MOUNT VERNON — Snow rolled in from the south Friday afternoon, slowly bringing a winter storm over Knox County that left over 12 inches of snow in most areas of the county before tapering off Saturday.

Knox County Sheriff David Barber issued a Level Two snow advisory Friday at 6 p.m. Level Two means roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow.

“Only those who feel it is necessary to drive should be out on the roadways,” Barber said in a press release.

At 8:40 p.m. Saturday, Barber downgraded the advisory to a Level One, which means roads are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow and ice. The Level One advisory was canceled Sunday at 9:30 p.m.

Twelve Ohio Department of Transportation drivers worked double shifts throughout the weekend to keep the 382 lane miles of highway cleared, according to ODOT spokeswoman Kate Stickle.

“They started Friday afternoon and worked into Saturday, working 16-hour shifts,” Stickle said. “They had the roads pretty much cleared up by Saturday afternoon.”

Stickle reminds motorists to not “crowd the plow” when drivers are on the street.

“A lot of drivers want to tailgate the plow, thinking the closer they are to the salt, the better off they will be,” Stickle said. “Actually, it takes about 20 minutes for salt to engage in its full chemical reaction.”

ODOT prepared some county highways with brine on Thursday and Friday, but because of the prediction of freezing rain, not all roads were pre-treated, Stickle said.

Knox County Highway Garage office superintendent Chris Horton is proud of the job his drivers did clearing county roads this weekend.

“These guys did an excellent job considering all the snow we had and as many trees and limbs that were down,” Horton said. “This is the most snow I’ve seen in a long time. There is well over a foot of snow over by Danville.”

The county covers 800 lane miles of roads and used 800 tons of salt and 800 tons of No. 9 gravel mix to treat the county roads.

“There were about 20 trees down and a lot of limbs we had to clean up,” Horton said. “Brinkhaven Road was the only one closed for any period of time, but it’s open now.”

Horton said 22 to 24 drivers logged 460 man hours this weekend in plow trucks.

“I’ve heard a few complaints already, but I’ll back these guys up any day,” Horton said.

County crews returned to the roads this morning at 6:30 a.m.

“Since they are calling for 6 to 10 inches tomorrow, we have to be prepared for that, too,” Horton said.

Dave Carpenter, head of the Mount Vernon Street Department, said this morning that city streets were looking good, but he was counting on Mother Nature’s help this afternoon.

“We had seven trucks out all weekend,” Carpenter said. “We cleaned as well as we could. The main roads are clear, but we want to see if the sun will help us this afternoon with the side streets. It’s pretty packed down from cars being out.”

Crews worked through 10 p.m. Saturday and resumed Sunday at 7 a.m., Carpenter said.

Carpenter reminds motorists to not park on snow streets throughout the city.

“We’ve got them pretty clear right now, but it will probably be a problem again by Tuesday,” Carpenter said of the 3 to 6 inches of snow predicted for Tuesday. “It’s a lot easier if no one is out on the street, but we realize people need to get places.”

About 650 American Electric Power customers in Mount Vernon lost power Friday, said AEP Ohio spokeswoman Suzanne Priore.

“At the peak of the storm, about 11 p.m. Friday, 650 Mount Vernon customers lost power,” she said. “They have been back online since 11 p.m. Saturday.”

Other scattered outages were reported in the county, but AEP Ohio reports all customers have power restored this morning.

The Energy Cooperative reported a large power outage Friday from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday in the Hickman and St. Louisville substations. The outage affected approximately 2,500 customers. This morning, 50 members in Licking County are without power, mostly in the Fallsburg area, and 10 customers in the Bladensburg remain without power.