Snow coats chilly county

Bedford County citizens have become used to predictions of heavy snowfall that don't pan out, perhaps hitting Nashville but missing the southern portion of Middle Tennessee.

This was not one of them.

As the widely-predicted snow began to fall on Friday, local residents stared out their windows. Some headed home as many offices closed early, and many began making snow cream and building snowmen.

Scott Johnson of Bedford County Emergency Management Agency estimated about 5 inches of snowfall on Friday. Volunteers for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network, run by the Colorado Climate Center, reported snowfall amounts across the county ranging from 2.0 inches to 5.5 inches.

"I'm having flashbacks to Alaska," joked Johnson, a former career Air Force officer.

Overnight, additional precipitation put an icy glaze on vehicles and on top of the snow. But the ice wasn't as heavy as some officials had feared. Charles McDonald of Duck River Electric Membership Corp. said there were only a few isolated power outages in Bedford County, and Johnson said that EMA did not need to activate its warmth shelter program, designed for cases where power outages leave some without heat.

West of Bedford County, it was a different story. McDonald, reached at midday Saturday, said 1,800 DREMC customers in southern Marshall and Maury counties were without power.

"I'm over in Cornersville," he said, "and it is awful." A 1/4-inch glaze of ice brought down tree limbs and power lines.

Johnson said at midday Saturday he heard reports of "at least 50 to 60" weather-related traffic accidents in Shelbyville.

Deputies were kept scrambling with non-injury accidents at the rate of one nearly every five minutes at midday Friday. Quite a few were concentrated west of Shelbyville on State Highway 64.

Bedford County Highway Superintendent Stanley Smotherman said that there appeared to be more ice in the northern part of Bedford County. The county highway department's two salt trucks and two graders were concentrating on hilly areas, said Smotherman.

Temperatures overnight Saturday into Sunday were expected to be in the teens, below the 20-degree mark at which salt can keep ice from forming. That could cause a layer of ice to form even on roads that had been previously clear. Motorists need to be careful not only because of visible ice and snow but also because of "black ice," the term for invisible but slick spots that can form, especially on bridges.

Sunny weather on Sunday would do much to thaw the roads, said Smotherman, except in remote shady areas. Some of those won't thaw out until the temperature is well above the freezing point.

A decision on whether to keep county schools closed on Monday had not been announced by press time.