By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – Winter Storm Piper, which brought around two inches of snow overnight on the “Local Talk” area Feb. 27-28, may have not been much – but was enough.
By “not much,” the three waves of snow falling through the “Local Talk” area between 9 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday amounted to around 1.4 inches as measured by the National Weather Service in New York City’s Central Park.
Piper’s addition boosted the winter 2022-23 snow total in Central Park to 1.8 inches, far exceeding the .4 in. that had accumulated up to then. This winter was on track to become the least snowy season since 1972-73 until that trace fell in early February.
The immediate Metropolitan New York City area, including “Local Talk Land,” is way behind the 24.1-inch average for winter here as of Noon Tuesday.
The accumulation was small compared to what Piper left to the Local Talk area’s west, north and east. Some places in Bergen, Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties received four to eight inches overnight. Those counties were placed under an NWS storm warning instead of the advisory “Local Talk” got.
Piper was first forecasted to be two to four inches here, based on the six-to-eight inches it had fallen on the Midwest. There were up to a million Ohio River Valley residents without power on Feb. 27. The system first reached California last weekend, prompting a blizzard warning for the Hollywood Hills.
Piper, however, was “enough” for scores of schools to delay their opening or to cancel classes and for commuters to have a more adventurous morning travel.
Most public, charter, religious and private secondary schools, between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. posted up to two hours’ delay in ringing their admission bells.
Orange Public Schools, for example, began announcing their two-hour delay on social media at 7 p.m. Wednesday. OPS, which serves students in its 2.2 square miles, has been traditionally known as one of the last districts to use a snow day.
West Orange Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Lauren Schoen had also announced a two-hour delay at 7 p.m. – but, citing “dangerous road conditions,” shifted to completely closing at 5 a.m.
West Orange has two hills running north-south through its 12.1 square miles. The Orange Mountains, as the first European settlers called them, can catch out an unwary driver or rider on a perfectly good day.
School administrators who call for a shortened day, a go-remote learning day or a canceled class day have to consider the safety of their staff almost as much as the safety of their students and school bus drivers. Some teachers, aides and staff tend to commute from farther distances.
The superintendents also make their call based on weather forecasting trends and input from the local police and public works departments.
West Orange’s 12 public schools joined 27 other schools or districts in calling a complete day off. WOPS also postponed its Feb. 27 Board of Education meeting to March 6 and its Feb. 28 district-wide Jazz Festival at the high school to March 7.
There may have been a rare school or district that switched to remote learning.
Unionized Rutgers University professors and instructors who were going to vote on permitting a strike here at the Robeson Campus Center Feb. 28 were directed to vote online through March 10. The Rutgers Board of Governors’ meeting here was canceled by the weather.
Orange’s decision and West Orange’s first call came while the sky was clouding up and up to 12 mph wind gusts from the northeast by sunset. The eastbound winter storm would meet a northwesterly warm front from off the Atlantic Ocean, causing a northward drifting snow-rain division along Interstate 78.
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority placed a 45 mph speed limit on its namesake road between Exit 6 in Mansfield Township and the George Washington Bridge that night. It also placed a 45 mph limit on the Garden State Parkway from Exit 98 in Wall Township up to Irvington’s Exit 143 – and down to 35 mph up to the New York State line.
Heavy-duty dump trucks with affixed plows were seen patrolling Newark’s streets and Essex County roads after sundown. Some of the agency or contracted trucks would soon lay down road salt or brine.
What fell here was not light snow but moisture-laden heavy snow. Those shoveling and plowing would be feeling its weight.
Those waking up in North Newark at 6 a.m. found their streets blacktopped but most all else – cars, sidewalks, roofs, power lines and tree branches – coated in snow.
Some may have checked for traffic conditions. A one-car crash on the southbound GSP two right lanes by Irvington’s Exit 143C and another single car crash on westbound 280’s right lane by Exit 7 were among the accidents reported to the State Police that morning.
Access to Route 21/McCarter Highway and connecting roads between Market and Lafayette streets were restricted during the morning rush hours while PSE&G crews traced and extinguished an underground cable fire.
The Newark Police Division received reports, starting at 5:50 a.m., that there was fire coming up from a manhole cover at McCarter and Edison Place. There were 11 more flaming service covers fires along the highway’s southbound side.
It is not known whether any melting rock salt seeped through the covers and onto the cables was the cause. No nearby Public Service customers reported any power loss.
Some commuters may have found delays on three of NJTransit’s commuter rail lines.
Equipment problems on the Morris & Essex Line’s Gladstone Branch prompted substitute bus service between Gladstone and Far Hills through 6:30 p.m. The M&E, Montclair-Boonton, Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast and Raritan Valley lines were up to 20 minutes late due to a switch problem approaching New York Penn station for nearly 24 hours.
Some motorists may have also found parking tickets on their windshields. Essex County and some of the municipalities may have called a snow emergency overnight. Such an emergency means that all curbside vehicles be removed in advance of curb-to-curb salting or plowing.
Some parents may have checked their electronic devices for school delays or closings. Some school districts have turned to post their decisions on their websites, on social media or through a “parent portal” link.
Such notification puts the “School Snow Day Announcements” era that some local radio stations used to have” in the rearview mirror. The new mediums may also keep smart-alecks from calling in bogus cancellations.
The downside to the diffuse media is that there is no single authoritative source for school delays or cancellations.
Herewith is a roster of “Local Talk” schools and/or districts that canceled their Feb. 28 classes:
- NEWARK: All Northstar charter school campuses, Gray Academy charter school, St. Vincent Academy
- IRVINGTON: Burch Charter Academy of Excellence
- EAST ORANGE: Pride Academy charter school, St. Joseph’s School:
- WEST ORANGE: West Orange Public Schools, Seton Hall Prep, Golda Ochs Academy.
- SOUTH ORANGE: St. Joseph’s School
- BLOOMFIELD: St. Thomas the Apostle School
- MONTCLAIR: Lacordiare Academy, Montclair Cooperative School
All who ventured out overnight Feb. 28-March 1 walked like penguins for a reason. The melting snow had refrozen, creating patches of invisible or black ice.
Those who have gone from “What Winter?” to, “OH, Winter” Feb. 27-28 may be going to “UGH -Winter!” by the March 3-5 weekend.
Winter Storm Quest, as named by The Weather Channel, is to bring a wintery mix of snow, sleet and/or rain to New Jersey as early as 7 a.m. Friday. Northern New Jersey, including the “Local Talk” area, may be getting snow; how much and for how long depends on where Quest’s rain/snow line falls on its way to New England.
