It was just an inch or so and it didn’t stick much, but Thursday’s early dollop of winter was enough to prompt many area school districts to cancel classes, and a slick roadway was deemed a factor in a freeway crash that killed a Perrysburg woman.
A mix of sleet and snow was falling in the area when Tiffany Anderson, 31, lost control on northbound I-75 near the Ohio Turnpike interchange in Perrysburg Township and her pickup struck a barrier wall about 6:52 a.m., troopers from the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Bowling Green post reported.
After Ms. Anderson got out to assess the damage, she and her vehicle were struck by a sport-utility vehicle that also lost control approaching the scene, troopers said, and then another careening SUV struck both vehicles.
Ms. Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene. Troopers did not report any injuries to the other drivers — Kent Chovanec, 22, and Jodi Stotz, 52, both also of Perrysburg — and filed no immediate charges.
As of 5 p.m., just 0.5 inch of snow and sleet had fallen Thursday at Toledo Express Airport. Accumulations were slight and focused on elevated surfaces like vehicles and overpasses as well as grassy areas.
Pavements and sidewalks, however, were particularly slippery during the morning commute, when air temperatures at Toledo Express and Toledo Executive airports both were at or just below freezing.
Ignazio Messina, a city spokesman, said the Toledo Division of Streets, Bridges, and Harbor had crews out at 6 a.m. spreading ice melter on bridges. It also assigned some crews to patrol major streets for slick spots while also maintaining leaf pickup in the city, Mr. Messina said.
Lucas County Engineer Keith Earley said he put 10 trucks on the county roads Thursday morning and had four more available if needed.
The Ohio Department of Transportation had scheduled several news-media events at Toledo-area maintenance garages to highlight the department’s winter preparedness but postponed those events until Tuesday because its drivers were out on the roads.
“The main thing was the slush turning to ice,” said Rebecca Dangelo, ODOT’s district spokesman in Bowling Green. Crews had pre-treated many roadways with brine, but with slushy conditions that treatment became ineffective.
Crews were to remain assigned into Friday, particularly as a precaution against wet pavements refreezing overnight as the temperature dropped behind the storm.
Toledo Public Schools headlined a long list of districts throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan that canceled school Thursday, and TPS spokesman Patty Mazur said hazardous travel conditions were the reason.
“Student safety is the number one priority for Toledo Public Schools,” she wrote in an email. “We keep that in mind when making the decision to delay or close school. Weather and road conditions are evaluated to determine our course of action.”
The Toledo Walleye also canceled their special “School Education Day” game scheduled for 10:35 a.m. Thursday at against Kalamazoo because of the inclement weather.
A makeup date hasn’t been set. Tickets for the game will be honored for the rescheduled game.
Andi Roman, the Walleye's communications and media director, said the school cancellations were the main reason for the postponement.
“Weather played a role in the sense that many districts in our area had to cancel school,” Ms. Roman said. “Today’s game was a School Education Day. By having the ability in this unique situation to reschedule the game for a later date, it gives these students the opportunity to attend a game.”
Only two other games in the Walleye’s 10-year history have been canceled.
In January 2015, a multiple-car pileup on I-94 made it impossible for Kalamazoo to get to Toledo and the game was postponed to a later date.
An outdoor game against Fort Wayne that was part of the team's Winterfest at Fifth Third Field also was canceled that same month.
The Kalamazoo team bus had arrived for Thursday's game.
Besides the fatal crash in Perrysburg Township, I-75 in Wood County also was disrupted Thursday morning by a multiple-vehicle crash near the Cygnet interchange that blocked all three northbound lanes for a while. The Ohio Highway Patrol did not report any injuries from that crash.
Additional light snow accumulation was forecast in Toledo during Thursday evening, with dry but cloudy skies predicted for Friday by the National Weather Service office in Cleveland.
Thirty-percent chances for snow showers were in that agency’s Toledo forecast for Saturday, Saturday night, and Sunday, but with only nominal accumulations expected.
First Published November 16, 2018, 12:09 a.m.
