Most schools closed as region tries to emerge from deep freeze
Published 12:10 am Monday, January 9, 2017
By Rebecca Rider and Mark Wineka
mark.wineka@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Ice, ice, baby. Thanks to an arctic air mass, temperatures plunged into the single digits again this morning after registering a low of 3 degrees early Sunday.
The low tonight will be 14, according to the forecasts.
The cold, combined with Saturday’s healthy snowfall, has led to many icy side streets and secondary roads, forcing the cancellation of classes for most Rowan County students.
The National Weather Service reports that temperatures are 20 to 25 degrees below normal, and it issued a winter weather advisory for black ice Sunday that is in effect until noon today.
The advisory for black ice means that the refreezing of roads will occur, and that motorists should be aware. “Some roads that appear clear may be covered by a thin layer of ice,” the advisory said.
Rowan-Salisbury Schools will be closed for students today and Tuesday because of the winter weather. The days have been tagged as optional teacher workdays, in which teachers have the option of working from home with a supervisor’s approval.
The school system also has issued a “snow day reading challenge.” Students are being encouraged to read Achieve3000 articles over Monday and Tuesday. The school with the highest percentage of articles read on each day, Monday and Tuesday, will win a hot chocolate party for the entire student body.
The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education has delayed its monthly work session, which was scheduled for Monday. It will now be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Wallace Educational Forum, 500 N. Main St.
The Kannapolis City Board of Education has moved its board meeting to 3 p.m. today instead of its regularly scheduled 5 p.m. The board will meet at the school system central office, 100 Denver St., Kannapolis.
North Hills Christian School will be closed today, as will Salisbury Academy.
All Salisbury Academy athletic events are postponed, and information regarding the rescheduled dates will be sent as soon as possible. A decision on Tuesday’s start time is pending.
Classes and athletic events at Sacred Heart Catholic School have been canceled for today.
Cabarrus County Schools are closed today, and students will not have to make it up.
Livingstone College will be open today for registration only. Catawba College classes are delayed and won’t start until 10 a.m. today.
The Rowan County Airport is an official weather station of the National Weather Service, and it recorded a low of 3 degrees at both 5:20 a.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday.
The NWS forecast an overnight low heading into Monday of 4 degrees. Daytime temperatures Sunday, even though it was a sunny day, failed to go above freezing. The high today is supposed to be 31, but warmer weather — and melting — will soon follow.
The high Tuesday will be 39; Wednesday, 54; Thursday, 62; and Friday, 65. The nighttime temperatures for all of those days are not supposed to go below freezing.
By the National Weather Service’s definition, Rowan County is definitely in the midst of a “cold wave.”
The normal mid-January average daily temperature for this region is 41, so a cold wave would be temperatures of 12 degrees or lower than that (29 or lower) for two consecutive days, which Rowan has seen.
Typically, this kind of cold weather results in a high demand for electricity and can lead to power outages from the heavy electrical load, the NWS said. But Duke Energy was reporting only one power outage in all of Rowan County at 4:18 p.m. Sunday.
As a way to battle frozen pipes, The National Weather Service advises allowing indoor plumbing fixtures to drip, allowing water to trickle through pipes and inhibit the freezing.
Rowan Helping Ministries, which operates a meal site and nighttime shelter, is providing a 24-hour shelter for the homeless during this extremely cold weather. The meal in Jeannie’s Kitchen at RHM will be held as usual at noon today. RHM’s food pantry and crisis assistance activities will open at 1 p.m. today.
The Salvation Army office on Bringle Ferry Road will be closed today “for the safety of the staff and the people we serve,” the organization said.
Because of road conditions, the Salisbury Transit System did not operate its buses Sunday.
East Rowan and South Rowan branches of the YMCA will open at 8 a.m. today.
The Hurley Family YMCA in Salisbury will have a “soft opening.” The fitness center and gymnasium will open at 5 a.m. All other areas, including the pool, nursery and all exercise classes will open at 8 a.m.
Fun camp will be held at all YMCA branches beginning at 8 a.m.
The quarterly general meeting of The Humane Society of Rowan County scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Rowan Public Library, E. Fisher Street, has been canceled.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.
