Winter storms making mail delivery a challenge
ELKINS — With snow piled high and roads slick with ice, mail delivery has been a challenge over the past week.
The United States Postal Service assures residents that it continues to work hard to deliver the mail, even in inclement weather.
Despite multiple winter storms, a representative of the Elkins Post Office told The Inter-Mountain Friday that carriers were eventually able to deliver all local mail last week.
An out-of-town USPS representative told The Inter-Mountain Friday that carriers continue to struggle delivering mail with walkways buried in snow and mailboxes frozen shut. The USPS asks for people to clear sidewalks, walkways, and areas around mailboxes so that their carriers can deliver with efficiency.
The USPS representative added that last week was a rough one for carriers across the country due to issues ranging from the snow storms to the deadly and destructive California fires.
The Postal Service states on its website that the recent severe weather conditions may impact processing, transportation and delivery operations in multiple states and in Washington, D.C. It advised shippers to allow additional time for items to reach their final destination.
On Thursday night and Friday morning local temperatures neared zero degrees, but Elkins has endured much colder weather in the past.
On Dec. 22, 1989, and Jan. 19, 1994, temperatures dropped to a frigid -19 degrees.
On Jan. 21, 1994, Jan. 20, 1985, Feb. 16, 1963, Jan. 29, 1963, and Jan. 25, 1961, the temperature was recorded at -20 degrees.
On Jan. 21, 1985, Feb. 5, 1996 and Feb. 27, 1963, the temperature dipped to -21 degrees.
It dropped even lower on Dec. 24, 1989, and Feb. 8, 1977, all the way down to -22 degrees.
That was still not the coldest it’s ever been in Elkins, because on Dec. 23, 1989, and Jan. 20, 1984, the dipped all the way down to -24 degrees, according to weatherwatch.com.