By Mark Wineka, Steve Huffman and Deirdre Parker-Smith
mwineka@salisburypost.com
The lingering effects of a winter storm that dumped up to 6 inches of snow on the county forced Rowan-Salisbury School System officials to cancel classes again today.
Students and teachers are off for the second straight day, they learned in a telephone call from the school system around 7:20 p.m. Monday.
It was a relatively early answer to questions Rowan residents had all day Monday as they pushed against, drove over, sloshed through and frolicked in 4 to 6 inches of snow. Other questions remained.
What condition would roads be in this morning?
Would most residents have their power restored?
“If we don’t keep our house warm enough, we could get pipes busted in our house,” said Ken Deal, a China Grove resident whose home lost power late Sunday night. “We’ll just have to do the best we can. Hopefully, that won’t happen.”
Adding to the angst of those without power were frigid temperatures, expected to drop below 20 degrees Monday night.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Rodney Hinson said the temperature Monday night and this morning would fall to 16 degrees ó bad news for school buses, Tuesday commuters and thousands of residents who have been without power since late Sunday or early Monday.
As the sun melted plenty of the snow and ice Monday, it left rivers and pools of water that could present a problem to motorists this morning.
“Everything that’s wet and has enough moisture on it ó it is going to refreeze tonight,” Salisbury Street Division Manager Steve Weatherford predicted Monday morning.
The snow, which started Sunday night and continued into Monday morning, represented the most accumulation Rowan County has seen in five years.
It led to countless closings and delays and some vehicle accidents.
But power outages proved to be among the bigger concerns heading into today. (See related story.)
On the good news front, warmer weather is coming by the end of the week.
Hinson, the National Weather Service meteorologist, said the forecast is for the temperature to climb into the upper 60s by Friday.
“We’ve got a cold air mass that’s being forced out and warmer air coming in,” Hinson said.
The National Weather Service put Rowan’s snowfall at 5 inches.
Lee Goodnight at L.L. Goodnight & Sons off Saw Road near Enochville measured 4 inches of snow.
The Piedmont Research Station in western Rowan County off Sherrills Ford Road measured 6 inches of snow, which followed more than 2 inches of rain Saturday and Sunday.
“That was the perfect way to saturate the soil,” Station Manager Joe Hampton said.
Rowan County saw normal rainfall amounts in the fall but had been hit by another dry spell since December.
Public and private schools, colleges and universities across the region closed for classes Monday. Most school officials made their decisions Sunday night as meteorologists were dead-on with their forecasts.
Salisbury buses did not run Monday, and they will operate under a two-hour delay this morning, meaning the three city routes will start at 8:15 a.m.
Salisbury garbage trucks waited until 9 a.m. Monday to start their routes and reported no major problems. Salisbury’s collection schedule is not expected to change.
Garbage collection in Kannapolis will be delayed one day this week. Collection will occur beginning today and run through Saturday.
Workers with the N.C. Department of Transportation labored through the early hours Monday to try and make roads passable and were largely successful.
John Thomason, transportation supervisor with the DOT, said all primary roads were passable by mid-morning as DOT crews began tackling the secondary roads.
Thomason said wintry weather always increases the workload of DOT employees. The snow that started falling late Sunday was no exception. He said his truck operators started work about 6 p.m. Sunday and continued to spread salt brine and scrape roads throughout the night.
Most stayed on the job until about 6 p.m. Monday. Thomason said forecasters were predicting a deep freeze Monday night and Tuesday morning, and agreed the result will be plenty of ice on roadways.
There’s little that can be done about such conditions, Thomason said, and he recommended that people stay off the roads.
He said a skeleton crew of truck drivers would be working Monday night in the event of road emergencies. Thomason said the crux of his crew would return to work at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday to begin clearing roads again.
Motorists probably found traveling on the roads Monday morning a little safer because the snow created a crust for traction.
“The sun is helping out greatly even though we’re not yet above freezing,” Weatherford, the city’s street division head, said Monday morning.
Weatherford put his crews on two 12-hour shifts, starting Sunday night. All the city equipment was ready by Friday afternoon in anticipation of the snow.
“My days are running together,” a tired Weatherford said Monday morning. “My coffee pot’s just about empty.”
The city crews addressed main arteries and emergency routes first, then pushed into side streets Monday morning.
“The bulk already received one round (from the snow plows),” Weatherford said. “The snow seems to be turning loose pretty good.”
Weatherford said he measured about 4 inches of snow outside his office.
Most of the Street Division calls from citizens and police involved downed trees, Weatherford said.
He predicted shady spots that freeze over and bridges and overpasses will be the slick spots Monday night and Tuesday morning.
The N.C. Highway Patrol reported 74 weather-related wrecks from Sunday through 12:26 p.m. Monday.
“The biggest thing (was) when they called off school ó it would have made it a worse situation,” said First Sgt. B.E. Hower. More cars on the road would have meant more collisions, he said.
“We didn’t have as much traffic as we normally would with few drivers heading to work,” Hower said.
Salisbury Police reported 18 wrecks from 6 p.m. Sunday through 12:30 p.m. Monday.
“It is an increase above the normal,” Police Chief Mark Wilhelm said.
Shavonne Potts contributed to this story.