Spring snowstorm blasts Sidney, again

Sidney has been pelted with snow and ice recently, leaving some to wonder when spring will ever make its lasting appearance.

This morning, Public Services Director John Hehnke and Police Chief Joseph Aikens kept watch over the main intersection as semi trucks made their way back onto the now open interstate. Hehnke said that the interstate opened back up at approximately 6 a.m. this morning and it appears that it will stay open.

“They have given us information that the winds are going to pick up maybe around 35-miles an hour today,” he said. “But luckily with the sun coming out it should get a crust on this snow and hopefully we won’t have too much blowing around.”

Hehnke commended the work of city personnel on getting the roads cleared for citizens and praised citizens for cooperating with the efforts.

“We put out all of our crews and snow equipment that we had and we put it to work to get roads open and get the drifts opened up,” said Hehnke. “The guys have done a heck of a job making sure that we can get roads open for everybody.

“We also appreciate the public giving us the opportunity to get the job done and not getting in our way so that we could get the roads open for them. That was a big help for us.”

The Nebraska State Patrol, along with the Nebraska Department of Roads and different city road departments, worked hard over the past two weeks dealing with blizzard conditions.

“This storm has been much better than last week’s storm as far as the preparedness of everybody and I think the public in general,” said Lt. Jamey Balthazor of the Nebraska State Patrol.

“This one was not as severe as the last one,” he continued. “It hadn’t come on as hard as the last one.

“That storm last week came on and when it hit it hit awful hard and the winds were a lot stronger. This one here was a little calmer. This was a snowfall rather than a true blizzard I think,” he said.

Balthazor explained the indicators behind his claim that the last storm was more severe.

“We haven’t had nearly the volume of accidents and nearly the volume of stuck vehicles. We haven’t as been nearly as busy with this storm than last week’s storm,” said Balthazor. “The last storm was pretty nasty compared to this one.”

At around 2 p.m. yesterday Balthazor said that I-80 had already turned from an open highway to one closed westbound to Wyoming from as far east as Big Springs.

“Just like last week, a serious amount of road closures had taken place due to the snow,” he added. “Wyoming was getting hit much harder and the traffic was backed up into Nebraska, so we had to continue to close it down Eastward as they tried to deal with the snowfall over there.

“As the communities’ lodging capacities are breeched we have to continue to move that closure eastbound just because there is no place to put people,” he said.

Authorities closed the highway first at the Wyoming state line, then Kimball. When space and facilities at Kimball filled up and weather worsened, they extended the closures to Sidney and Big Springs.

“This is because there is no place to put people and when we’re gonna get them off the highway we need to make sure that there is a place that they can go to get some rest and some food and lodging,” Balthazor explained

The lieutenant had some precautions and advice to those in weather affected areas of Nebraska for future reference.

“Until the snow stops and we are able to get all the roads bladed off and cleared off, we ask folks to only do necessary travel and if they could avoid making any trips on the highways until the conditions get a little better, it would be better for everybody. In this particular case you can’t go very far anyhow in Sidney,” he said.

“Keep travel to a minimum and if you are going to travel take some precautions incase you would get stuck or go off the road.

“Make sure you have a full tank of gas to stay warm and make sure you have some blankets, some food, some water, make sure you have your cell phone with you and a charger just incase,” he said. “Take some precautions incase something bad were to happen so you can come out of it safe and sound.”

Although long range forecasts suggest the worst of winter weather is over, the possibility of snow or wintery mix is still likely as early as Sunday evening.