Highway message boards informed determined motorists to keep their speed at 45 mph Wednesday on Interstate 81, but it seemed drivers already got the message.
Snow blanketed the region with inches in hours and most drivers responded by slowing to about 35 mph around noon on parts of the interstate.
Between 7 a.m. and late afternoon, there were 59 accidents in Lackawanna County, according to Lackawanna County 911. That’s including fender benders and cars sliding off the road on the county’s interstates and local roads.
Compared with some other smaller state routes where large trucks crawled and compact cars fishtailed in the slush, drivers on I-81 moved slowly, but steadily through the day.
While the state Department of Transportation reported roads closing temporarily throughout the day, only part of Cliff Street in Honesdale remained closed late Wednesday afternoon due to downed utilities.
Road restrictions were lifted on most highways by 6 p.m., with the exception of Interstate 84.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport canceled several departures and several earlier incoming flights were canceled due to weather.
Lackawanna County road crews started getting ready at 5 a.m., and seven trucks continued to sweep snow and slush from Main Avenue in Scranton, Montage Mountain Road, the routes through Stauffer Industrial Park in Taylor and a half-dozen other county roads, county spokesman Joseph D’Arienzo said.
Conditions on county roads were as fair as could be, Mr. D’Arienzo said.
PennDOT crews had started treating the interstates through Lackawanna County on Tuesday before the storm struck, spraying the road with brine to slow freezing.
In Lackawanna County, PennDOT had 42 trucks working to clear and salt state roads, and the department had rented an extra six trucks, PennDOT spokesman James May said. Plow operators were staging to hit the road starting at 4 a.m. Wednesday, he said.
One plow truck driver told Mr. May the warm-up earlier in the week made their work a little easier.
“Especially with the temperatures we had (Tuesday), the ground was warmer,” Mr. May said.
AccuWeather.com meteorologist Dave Samuhel said the higher temperature at the surface certainly helped travelers, but motorists should use caution Thursday as the thermometer gauge is likely to descend well below freezing.
Around 1 p.m., snow still fell steadily in Clarks Summit and had accumulated to about 6 inches. About 7½ inches of snow had fallen in Dingman Twp., Pike County as of 4:30 p.m.
PPL Electric Utility declared its own “storm emergency,” and reported several thousand customers without power in Northeast Pennsylvania early in the afternoon Wednesday. By late afternoon, about 2,500 customers were without power, the majority in Pike and Monroe counties.
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