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Second round of winter weather closes schools again

By Rose Hooper
Snow-covered culverts at Oconaluftee Island Park in Cherokee Herald photo by Rose Hooper

Island of Snow - Last week's snow draped the culverts at Oconaluftee Island Park in Cherokee, creating a wintery-white pattern across the river. Such scenes have become familiar to county residents as snow and ice left over from Jan. 22's 8-inch snowfall continued to blanket Jackson County through Feb. 1. Local schools, closed for three days last week, cancelled classes again Monday, Jan. 31, after a weekend of sleet and freezing rain made driving conditions treacherous.

For the second weekend in a row, Jackson County was hit with a winter storm that cancelled events and made driving treacherous.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain fell most of Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 29 and 30) and caused cancellations of most church singings and services.

Jackson County schools, which cancelled classes three days last week and started late the other two, were closed Monday (Jan. 31) due to the storm that left another 4 inches of ice and snow in the higher elevations. On Tuesday and Wednesday, schools operated on a "B" schedule, which is a two-hour delay designed to allow road conditions to improve before buses begin their routes.

Local transportation officials report that good supplies of sand and salt are available to combat icy roads.
During Jackson County's big snowfall Jan. 22, the 14th Division of the N.C. Department of Transportation used 700 tons of salt and 2,000 tons of a salt/sand mix on Jackson County's roadways.

"As we've had more flurries and freezing and thawing temperatures, we've continued to scrape the roads and add salt and sand," said county maintenance engineer Johnny Metcalf.

"We're pretty well set with our supplies; a few of the surrounding counties have even borrowed salt and sand from us. Right now we're waiting on another shipment of salt from Knoxville," said Metcalf, noting that sand is purchased locally in Western North Carolina.

North Carolina's state coffers have been hit hard by winter storms and may cause the state to exceed its budget. According to Steve Varnedoe, a state maintenance and equipment engineer for the DOT, normally $15 million is reserved for snow and ice removal for the whole year. However, last week's snowstorm, which dumped 20 inches down east, could end up costing $15 million by itself, Varnedoe said.

Several counties east of here are also using liquid calcium chloride in their snow-fighting efforts. Although Jackson County uses it for dust control on gravel roads, it does not use the chemical during snowfalls, Metcalf said. "Buncombe County uses it, but not many of the rest of us do."

For snow events like the county has been experiencing, DOT crews work in 12-hour shifts, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Metcalf, who rides the roads throughout WNC, praised the local DOT road workers, saying, "Jackson County has the best snow and ice control in WNC."

Primary roads were "all clear" on Monday, Metcalf said, and secondary paved roads were clear with some patches of black ice due to thawing Sunday afternoon and refreezing Sunday night.

"Our secondary gravel roads are the roads we have to battle the longest since we can't put salt on them," he said.

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