With Christmas sporting temperatures in the low to mid 70s, the area was greeted by Old Man Winter last week with not one, but two major snow storms. Not only did the snows shut down local businesses and schools, but the thaws were met with heavy rains at the end of the week, resulting in localized flooding in some areas, delaying the opening of schools last Monday.

Despite forecasts of only a light dusting on grassy areas, on Monday, January 3, DeKalb saw as much as six to seven inches of heavy snow, covering roads, trees, and powerlines. The Alexandria and Liberty area reported many trees down in roadways, along with power outages. Large trees were even reported to have snapped, falling on houses in the area, leaving homeowners to deal with the cleanup.

Winter wasn’t through however. After the early week snow had melted, another major snowfall hit the county on Thursday, January 6, dumping as much as four to seven inches in the area. There was even reported of thunder and lightning during the storms, making for the rare thunder snow. Once again businesses and schools were closed, with some major traffic nightmares facing local drivers on local roadways.

Highway 70, between Alexandria and Watertown was shut down on and off due to jackknifed tractor trailers and cars and trucks sliding off the roadway. One commuter reported that it took two hours to get from Lebanon to Alexandria during the storm.

The roadways in the Smithville area were not much better, with numerous cars reported skidding off the roads and being stuck in the icy conditions.

The snow, coupled with a cold front that plunged the area into the single digits until the weekend, kept many roads impassable until later in the weekend. With both snow events, local children took advantage of the conditions and broke out their sleds. Several snowmen were also created during the storms.

On Sunday, a warm front moved in, melting much of the snow, but then came heavy rains, which created runoff from the already saturated ground. Local creeks became swollen leading to some flooding in the area.