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Weekend weather was snow problem

By Matt Dymond

Dana Laws, Cheryl Benge and Robin Benge, all of Marion, spruced up the Wal-Mart parking lot.

By Britt Combs | The McDowell News

Published: February 7, 2010

Once you get used to it, you can take it in stride. The winter storm this weekend caused barely a ripple across McDowell, despite dumping a lot of wet, slippery snow and sleet Friday and Saturday.
A wintry mix overnight Thursday and into Friday morning piled up quickly. Although the temperature in Marion remained just above freezing, the accumulation was enough to necessitate the cancellation of public school for the fourth time in five days.
No major accidents were reported in the area during this latest bout of snow and ice.
McDowell was spared the ice accumulations that put thousands off the power grid in the mountains. Duke Power was ready for things to get far worse than it eventually played out. A staging area was set up at the old truck stop on Sugar Hill Road, with dozens of trucks, tons of equipment and crews ready to act.
McDowell Emergency Management Director Terry Young said there were probably no more that Duke's reported 86 power outages early Friday morning.
"There was nothing major that went on," said Young, citing there were no fires, vehicle accidents or weather-related injuries.
The mess cleared away quickly when temperatures soared into the 40s Saturday.
This latest storm was Old Man Winter's third slap at the region in what is shaping up to be a memorable winter. And February has just begun, so there's plenty of winter left.
The Weather Channel predicts late Tuesday rain will give way to a 60 percent chance of snow showers overnight and into Wednesday morning when temperatures fall into the mid-20s.