Just a few days into her new job as chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, Carmen Fariña announced the emergency closing of all public schools for Friday, Jan 3, due to the snowstorm that came through Thursday night and dumped several inches of snow throughout the region.
Due to severe weather conditions, all New York City public schools will be closed today, Friday, January 3, 2014. Student after-school programs and PSAL games are also cancelled. We urge New Yorkers to exercise caution when going outside.
There was about six inches on my sidewalk Friday morning, and Baltimore County Public Schools have also announced that schools are closed. Multiple closings throughout Maryland were also announced, reported here by WBAL (NBC affiliate).
In Chicago, Jan 2, a bus turns left—carefully (Photo: swanksalot/Seth Anderson via Flickr).
New York’s new mayor, Bill de Blasio, met with John J Doherty, the city’s sanitation director, on Thursday and came out of the meeting saying the city was ready. Mr Doherty, a temporary holdover from the Bloomberg administration, asked for patience. “A lot of people expect in New York City to see blacktop all the time,” the New York Times quoted him as saying. “It’s going to take us a while,” because salt, a major weapon in the fight to keep snow from sticking on slippery streets, is less effective in extreme cold.
New York’s temperature was about 11°F Friday at 5:00 AM, with wind chills hovering near 0°F. That’s not quite as bad as Embarrass, Minn., where folks experienced this same storm a few days before it got to New York. Their temperature dipped to –46°F Thursday night but was up to –11°F by Friday morning. Chicago uses a combination of beet juice and brine to salt the streets, which turns the salt blue but apparently works better in extremely cold temperatures.
The storm dumped an estimated seven inches of snow in Chicago, and some totals could climb to two feet north of the city. More than 300 flights were canceled at O’Hare International Airport on Thursday. That was in addition to the 635 flights grounded there on Wednesday, the New York Times reported.
Chicago Public Schools are on winter break until Monday, Jan 6, so the schedule was not affected by the winter storm. Despite a Jan 7 date for resuming classes, District 230 in Orland Park, Ill., about 20 miles southwest of Chicago, closed all its buildings at 2 PM Thursday as a result of the storm. Most public schools in the Chicago area are on a similar calendar, good news for kids during the 50-mph cold winds that are expected Friday.
The storm brought the greatest snowfall total to the Chicago area since a blizzard in 2011, the Chicago Tribune reported. According to a map, suburbs to the north got more than 12 inches of snow, while those south of the city might have seen less than six inches—still substantial, but not quite as bad.
The same was true in the Northeast. Northern Baltimore County had about six inches on the ground Friday morning, according to my untrained estimates. Folks in Boston were blanketed with almost two feet of snow, which came with the associated high winds, freezing temperatures, and the threat of dangerous high tides, the Boston Globe reports.
Boston Public Schools, the nation’s first school district, founded in 1647, also canceled classes Friday. “Due to the weather, all schools are closed Friday, January 3. School buses will not be running. All Friday athletic activities are cancelled. Only essential BPS personnel should report to work. Offices, including BPS Welcome Centers, the Newcomers Assessment Center and the Campbell Resource Center are closed Friday,” the website said.
However, the website also notes that Boston’s Centers for Youth and Families program will open four community centers in the city to take in children 7 years of age and older from 7:30 AM to 6 PM.
