travel advisory – The B Square

Monroe County is under a travel warning as of 4:50 a.m. Thursday morning. Travel is restricted to emergency management workers.

The image links to the state’s travel advisory map page.

That means you should not be out on the roads unless you are an emergency management worker.

If you are in a dire circumstance (but not a 911 emergency) that makes you believe you need to travel, Monroe County’s emergency management office advises contacting the Indiana State Police or the Monroe County sheriff’s office (812-349-2780).

The National Weather Service has a winter storm warning in place through 1 a.m. on Friday.

[Added at 3 p.m. on Feb. 3, 2022. This just in from from the Monroe County emergency management text alert system: “Due to severe weather and extremely cold temperatures, Monroe County offices will be closed tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. This includes the courts and prosecutor’s offices. The “red” level travel warning status will remain in effect through the day tomorrow, Feb 4, 2022 until reassessed. This means individuals are directed to refrain from travel as it is unsafe to drive in.”]

[Added 7:04 p.m. on Feb. 3, 2022. City of Bloomington offices will be closed on Friday, Feb. 4, according to the mayor’s office. ]

The total daytime snow accumulation could be from 3 to 7 inches. The NWS forecast for the Bloomington area calls for patchy blowing snow after 1 p.m. with temperatures falling from the current 27 F degrees to around 23 F.

Winds will be out of the north and northeast blowing around 16 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation through the day is 100 percent, according to the forecast.

As of around 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, the temperature was holding at 27 F degrees with sleet falling out of the sky. An accumulation of slushy snow mix was a half inch or more, depending on the location. Continue reading “[Updated: MoCo, Bloomington closed Friday] Don’t travel: Monroe County warning in effect as of 4:50 a.m. Feb. 3, 2022” →

Responding to a reporter’s question at an early afternoon press conference on Thursday, Indiana’s governor, Eric Holcomb, said about the idea of issuing a statewide “shelter in place” order in response the COVID-19 pandemic: “We’re not there, yet.”

Screen Shot 2020-03-19 at 4.50.38 PM — Yellow: “Individuals should use caution or avoid those areas”; Orange: Conditions are “threatening to the safety of the public.” Red (none yet): Travel restricted to emergency management workers. (Image links to State of Indiana’s travel advisory page.)

But as of late Thursday afternoon, about a dozen counties in the state have invoked their powers to issue travel advisories under the state statute that allows a county’s principal executive to declare a local disaster emergency.

The local disaster emergency for Monroe County, declared by board of commissioners president Julie Thomas on Tuesday, did not include a travel advisory.

None of the advisories, issued by the 11 other counties, rise to the level of a “warning” which would restrict travel to just emergency management workers.

Four counties, extending in a line eastward from Marian County (Indianapolis) to Wayne County, along I-70, have all issued a travel “watch,” which means that conditions are “threatening to the safety of the public.”

The line of four counties is bookended by Marion County on the east, which has 19 confirmed cases as of March 19, and Wayne County on the west, which has one confirmed case. Continue reading “Indiana governor about “shelter in place” for COVID-19: “We’re not there, yet.”” →