A snowstorm, which reached historic proportions in other parts of the Carolinas, delivered a glancing blow to Rowan overnight, leaving as much as 8 inches of snow in the far eastern reaches of the county.

But illustrative of how strange Monday’s storm was, residents in the western end of Rowan received less than an inch of new snow.

“That was a finnicky snow,” said Salisbury firefighter Scott Hatley. The West Innes Street fire station measured only an inch.

The overnight dumping left roads in some of the worst shape they’ve been over the past week. A glaze of ice in the northern end of Rowan made bridges on Woodleaf Road virtually impassable.

The N.C. Highway Patrol reported that cars were particularly struggling on N.C. 801 near Woodleaf.

“No one can get over the bridges, and N.C. 801 is blocked,” said Cindy Matheny, a store employee at the Woodleaf BP. “Cool Springs Road (toward Statesville) is blocked.

“There’s no snow on the road — it’s all ice.”

The weather system, which came up from the south and tended to dump snow from east to west, surprised forecasters.

“I think we need new forecasters,” said Billy Overman, a longtime weather-watcher in Rockwell, where he measured 4.5 inches of snow this morning.

”It was sort of spotted around here. It was sort of hard to tell (how much snow was falling) because the wind kept piling it up.”

Stanly County residents as close as Richfield lost power overnight, as their area received 8 to 10 inches of snow.

North Carolina’s electric cooperatives said this morning that 60,000 customers were without power because of snow and ice on power lines. Of that number, 53,000 live in Stanly, Union, Anson and Moore counties.

Salisbury and Rowan County apparently escaped widespread power outages in the Duke Power system.

Though no outages were reported in Rowan, Duke Power’s automated system indicated 9,000 Stanly County customers are among the 126,000 customers without service in the Duke Power system. The outages are concentrated in Albemarle, Norwood, Oakboro, Mt. Pleasant and Locust.

That’s an increase of 4,000 since the last check at 5 a.m. today, according to Terri Andrews, Duke Power spokeswoman. “I suspect it went up as people got up and found they had no power,” she said.

When a customer calls 1-800-POWERON, Andrews said, the system records and automatically logs in the number at the Joint Information Center in Charlotte.

More than 4,000 crews worked through the night to restore power to central services, such as hospitals, radio and television stations, food services and water treatment facilities, focussing on restoring electricity to the largest number in the shortest period of time, she said.

The weather once again forced the cancellation of Rowan-Salisbury Schools (See related story).

Barely 1 inch of snow in Salisbury proved harder to scrape off the roads and streets than larger accumulations would.

The snow set back city garbage and recycling collection a day and forced city buses to take the day off.

“Now we’re in the process of trying to get as many streets open and passable as possible,” Public Services Director Vernon Sherrill said.

Sherrill advised citizens to put their garbage on the curb and leave it there until it has been collected.

“That might even mean Saturday and Sunday collection,” Sherrill said.

The city delayed opening its offices until 10 a.m. today. By that time patches of blue appeared in the sky, and the sun was shining.

Rowan County had overnight lows of 26 to 28 degrees. The temperature was expected to reach the high 30s today.

The Piedmont Research Station did not have enough snow to measure, and Raymond Coltrain said only about an inch of snow is left on the ground in his part of western Rowan.

“I think the storm just kind of wrapped around us,” he said.

Hospitals were ready for a rash of victims from the latest ice and snow storm.

Thus far, hospitals report only a few fractures from falls. Most injuries have come from vehicle accidents related to to the weather.

Mark Rado, director of the emergency department for NorthEast Medical Center in Concord, reported a rash of injuries on Saturday, all from vehicle accidents.

Rado. who recently moved from Detroit, said co-workers blamed him for bringing the snow. Rado said he opted to make the move south to avoid the icy winters of Detroit. “My wife is telling me we didn’t go far enough south,” he said.

All courts were under way on schedule today.

“Courts will run with whatever shows up,” said Rowan Clerk of Court Jeff Barger. Barger said district courts and a civil session of Superior Court are under way.

Several court employees, potential jurors and defendants were not able to get to court because of the ice.

All county offices are open today, operating under the longstanding snow policy.

County Manager Tim Russell said each department is required to operate, but county employees are allowed and encouraged to take a vacation day if needed.

Kannapolis police worked three or four wrecks Tuesday morning. None were serious, Sgt. Rick Towell said. “The roads are covered. They’re just a sheet of ice, for the most part.”

The Highway Patrol in Cabarrus County reported no weather-related accidents as of mid morning.

Kannapolis and Cabarrus County schools are closed today and likely will open late to students Wednesday if they open at all.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has rescheduled a hearing on changes to hunting and other wildlife regulations from Wednesday night to Feb. 9, at 7 p.m., at Central Davidson Middle School in Lexington.

Steve Pring, another long-time weather observer in eastern Rowan County, measured 6 inches of snow outside his home this morning.

“The snow was heavy enough to disrupt my satellite dish,” Pring complained.