NORMAN — This year’s biggest snow so far has come and gone, leaving Cleveland County and Oklahoma well below snowfall numbers recorded by Will Rogers World Airport last year. The greater Norman area averaged 1.5 inches of snow from Sunday night through Monday morning, National Weather Service meteorologist Doug Speheger said.
Monday morning’s snow accounts for the entire 2011-2012 winter season accumulation. Will Rogers Airport recorded 1.8 inches of snow for the event. Last year, the 2010-2011 winter season saw a total of 19.6 inches at Will Rogers and even higher numbers in northeastern portions of Oklahoma.
That doesn’t mean Cleveland County road crews weren’t busy.
District 1 County Commissioner Rod Cleveland said he mobilized eight workers at 1 a.m. Monday to grade and sand roads within his district. Rains starting around 4 a.m. turned snow to slush, complicating the road cleanup, he said.
Late Monday afternoon, the county was preparing to keep roads safe in case of an overnight refreeze.
“We’ll probably have two trucks that will go out late this evening and just hit the bridges as a precaution,” Cleveland said, “and a couple of intersections that might still have some water on there because it’s supposed to get down to 20 (degrees).”
In western Oklahoma, near Sayre and Hobart, residents saw up to five inches of precipitation.
Larry Clore, of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said crews were sanding highways in Beckham and Kiowa Counties late Monday afternoon.
Speheger said the Norman area can expect even less precipitation in coming days, with a 50 percent chance of light rain occuring as early as Wednesday morning.
Joel Pruett 366-3540 jpruett@normantranscript.com
