Nine-year-old Preston Montgomery is used to playing outside his home on West Walnut Street. But, he did something different for the first time on Friday. He built a snowman.

Montgomery, along with his 2-year-old sister Savannah and father David enjoyed their time in the rare south Alabama snow.

“He doesn’t have a name yet,” Preston said, as he finished putting the final facial features on ol’ snowman.

The young weren’t the only ones enjoying the snowy weather as the county was hit with at least 4.5 inches of snow as of 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Kevin Rodgers, of Troy was out with his Springer Spaniel Oreo. Though Rodgers had seen snow the last time Troy had significant snowfall, Oreo was enjoying the winter weather for the first time.

“I’m just letting him run around and enjoy it. It’s his first snow,” Rodgers said.

Troy University students Andrew Dunn and Paul Sengers were out photographing the snow in downtown Troy Friday morning.

“We’re out taking pictures because you don’t see snow that often,” Segners said.

“We might build a snowman later,” Dunn added.

Troy local Kelsey Rogers welcomed the snowy weather, gladly.

“It’s so pretty outside, and I’m glad I have a three-day weekend to enjoy the snow,” she said. With classes cancelled at Troy University Friday, student Rogers was glad to have the extra day to enjoy the weather.

“We are just going to laugh, have fun, and play in the snow,” she said.

Others weren’t quite as excited about the local storm.

“We moved here from California where it never snows,” said Jean Orendorff, in downtown Troy with her husband Jim.

“Before I lived where you had to put snow tires on in September and had to take chains around with you. I never wanted to do that again.”

Even 4.5 inches of snow won’t mean residents will have to begin using snow tires just yet.

“I’m just waiting for the reindeer to show up,” Jim said, laughing.

Some local businesses weren’t too pleased with the winter weather.

“If we had this weather last weekend or next weekend, I would have been OK,” said Scherr Qualls, owner of Douglas Brothers Jewelry.

“This is Valentine’s Day weekend, but shoppers are few and far between.”

Few consumers wanted to brave the icy, slushy roads on Friday.

“I didn’t even ask all the employees to come in Friday,” Qualls said. “We plan to open by lunch on Saturday, but it will all depend on the condition of the roads.”

Law enforcement officials were busy at work Friday, as several wrecks took place through the day.

As of early Friday afternoon, no serious injuries were believed to have taken place in these wrecks, said Troy Police Spokesman Sgt. Benny Scarbrough.

All county roads have been closed in snowy weather until further notice.

Pike County EMA Director Larry Davis said he hopes county roads will be reopen by Saturday morning.

With snow accumulating and temperatures expected to drop to freezing through the night Friday, he said road conditions are too dangerous to keep open.

Only essential travel and emergency vehicles will be allowed to cross through these closed streets.

Davis said he expects no more snowfall through the day Saturday, and he anticipates roads will be safe to travel by the afternoon as temperatures warm up to the 40s.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, no state roads had been closed, but all roads in Pike County are under advisory watch, meaning travel should be limited.

Troy Police Chief Anthony Everage urges residents to stay off the roads until the icy weather passes.

City and county officials dealt with some power outages Friday, but none that took place in large numbers.

Brian Chandler, electronic superintendent for the city of Troy, said some limbs breaking onto power lines caused outages.

Chellie Phillips, spokeswoman for South Alabama Electric Cooperative, said the situation was similar for their company.

“We’ve had some. Mostly from limbs on the lines,” Phillips said.
Click here for pictures from around Pike County on Friday.