WISE -- Winter maintained a harsh grasp over portions of the region Monday from a spring snow storm not expected to end until Wednesday morning.
Southwest Virginia is getting the most of the accumulating snow, and road maintenance crews there began round-the-clock shifts Sunday night into Monday as rain transitioned to snow during the early hours of Monday. Between one to two inches of snow had accumulated by 10 a.m. across most areas of Wise County, including areas encompassing Norton and Wise, with slick road surfaces causing a smattering of traffic snarls and minor mishaps.
Schools are closed in Wise County. In Northeast Tennessee, Hawkins County are schools closed.
Allan Sumpter, administrator of the Virginia Department of Transportation's Wise Residency, responsible for highway maintenance in Wise, Lee, Scott and Dickenson counties, said snowplow crews were dispatched at 10 p.m. Sunday and were at work treating and clearing roads before dawn Monday as the storm ramped up.
"We had them out during the night and we started to treat the roads early this morning. There has been a little build up in the higher elevations that required plowing," Sumpter said Monday morning. "So although spring is here, we are still in winter mode at this point."
Sumpter said snowplow crews will work 12-hour shifts around the clock probably through Wednesday .
"We are in 24-hour mode. We will have our crews out continuously until the storm passes," he said. "We are expecting now that we will be in snow and ice control mode through (Monday and Tuesday,) and hopefully it will turn into a cleanup scenario Wednesday."
Monday predictions were for a total of four to five inches of snow across much of Southwest Virginia, particularly the higher elevations, through Wednesday morning.
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Snow storm closes schools, scrambles snowplows
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