An editorial from the Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.
We ’re not sure of the word count, but images of road conditions around here Tuesday were worth 1,000 times that figure.
That’s not even counting the millions of words on social media, complete with pictures, of course.
Anyhow, no one was mincing their words either about the road conditions as they attempted to go to work.
As early as 7 a.m., many primary roads and almost all secondary ones were hazardous for the morning commute.
Admittedly, this winter storm — which buried most of West Virginia — was worse than what was first forecast.
Initially, the National Weather Service (NWS) was predicting Monday morning a few inches of snow for much of the state Tuesday.
By Tuesday morning, the NWS had changed that to some areas in the eastern part of the state getting up to a foot of snow by late Tuesday.
Needless to say, those forecasts were not exactly accurate.
Yet, judging by the road conditions throughout Tuesday we cannot help but wonder if the state Division of Highways (DOH) read either forecast.
Roads were covered with snow from sunup to sundown. Even the interstates were a disaster from the outset.
It stands to reason the DOH might fall behind in keeping the primary roads in the region clear as the day and snow progressed. But we got the impression it never really got started until the snowstorm blanketed us.
Let’s be frank, the DOH can do better. Period…