Jan 17, 2024 By Paul Paterra 4 min read

As the frigid weather conditions continue to invade western Pennsylvania, warming stations are popping up to give folks an opportunity to get out of the cold.

Along with temperatures that didn’t climb out of the teens Tuesday, the area was greeted with some snowfall in the morning making matters even more dicey.

Mike Kennedy, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said the eastern part of Washington County had the most snow in the county with up to 3 inches in California. Washington county communities such as McMurray and Venetia registered about 2 ½ inches. The western end of the county had about an inch or an inch and a half of snow.

The weather prompted many area school districts to close or delay the start of school Tuesday.

With temperatures not expected to get above freezing for the next several days, communities are opening warming centers.

Mary Lynn Spilak, director of Aging Services of Washington County, said senior centers in Canonsburg, Cecil, Burgettstown, and Bentleyville were open as warming stations from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It’s probably going to be throughout the week,” she said. “It’s going to be very cold.”

Spilak added that grab and go meals are available as long as calls are made ahead of time.

“They’re hot meals and they pick them up at around 11 a.m.,” she said. “We’ll also have congregate meals. These are for the individuals 60 and older.”

Spilak said she encountered roads that were “very slippy” when she was out Tuesday morning.

The Washington Area Senior Center on 69 West Maiden St. will be open as a warming station from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for the rest of this week, as well as next week.

Heidi Buckley, director of marketing and communications for City Mission, said the organization does not have a warming station, but there are other offerings.

“We still offer meals to people at mealtime and a pantry where people can get their food supplies for the week,” she said. “We do have cold weather shelter plans in place if someone needed to stay overnight, but it is not an all-day warming station as described oftentimes when volunteer fire departments have one.”

Such a fire department is Charleroi.

“Our hall is always open if someone is in need of heating or cooling,” said Matt Prentice, Charleroi fire captain. “All they have to do is call us and we’ll help them out as much as we can.”

A representative of the North Strabane Volunteer Fire Department said Monday that Station 2 will be open for those in need.

Monessen Mayor Ron Moser said the Orchard Christian Fellowship Church, 721 Schoonmaker Ave., is “set up and ready to go” for anybody who needs to warm up.

Derrick Powell, chairman of the Washington Township Board of Supervisors in Fayette County, said the township’s community center could be made available if the need arises.

“If it is needed, we will make it work,” Powell said. “We would just have to set it up. Just contact me or the township building.”

In Greene County, anyone who may be in need of a warm place can call a crisis line at 1-800-417-9460.

Canonsburg Mayor Dave Rhome said a determination will be made at the end of the week to see if the senior center will continue to serve as a warming center into next week.

“Looking at the weather it looks like it might be in the high 20s and even into the 30s beginning Monday,” Rhome said.

Washington County Public Safety Director Gerry Coleman said conditions actually weren’t too bad in the county Tuesday morning and as far as calls went, it was a pretty routine day.

“We got about one to two inches of snow overnight,” he said. “Early (Tuesday) morning, the roads were a little slick. My 911 center hasn’t even taken what I would consider additional weather-related calls. A lot of times in the morning during rush hour, we get your typical (calls for) sliding into guard rails and stuff like that. There has been nothing out of the ordinary. So far, knock on wood, it’s a normal day.”

As for warming stations, he said many of the communities make those determinations.

“We always start by referring everybody to our municipal partners, because that’s where everything starts,” he said. “As of (Tuesday morning), nobody has notified us that they have any extra warming centers set up. We do have our senior centers and they have not notified me. Sometimes they extend their hours when the weather gets like this. But as of (Tuesday morning), no one has notified me of anything different.”