Melting snow can cause flooding, potholes and icy roads

Leonard L. Hayhurst
Coshocton Tribune
A melting pile of snow at the entrance of the Coshocton County Fairgrounds with water runoff into the street. Rapid melting of snow as temperatures warm can cause issues like flooding, icing and potholes.

COSHOCTON - Heavy snows this winter has caused problems across the region, but melting snow as temperatures warm can have it's own unique set of issues such as flooding, icing overnight and potholes. 

Rob McMasters, executive director of the Coshocton County Emergency Management Agency, doesn't envision any major issues with flooding this week, but it could be a possibility.

Flooding in low lying areas happens in late winter and early spring with melting snow being a big contributing factor. Flooding this time of year is common behind Mohawk and Wills Creek dams and low lying areas, such as County Road 6. 

"If we have a rapid melt off of all the piles of snow that could result in standing water on roadways and many street drains could be blocked by snow and ice," McMasters said. "If we were to have a rain event along with a rapid melt off, it could cause some flooding issues." 

Another problem is when temperature drop below freezing overnight. The water across the roadways turns to ice, which can lead to dangerous driving conditions. Water that seeped into the asphalt also expands as it freezes, busting the pavement and causing potholes. 

A pile of snow melting in the parking lot of Grace United Methodist Church. Flooding of low lying areas can be common this time of year with melting snow a contributing factor.

"As we see temperatures start to warm up during the day and melt things off, that causes water to run across roadways. That might freeze overnight and in the morning it becomes ice and it's a road hazard at that point until it warms up again and we go through that cycle day in and day out," McMasters said.

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh is predicting clear skies this week until a 30% chance of snow on Saturday. Daily high temperatures will be in the 40s, including a high of 48 on Wednesday. However, it will still dip below freezing at night going down to a low of 23 early Friday morning.