Strange white powder blankets county

Published 4:09 pm Wednesday, March 4, 2009

By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



North Jefferson residents woke up Sunday morning to something vaguely familiar and very, very cold.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the strange phenomenon was nothing less than the biggest snow the state of Alabama has seen since 1993.

The north Jefferson area received 2 to 5 inches of snow, with most of it melting by the afternoon when temperatures climbed into the low 40s, according to the NWS.

The winter blast, coming and disappearing on a Sunday, did not cause schools or business to close on Monday.

However, it did seem to affect shopping during the weekend at some stores

“On Saturday we were busier than normal,” said Melvin Cochran, owner of Foodland in Gardendale. “They bought a little bread and a little milk. But it was not like a normal snow scare, because they bought a lot of everything.”

Cochran said business was up 30 percent on Saturday but down 50 percent on Sunday, as compared to average weekend sales.

“I guess people were out enjoying the snow (on Sunday),” he said.

In Morris, the snow did not have much effect on Town Market Citgo, because the store opens at noon on Sundays, according to employee Sally Ritch.

“It was pretty much gone by the time we got here,” said Ritch.

The Dollar General store in Morris also had a fairly normal day. Manager Jeanette Blalock opened the store at 9 a.m. on Sunday. She said the snow did not have a big impact on business.

“We opened on time. Everybody was coming in and getting what they needed,” she said. “We just rolled along like normal.”

Like Foodland, Blalock said there was not a big run on staples like bread and milk as there normally is when north Alabama is threatened with snow.

In Warrior, Street Department superintendent Elton Buford said that Mother Nature took care of the snow before his department had to.

“We came out and looked at it, but we didn’t need to do anything,” he said.

Meanwhile in Gardendale, the city workers put down 100 tons of sand, according to street department superintendent Jeff Holliyan.

Crews put sand at bridges, overpasses and entrances to nursing homes, medical facilities and city buildings.

“It’s not something we get here often, but when we have a snow event or an ice issue, we try to be prepared and do what we need to do to protect the driving public,” said Holliyan.

Holliyan said he did not know of any snow-related accidents or incidents from the weekend, besides his department removing two fallen trees that temporarily blocked roads.

Lt. Randy Christian, spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said the snow caused few problems in the county.

“We just had the typical icing problems in a few areas. There were no serious problems that I know of,” Christian said. “It melted rather quickly this time. For the amount of snow we had I was very surprised but pleased that we didn’t have more problems than we did.”

A Fultondale resident said she was surprised to see snow on Sunday because of recent false alarms from weather reports.

“I heard about it on the news, but we frequently hear about snow that

never comes. When I woke up and saw that we indeed had snow and saw how much snow, I was very surprised,” said Suzanne Eady.

Eady said many of her neighbors enjoyed the day by building snowmen, a fairly rare treat for Alabamians.

“Watching the snow fall and the children in the neighborhood playing made it a perfect day,” said Eady.

Weather predictions for this weekend are nothing like the previous wintry weekend. The highs for Friday, Saturday and Sunday are predicted to be 74, 75, and 74 degrees, respectively.