Heavy Snow Leads to School Closings, Event Cancellations in Rochester
The snow is expected to continue today.
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Update, 1 p.m.: The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office responded to 91 traffic-related incidents from 3 p.m. through 9 a.m. today, they announced. Included in the incidents were six personal injury accidents, all with minor injuries, 76 property damage accidents, eight road run-offs and one hit and run accident.
Update, 9:25 a.m.: Crews from the Road Commission for Oakland County have been out "all night and will continue to do cleanup all day today," according to a post on the commission's Facebook page on Wednesday morning.
Across Rochester and Rochester Hills, residents are slowly reporting sightings of snow plows around town.
Cancellations to report: The Community Bookmobile for the Rochester Hills Public Library will not going to the ACE or Knolls North stops this morning due to the road conditions. The Bookmobile hopes to be on the road this afternoon.
5:45 a.m.: A mix of rain, sleet and heavy snow Tuesday into Wednesday morning resulted in the third "snow day" of the 2012-13 school year for Rochester Community Schools.
The district announced the school closing, due to "heavy snow accumulation" early Wednesday morning.
All evening school activities are cancelled, with the exception of varsity athletic practices for sports involved in MHSAA state competitions. High school parent teacher conferences planned for Wednesday night will be re-scheduled for sometime in March.
Almost 500 school closings were reported Wednesday across southeast Michigan, according to various news reports. Avondale Schools was closed; so were Holy Family, St. John Lutheran and Lutheran High Northwest in Rochester Hills.
Oakland University is also closed Wednesday.
The wintry mix began in Rochester shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday. It started as sleet, then turned to a slushy snow. About 3 inches of snow covered the ground before midnight.
According to the National Weather Service, the snow was expected to continue Wednesday into Thursday morning. Temperatures were expected to be in the low 30s Wednesday; an additional 1 to 2 inches of snow were predicted.
Adhering to their policy, RARA (Rochester Avon Recreation Association) has closed and all activities are cancelled Wednesday.
What else is closed? Post closings or cancellations here; check back with Rochester Patch throughout today for updates on the winter storm.
Steve Clarke
12:00 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Heavy Snow, where ?
Joshua Raymond
10:34 am on Thursday, February 28, 2013
I wonder with the notification system that RCS has in place if times can be personalized to the household. While a 5:15 AM notification may be needed for some families, for others it can be quite disruptive and a later call would be better. I wonder if this capability exists in the current system.
Meredith McCutcheon
10:50 am on Thursday, February 28, 2013
Joshua, I JUST had this same conversation with my husband this morning! Whenever we have a snow day, the phone rings at 5:15am (sometimes as early as 5:00am). Then, my cell phone rings 5 minutes later. By this time, my dogs have woken up, and they start whining. Which wakes my kids up. And then nobody goes back to sleep. I know that some people need to find alternate child care and an early call is helpful, though, so I'm not sure how (or if) the system could be personalized, but it sure would be great!
Steve Clarke
11:17 am on Thursday, February 28, 2013
This is a solution looking for a problem. I've seen no reason to close ANYTHING as a result of the (non) snow storm.
Maybe the School System should have an open meeting,get some ideas, and after a
period of thoughtful consideration, present the ideas to the community.
It is ridiculous to think a personalized-by-household method could be implemented,
it would take a phone bank or robo-caller to do this.
Maybe if the TV News would stop spreading panic and preaching school closings a day and a half before the blessed event,it would help.
The whole thing is laughable ! It almost looks like some people are waiting for a reason to close schools,activities,ect.
Meredith McCutcheon
12:04 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2013
Steve, We actually do have a phone bank and automated calling system. That's what we're talking about. The phone system is used to notify parents when schools are closed, it buses will be late, etc. I know that RCS has the capability to modify the system so that it only calls certain homes when necessary (i.e. students on certain bus routes that are affected by road conditions, students at a particular school that is closed due to a building problem, etc.). We were just wondering if it could possibly be programmed to call high school/middle students first (who start school earlier). Seems like it would be simple, but it might not be. It was just a thought.
Steve Clarke
3:42 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2013
Noted. I don't think your image of a phone bank and mine are the same. My point is really, there was NO NEED to cancel school - period. In my opinion 50% of the snow days are bogus. My Opinion. End of my comments and thank you for yours.