news-record.com

NEWS

School districts cancel classes today as snow, ice linger

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
(Updated Wednesday, March 4 - 7:21 am)

The National Weather Service's winter weather advisory for the Triad expired at 9 a.m. today with no major problems reported on area roads.

Temperatures are not expected to get above freezing until sometime this afternoon.

Tuesday's classes were called off in Guilford, Davidson, Randolph, Rockingham and Winston-Salem/Forsyth county school systems as well as Lexington and Thomasville city schools.

Two-hour delays were reported for: Alamance-Burlington, Asheboro City, Caldwell Academy, Canterbury School, Friendly Avenue Christian School, Greensboro Montessori, Guilford Day, High Point Christian Academy, New Garden Friends School, Our Lady of Grace School, St. Pius X Catholic School. Other delays included Greensboro Day School, which is opening at 10 a.m.

In Guilford, students will make up Monday's missed day on June 12. Today's make-up day will be June 15.

Students in Alamance will make up Monday's missed day on Saturday, but classes will release two hours earlier than normal, officials announced this afternoon.

The rare March snowstorm, which dumped 4 to 6 inches of snow on the area by Monday, closed schools and businesses and snarled traffic throughout the area Monday. The weight of the snow coupled with sustained winds of 15 to 20 mph broke tree branches, which fell on roads and power lines.

After having about 142,000 power outages earlier Monday, power was restored to most homes in the Triad, Duke Energy reported. Early Tuesday morning, 958 outages were reported in Guilford County, 273 in Forsyth County and 36 in Rockingham County. The company expected to have the Guilford outages repaired by 11 a.m.

The city of Greensboro postponed trash and recycling collection. Monday's service will take place today and today's service will take place Wednesday, weather permitting.

The High Point City Council meeting, which was to be held at 4:45 p.m. Monday was cancelled. The hearings will be held at 5:30 p.m. April 6.

Monday night's Gibsonville Board of Aldermen meeting was canceled and rescheduled for 7 p.m. March 16.

Snowfall amounts totaled up to 7 inches in some parts of the Piedmont Triad, with 7.5 inches accumulating in Clemmons, said Jonathan Blaes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. Piedmont Triad International Airport reported 5.7 inches of snow.

Up to a foot of snow fell in parts of the mountains around Boone. Areas east of Interstate 95 got only an inch.

The Triad, which hasn't seen this amount of snow in years, seemed to be making up for lost time.

"The Triad has missed out on a lot of winter events in the past two or three years," Blaes said.

But it's not unprecedented.

"It's not unusual to get a snow event like this in March," he said. "And it's typically pretty wet and kind of sloppy."

It's going to stick around for the next few days.

That's because the high for today is expected to be about freezing, and skies will remain clear. Tonight will remain mostly clear with a low of about 14, according to a National Weather Service forecast.

A gradual warming trend should begin Wednesday, with mostly sunny skies and a high near 42. Thursday's high is expected to be near 59 and the mid-to-upper 60s is expected this weekend.


Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com


Contact John Newsom at 373-7312 or john.newsom@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Jerry Wolford (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Jeremy Griffith, 12, sleds with his friends in Pleasant Garden on Monday.

THE FORECAST

The forecast for the Greensboro area from the National Weather Service:

Today: Sunny, with a high near 34. North wind between 3 and 6 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 14. Calm wind.

Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 45. Calm wind becoming southwest around 6 mph.

More details

eMail Updates

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

Featured Ads

Search

Advertisement | Advertise with Us
Advertisement | Advertise with Us
Advertisement | Advertise with Us

News & Record Network Sites

User Tools

  • Mobile
  • Social
  • RSS
  • Share
  • Sign in to MyNR

Search