Mother Nature allowed Akron city snow plows to catch up Friday afternoon after a difficult morning rush hour.

"The biggest factor is that the snow stopped," Akron city public works manager Paul Barnett told AkronNewsNow.com.

A break in the snow Friday afternoon allowed city crews to get the primary roads cleared.

Barnett says it's difficult to clear the roads when snow is both falling and drifting...as it was during the morning rush hour.

"We had the same amount of people working since about midnight, as we have out there currently working," Barnett told AkronNewsNow. "It's just a matter of how long it takes you to catch up after the snow stops."

Barnett says the 51 city plow crews moved from the primary to the secondary streets Friday afternoon. But if snow squalls pop up, they'll turn their attention back to the primary streets in Akron.

As lake effect snow continues to pile up in Akron, the city's road crews are about to become a bigger force.

Akron Public Works Manager Paul Barnett tells AkronNewsNow that he's gotten a few different forecasts for snow in the overnight hours - from one to three inches to two to five inches.

But he's seen enough information to increase the plows on Akron's streets to a full force this evening.

"And we're looking at bumping up to 51 (plows) at about 8 o'clock tonight, it looks like that's when the heaviest stuff is gonna start falling," Barnett tells AkronNewsNow.com. "So, we'll be bumping up to a full...we call that Level 4, full coverage."

  Akron public works director Paul Barnett with ANN's Mike Ward by MPWard

 The city has had 32 plows on the streets for much of Monday.

Barnett says the combination of the extra plows, and an entire night to keep ahead of the snow, means there should be no major problems for the Tuesday morning rush.

"We are calling some people in for some overtime, so we'll be out in full force tonight into tomorrow morning, and should be ready for rush hour in the morning," Barnett says. "With two to four inches over that period of time, we shouldn't have that much difficulty."

He says the only problem could be drivers...with the first significant snow of the season in Akron, many could forget how to drive in the snow.