Richmond County received its first blast of wintery weather early Saturday as a storm front blanketed much of North Carolina with some type of frozen precipitation.

The National Weather service said that as early as overnight on Monday, Richmond County could receive a little more freezing rain, but not as much as it had last weekend.

“It really depends on the time too,” said Russell Henness, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. “It should be moving in tonight (Monday) and early tomorrow morning, but it comes a tad late.”

Temperatures on Tuesday should rise slightly above freezing, eliminating any long-term effects of any potential ice.

Yet another storm system could move across North Carolina Friday night, according to Henness.

“It’ll be in the same time frame, more of less, of the last one (storm),” Henness said. “It’s a little early to tell if it’s going to be rain or snow and ice.”

According to Progress Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks, 150 customers in the Richmond County area were without power this past weekend because of the ice storm.

Power was restored to all customers within a couple of hours, Brooks said.

“The outages were scattered throughout the day,” Brooks said. “It went from about 9:30 a.m. with the bulk coming after lunch and through the rest of the afternoon.”

Pee Dee Electric reported no power outages in their service area over the weekend.

“We dodged a bullet,” said Bruce Simmons, director of marketing and economic development. “It seems like the worst of it just wrapped around us.”

Even though the storm system went easy on Richmond County and some neighboring areas, local towing companies spent some of their weekend pulling cars out of ice covered ditches and back onto the road.

Joe Braddock with Joe’s Towing and Roadside Service said on Saturday they responded to 13 accidents and on Sunday, they had six.

“It’s a little worse than usual,” Braddock said,

Other towing companies in both Rockingham and Hamlet reported generally the same situation.

Department of Transportation District Engineer Kevin Hendrick said the ice storm proved to be less than anticipated. Roads remained somewhat clear overall this past weekend thanks to preventative maintenance and salt brine spread along primary roads Friday.

Yet, the DOT worked around the clock to ensure they remained clear.

“Most of our guys stayed overnight to help out and be ready with plows and trucks,” Hendrick said.

Working from Friday afternoon and on into Monday, DOT crews scraped ice off primary roads and beginning on Sunday, started clearing off secondary roads.

“The sun really helped us later in the weekend,” Hendrick said. “We got a majority of the roads cleared Sunday.”

Before that, the frigid temperatures left thin layers of ice on roads which, according to Hendrick, were just as dangerous as thicker ice.

“The temperatures were so cold that it made it difficult at times,” Hendrick said.

Although, most of the ice and snow was scraped off roads fairly easily in most parts.

“The salt brine helped with that,” Hendrick said.

The brine helps to keep ice from bonding to the road.

Hendrick and Frank McKay, director of emergency management, both reported minimal obstructions and damage due to falling branches and trees.

Frozen ice hanging off branches weighed down trees more than usual, so falling limbs posed as much a threat as tress toppling over due to heavy ice accumulation.

“We were afraid that was going to be the case,” Hendrick said.

“The biggest inconvenience was just getting around,” McKay said. “People still need to be careful around shady spots.”

McKay said that Richmond County is fortunate not to have been hit with the brunt of the system.

“I think people had a pretty good warning on this one,” McKay said.

With another storm possibly producing more freezing rain or snow this weekend, the DOT says they plan to keep up with the system.

“It’ll just be normal preparations and we’ll keep an eye on the weather,” Hendrick said. “We have to be ready for that. Precipitation is going to be here, it just depends on the temperature.”

Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.