For once, a weather forecast concerning Edgefield County and predicted snowfall accumulation was right on target.

With many local meteorologists predicting around five inches of accumulation for the county and the surrounding area, the snowfall began to drop down heavy sheets beginning within minutes of the forecasted time (around 3 p.m.) and it did not let up until after close to six inches of snow had blanketed the county around midnight.

Edgefield County Emergency Management Director Mike Casey said there were expected highway accidents associated with driving in wintry weather and some limited power outages, but nothing too serious in the way of damage or injuries.

“I think we had between five and six inches, which will vary around the county as it looked like we had a little more in Edgefield than Johnston, but I think everyone got their money’s worth,” he said. “We had the usual snow-related incidents with people were getting stuck and running off the road and running into ditches, but I don’t think there were any injuries.”

One area that did slow down traffic was on Highway 121 between Trenton and Johnston.

“On one part of the road there it goes deep into a valley and we had a good many cars that got jammed up in the bottom down there,” he added. “We had about 25 cars down there, but there was no damage to any of the cars that I could see. We had to reroute traffic for around three hours or so but that was about it.”

Mr. Casey said that the snow, in spite of the near half-foot of accumulation, is much easier to deal with than an equivalent accumulation of ice.  

“The power did go out up around the (Bi-Lo and CVS) shopping centers and EMS is on that line, but we had a generator so we were on generator power and it worked fine,” he said. “We were up to speed and running and that was nice. The sheriff’s office was using four-wheel-drive vehicles and it was good to see that everything was running as it was supposed to. Even with the snow coming down as fast as it was and with everything that was going on everyone did what they were supposed to and things went well.

“A snow event and an ice event are really (comparing) apples and oranges. With snow there is much less risk of power outage and it’s easier to get around and considerably less dangerous with falling limbs and things like that. It’s quite possible that (had the storm been an ice event) we would still be without power and be having to call in crews from outside the county and even maybe have a declaration of an emergency for the county.”

But there was no sure emergency this time around, though the snowfall was historically significant.

“This was like the second biggest snowfall in Lord knows when, something like the early seventies I believe,” he said. “We had more inches of accumulation back then, but we had plenty of forewarning this time and back then we didn’t. Back then it was like, what in the world is all this?”