By Lori Kersey and Benita Heath

For the second time this week, snow has covered Lawrence County, causing schools to close and making travel slow for motorists. By around 9 a.m. at least tree inches of snow had fallen in the area.

The National Weather Service out of Charleston is forecasting between 4 and 8 inches of snow will fall Thursday. A winter storm warning is in effect for the area until 6 p.m. tonight.

In Ironton, streets department workers were out starting at 4:30 a.m., streets superintendent Mike Pemberton said.

“It’s really bad and nasty,” Pemberton said, adding that he had seen worse. “In ’92, I think we had quite a bit more than what we have now but we’re just dealing with it.”

Pemberton said he plans to monitor the weather radar and try to keep workers out throughout the day. He plans to keep the city’s major throughways and heavy intersections clear, he said.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is also working to clear roads.

“We have 11 crews out and we started at midnight,” Lindsey Pemberton, of the Ironton ODOT garage, said. “Roads are mostly snow covered and we are treating and plowing.”

The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported some crashes early this early.

“We’ve had quite a few snow crashes, people sliding into the roadways,” an Ohio State Highway Patrol dispatcher from Jackson said.

Neither the Ironton Police Department nor the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office reported any accidents.

While the snow is expected to accumulate, it is not expected to cause power outages, AEP spokesperson Vikki Michalski said.

The snow is not expected to produce a lot of ice that could cause outages she said. AEP will watch the weather, she said.