Precipitation is currently arriving and beginning to fall as a mixture of freezing rain and sleet."
The forecast went on to say that conditions will "quickly change over to all freezing rain and could be heavy at times," and that a mix of snow, sleet, or freezing rain will make travel hazardous and "strongly discouraged" for safety reasons.
Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly, who determines the county’s snow emergency levels, wrote on Facebook that he upgraded Athens’ level to a "level TWO due to the icy mixture on the highways.”
He added: “The state routes have been treated and I have been advised the trucks will continue treating the highways. A certain number of vehicles on the highways helps activate the chemicals and salt which melts the ice quicker.”
University of Cincinnati President Santa J. Ono tweeted around midnight that UC would be closed Wednesday.
"Due to very treacherous road conditions, University of Cincinnati will be closed tomorrow February 5," Ono tweeted.
Many tweeters, likely OU students, caught wind of the news and retweeted Ono's tweet — along with #peerpressure — to OU Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi, who, with a wide following of students, often announces university news via social media.
The Twitter handle @OUScanner, which monitors local police scanners and tweets what chatter can be heard, tweeted: "Have had some reports Of vehicles sliding off the road. Be careful Its slick out.”
As of 12:55 a.m., Ohio University had not closed or canceled classes, according to it's alert page.
— The Post staff
jj360410@ohiou.edu
@ThePostLocal
@ThePostCampus
