Folks who raced to buy sleds and mittens in preparation for Tuesday morning's predicted snowfall may have felt cheated.
Catawba County saw only a dusting of snow in most areas. It might have been possible to make a tiny snowman on the roof of a car or take a run or two down the backyard hill to try out the new sled, but with well under an inch of snow in most places, there wasn't enough to do much more.
Hickory Regional Airport measured snow accumulation of .08 inches. A quarter-inch of snow lay on the roofs of cars in northeast Hickory, and in northwest Hickory, where city Street Supervisor Doug Dupel said the heaviest snow fell, well under an inch of snow lay on the ground.
What was bad news for children was good news for commuters as roadways were clear and traffic flowed smoothly.
Trooper M.A. Rodriguez said the N.C. Highway Patrol had not received many calls for service overnight.
"The roads are passable," Rodriguez said.
Dupel said his crew started spreading brine on the roads Monday afternoon and worked through the night to make sure the roads would be safe. Tuesday morning, the roads were clear and he had no reports of icy patches.
"We're doing good here," Dupel said.
Although Hickory weathered the storm and overcame the snow, Gov. Bev Perdue declared a state of emergency for North Carolina as a precautionary measure because the winter storm affected most of the state. The declaration enables the governor to deploy extra resources to respond to the storm.
"The storm's largest impact this morning is primarily to North Carolina's roads," Perdue said. "I urge citizens who do not have to drive to stay at home today."
The folks at the Hickory Soup Kitchen heeded the governor's advice and didn't serve Hickory's homeless.
"They said if there was any sign of snow they weren't going to open," said Dhuke Blackburn Jr.
He got a meal at Cooperative Christian Ministries in Hickory instead.
"We fed about 20 people today that didn't have anywhere else to eat," said Roger D. Baker, CCM executive director.
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