County prepared for wintry weather

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With Fayette County residents experiencing colder temperatures lately, county engineer Steve Luebbe said Wednesday his crew is prepared for the upcoming winter weather.

“It’s the same thing this year, we wait and see what we get and then get with it,” Luebbe said. “We have been through this many times before so none of it is really new. It can be difficult for everybody, for the community to get around and it’s hard on our guys too. It can be long hours and stressful in a snow plow under those conditions. As long as everybody works together we will get through it again this season.”

According to weather.com, Thursday has potential for flurries and snow showers with a high temperature of 34 degrees and a low of 26 into the night. The potential for some light snow will continue into the evening.

“We have plenty of material,” Luebbe said. “We are fully stocked now — in fact we are a little overstocked right now — I just don’t see a scenario we don’t have enough salt to last us through the winter. It’s better to go into the next winter with a little left over than to run out mid-season.”

Going into the weekend, temperatures are not expected to get much warmer with Friday’s projected high of 36 degrees and low of 27 and Saturday’s high of 40 degrees and low of 34. Chances of rain will climb though to around 52 percent on Saturday night. Currently, Sunday and Monday are projected to be warmer and with less rain. Temperatures could be a 38 high and 29 low on Sunday and a 46 high and 31 low on Monday.

Weather.com is predicting precipitation on Thursday, Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve) at a 40 percent chance of a rain and snow shower mix, and a high temperature of 40 with a low of 22 degrees. Christmas Day could be colder with a 29 degree high and 19 degree low and low chances of precipitation.

Finally, Luebbe talked about 2020 for the Engineer’s Office and explained it was a big year for them.

“COVID has been a challenge for everyone, but besides a couple of weeks back in March when it first started to hit it has been business as usual pretty much for us. We have been open to the public, full-staffed. It hasn’t changed much about how we go about our business this year. We actually had one of our bigger years this year too. We had a lot of projects — spent a lot of money — and I feel we got a lot accomplished. For now we are working on our usual winter maintenance, if we get decent weather — as we did last year — we will go out and work on a few things. Most of the time (like Wednesday) we are out salting and making sure things are okay. If there is snow and ice on the ground the guys are typically in their trucks really hitting the bad spots. That is what we focus on throughout the winter. Sometimes it feels like it’s all winter, guys are out every day cleaning up spots. We are hoping that this year is a lot like last year so we can actually get some things done and not just fight snow and ice all winter long.”

The information in this article was provided by Fayette County Engineer Steve Luebbe and weather.com. Stay with the Record-Herald for more coverage of winter weather in Fayette County.

Reach Martin Graham on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy.

On Wednesday, snow blanketed various parts of Fayette County including Christman Park in Washington Court House.
https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2020/12/web1_20201216_113150.jpgOn Wednesday, snow blanketed various parts of Fayette County including Christman Park in Washington Court House. Jennifer Woods | Record-Herald photo

By Martin Graham

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