By Deirdre Parker Smith
dp1@salisburypost.com
Major roads, side streets, sidewalks and parking lots at 6 this morning were solid sheets of ice.
At 8 a.m., Innes Street traffic has picked up, leading to slushy conditions on the road, with some ice melting. Side streets remain icy.
Where roads were scraped yesterday, fresh snow and ice have turned conditions into a slick mess. Don’t be fooled by spots that look clear — anything dark is black ice.
North Main Street from Spencer into Salisbury was treacherous early, with the worst spot being the hill leading up to the railroad tracks.
What few cars were out at 6 this morning were moving very slowly.
A light drizzle continues to fall, only adding to the ice coating.
The temperature is around 24 degrees. Weather reports indicate a high of 30 is optimistic, although the temperature is now up to 28. Expect windy conditions this afternoon, which may cause power problems with trees that have a thin coating of ice.
Actually getting on the road may be an ordeal if you do not have a garage. Car doors are frozen shut; windshields, once clear Monday, now have an icy glaze about a quarter of an inch thick. Windshield wipers exposed to the weather were also frozen.
Streets that were scraped Monday now have icy ridges of snow pushed up against vehicles. The now-packed snow, with the sleet and freezing drizzle that fell, has an icy, hard surface.
Rowan-Salisbury Schools are closed. Kannapolis City Schools are closed, as are Sacred Heart School and Salisbury Academy.
Catawba College has canceled classes for the day and all day and evening classes at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College are canceled. Employees at RCCC have been told not to report to work. Hood Theological Seminary is closed. Livingstone College has canceled classes.
Rowan County offices are scheduled to open at 10 a.m.; Cabarrus County offices are closed. This includes Cabarrus County Governmental Center, Department of Social Services, Cabarrus County Senior Centers, Cabarrus County Libraries, Board of Elections, and Parks. Cabarrus County Transportation Services (CCTS) will provide public transportation van service Tuesday only for life-sustaining trips to healthcare providers. Public safety departments will operate on a normal schedule.
For many towns, garbage pickup has been delayed yet again.
Salisbury City offices will operate on a one-hour delay. Garbage and trash collection will resume today – they will be collecting Monday’s routes and possibly part or all of Tuesday’s route if weather permits.
The Salisbury Transit System will not run today. An assessment will be made in the morning to decide whether to run tomorrow or not.
City of Salisbury’s website reminds residents not to call 911 about power outages or road conditions, so the line will be open for emergencies.
For road conditions, call 511 or go to http://www.ncdot.gov/traffictravel/ or monitor local weather reports.
The call Duke Energy, dial 1-800-POWERON (1-800-769-3766). Duke reports only 9 power outages in Rowan County; upstate South Carolina has been hardest hit with outages.
Newspaper delivery may be delayed by road conditions.
Kannapolis City offices will operate on a two-hour delay. Garbage collection will not occur. The City Council meeting scheduled for tonight has been canceled.
The garbage collection schedule will be amended with crews working to pick up trash not collected today and tomorrow by the end of the week. Those in Kannapolis with Monday and Tuesday collection days should place their containers at the curb for pick-up on Wednesday. Those with Wednesday, Thursday or Friday collection should put their carts out on their regularly scheduled collection day. Please note that collection may be delayed by a day, but residents are asked to leave their carts out until they are collected. For questions or more information, please contact the Kannapolis Public Works Department at 704-920-4200.
If you have photos of the snow and ice, please post them at www.salisburypost.com.
For cancellations, e-mail news@salisburypost.com.