Motorists without four-wheel drive should avoid trips on state highways surrounding Greenwood, especially after dark, according to Trooper Ronnie Shive of the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
Highways from Grenada all the way to the Holmes County line were risky for drivers this morning and will remain so throughout the day, Shive said.
“The schools are all closed, and there’s really no reason to be out there unless you absolutely have to,” he said.
This morning, since the snow began to fall, the Highway Patrol had already responded to as many as 15 accidents, most of them involving only one vehicle sliding off the road, with no injuries or severe accidents reported yet.
Shive said that during daylight hours, when cars that have gone off the road are visible to other motorists, the danger of cold temperatures is not so bad.
That will not be the case tonight and Wednesday morning, however, as temperatures plunge.
“At night, if somebody breaks down, if their lights are not working for whatever reason and they’re off the side of the road, then that becomes a severe problem.”
Shive said Highway 7, as of 10 a.m. today, was “completely iced over,” and Highway 49 to Sidon and Tchula has bad icy areas as well.
“Everything north of Greenwood, Highway 49, Highway 8, are solid ice on bridges with patches of ice on the roadways,” Shive said.
The problem is that open areas of road, where the wind has blown accumulated snow off the road, appear clear and motorists get confident that they can travel faster. Then when they hit a stretch of road that is shaded, on tree lines, in wooded areas and on curves, the roads are iced over and there is no way to decrease speed safely.
“That’s when people go off the road,” Shive said.
Heavily wooded highways, like Highway 35 from Holcomb to Carrollton, are particularly treacherous.
“If you have to be on the roads, use good judgment.”
nContact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
