Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor declared a state of emergency Monday morning following record snowfall, allowing the city to bring in additional resources to support the storm response after the region largely received about a foot of snow.

"Safety's a priority," he said. "We're not taking any chances."

The declaration allows the city to bring in more resources, including additional contractors who can help haul out snow. It also helps address the city's increasingly depleted fleet — 37 trucks went down overnight, he said.

O'Connor had said the city's fleet was down 40 trucks heading into the storm.

"We know we have a lot of work ahead of us," he said.

From 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, about 50 trucks will be on the roads, O'Connor said during Monday's press conference. The disaster declaration means that residents will see private contractors on the streets throughout the day.

"We would hit a street and go back on that route an hour later, it'd be covered in snow again," he said. "Streets haven't been touched and we're getting to them, but we just ask everybody to be patient."

The city said the vehicles were operating for over 36 hours across shifts, so there was general wear and tear, power takeoff issues, blade replacements and other issues that needed to be addressed.

The garage has been open around the clock since 6 a.m. Saturday, working through repairs and service.

There have also been 25 other disaster declarations covering 28 municipalities around Allegheny County, officials said during a briefing Monday.

"A lot of them may be strains on their salt and or their plowing capabilities," said Matt Brown, chief of Allegheny County Emergency Services. "A lot of this equipment's been working 24, 36 hours straight now."

Extreme cold

The snow isn't the only concern moving forward this week. The extreme cold is here to stay, meteorologists say.

The snow began at 12:02 a.m. Sunday and ended at 9:08 p.m., said Jeff Craven, NWS Pittsburgh's meteorologist in charge.

Total accumulations reached 11.2 inches at the NWS' official climate site in Moon — just two-tenths of an inch shy of tying the largest snowfall this century in a single day, according to the NWS. The record was set on Feb. 5, 2010 as part of the infamous "Snowmageddon" storm.

Still, Craven said Sunday's storm broke the old Jan. 25 snowfall record of 5.2 inches set in 2014, and tied for the 13th heaviest snow in Pittsburgh history over a 24-hour period.

The heaviest snow band was just north of Pittsburgh and hung over New Philadelphia, Ohio, across Beaver and Butler and into Armstrong and Jefferson counties, Craven said.

Some areas impacted by the band had snow totals over 20 inches, he said, and large swaths got 12 to 18 inches. The highest snowfall total recorded so far was 23 inches near New Bethlehem in Clarion County, he said.

Craven said to expect the extreme cold to linger for the rest of the month and into February following the storm.

An extreme cold warning was issued for Monday night into Tuesday morning as wind chills are expected to be as low as minus-25 degrees in some areas in the region. Light snow showers will continue on Monday with minor additional accumulations, according to the NWS forecaster's discussion.

The cold air mass will challenge some local records for daily cold temperatures, according to the discussion.

Temperatures will be below 20 degrees all week, Craven said, with lows around or below zero at night. The tail end of the week will be the coldest, reaching minus-6 degrees Thursday night with highs Friday struggling to reach double digits.

At this point, Craven said, there isn't much of a chance that temperatures will reach 32 degrees until the first week or two of February.

"We could always sneak in a day or two somewhere, but it looks solidly cold," he said. "I do not see us having bare ground again through at least the middle of February."

Once the weather eventually warms up a bit, Craven said there will be potential for ice jam flooding.

Ice jams occur when chunks of ice clump together, blocking the flow of a river, according to the NWS.

"They usually occur when the ice starts moving, and it starts to warm up," he said, which he doesn't anticipate until late February or March.

Light dustings of snow will continue throughout the week, he said, but the area is otherwise in the clear of heavy precipitation for the near future.

Wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph Monday could cause drifting snow, Craven said. Because the snow was mostly light and fluffy, it isn't expected to stick much to power lines.

Residents stayed in

Residents largely heeded warnings to limit travel on Sunday, which helped first responders navigate the roads, Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said.

And Kasey Reigner, Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services spokeswoman, said 911 operations were normal and even below normal standards for a Sunday. Jim Madalinsky, public information officer for Allegheny County Police, said there have been no significant incidents to report.

Officials are asking that people remain off the roads as much as possible to allow the snow to continue to be removed from the streets. Pittsburgh Public Schools are be closed on Monday for the last traditional snow day this academic year. A full list of closures can be found on Post-Gazette news partner KDKA-TV's website.

At Pittsburgh International Airport, 70 flights had been canceled and more than 30 were delayed as of 11 a.m., according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. More than 4,000 flights had been canceled nationwide Monday after more than 11,000 were canceled Sunday — the most since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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