Temperatures are expected to drop to around 4 degrees on Christmas Eve. The NWS predicts a sunny Christmas Day, with a high near 15 degrees and winds between 11 and 14 mph.
Crews are continuing efforts to keep roads clear of snow and ice, though strong snow-blowing winds will reduce visibility, intensifying hazardous driving conditions Saturday.
“Things aren’t going to get much better until the wind dies down,” Montgomery County Engineer Paul Gruner said.
Montgomery County road crews are responsible for 320 miles of county roads, which translates to about 800 lane miles to keep clear.
Gruner, along with the Ohio Department of Transportation, said the goal is to keep roads passable, though not necessarily free of snow and ice at all times.
“Our crews are trying to stay ahead as best they can, but the wind is the biggest issue,” ODOT spokesman Matt Bruning said. “I’ve had a lot of plow drivers tell me that as soon as they get the snow off the roads, the wind blows it right away.”
Kettering street crews worked overnight Thursday and Friday to clear major and secondary streets, according to the city’s Facebook page.
This comes during one of the biggest travel seasons of the year. The Dayton Daily News reported earlier this week that AAA estimates 112.7 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home for the holiday season, which runs from Dec. 23 to Jan. 2. This is an increase of 3.6 million people compared to last year and is approaching pre-pandemic travel levels.
The effects of the storm also affected flight travel on Friday. According to flight tracker website Flightaware.com, there were just 11,300 total flight delays nationally as of 9:25 a.m. Friday, with total cancellations exceeding 5,850 flights.
Fifteen originating flights were canceled at Dayton International Airport Friday morning, the website showed, with only one flight delayed. Fifteen flights accounted for 48% of Dayton Airport’s flights by origin at the time, the site said.
Just under 300 were without power in Montgomery County Friday afternoon, along with more than 500 in Miami, 230 in Preble and 130 in Darke counties, according to AES Ohio’s online outage map.
More than 3,500 AES Ohio customers were without power as of Friday afternoon. Duke Energy reported just under 5,000 Ohio customers without service at the same time.
According to AES Ohio, crews will first respond to emergency situations — including downed power lines, fires and services to hospitals, fire and police stations — before working to restore all other outages.
Heating centers are opened in the area
Heating centers St. Vincent de Paul are open at 120 W. Apple St. in Dayton for Women and Families and at 1921 S. Gettysburg Ave. for men all weekend long all the time.
The City of Fairborn has established warming stations within the lobby of the police department and all fire stations. These will remain open around the clock, according to Meghan Howard, communications manager.
