By John Dobberstein, Editor
It wasn’t the biggest winter event ever in the Tulsa metro, but Sunday’s storm brought dangerous cold and enough snow to cause travel issues.
Snow started to fall in Broken Arrow around 11 a.m. Within a couple of hours moderate snow showers coated local and state roads and expressways with a thin layer of snow and ice.
Tulsa reported 1.5 inches of snow Sunday, although some places north and east saw 2-3 inches.
As snow began to accumulate, the Will Rogers and Turner turnpikes were both shut down for stretches with accidents involving both passenger and commercial vehicles.
One incident occurred east of Miami and another near Bristow. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol asked residents around 2:40 p.m. to avoid the Will Rogers turnpike while the accidents were cleared.
The Tulsa Police Department closed 71st Street and Olympia Avenue in the afternoon due to the road becoming a sheet of ice and being impassable. Several other streets in Tulsa had similar issues.
At Tulsa International Airport, snow crews worked to clear the main runway and taxiways and the main runway remained open. As of 7:45 p.m. crews had finished sweeping and clearing all runways and the taxiway.
Airport officials reminded passengers to check their flight status directly with their airline before leaving for the airport.
As of Sunday night, PSO had no reports on its website of widespread power outages, but the company said it was monitoring weather reports.
With the snow passing Sunday evening, Broken Arrow and beyond will be left with bigger cold temperatures Monday and Tuesday with highs in the low teens.
Many students will get a 4-day weekend as Broken Arrow, Union, Tulsa and Bixby schools have already announced they’ll be closed Tuesday for an official snow day with due to the dangerous wind chills predicted. Northeastern State University-Broken Arrow cancelled classes for Monday and Tulsa Tech for Tuesday.
Public works employees with the city of Broken Arrow were out Saturday night and Sunday treating and clearing priority roads.
Broken Arrow trash and recycling services will slide this coming week. Due to the inclement weather the city says residents should expect service disruptions to occur. On Monday there is no service due to city offices being closed for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.
On Tuesday there will not be service due to the forecast of extreme weather conditions, including dangerously cold wind chill values.
An update to the refuse schedule for this week is expected Monday.
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