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County ready
for snowstorm
With television and radio weather forecasters sounding the alarm for days in advance, Rappahannock was as ready as it will ever be for the storm that blanketed the county with six inches of snow between late Thursday afternoon and 6:30 the next morning when the flakes tapered off.
“It was an obvious call,” said Superintendent David Gangel, of his decision by 7 p.m. Thursday to cancel school for Friday. “When it gets like that, it’s an easy call to make!”
Doug Bywaters, supervisor at the Highway Department’s maintenance headquarters, had crews out Thursday night and all day Friday. Abrasives were applied to hills and curves while the snow was coming down, and on Friday morning, highway trucks began spreading salt on primary roads and the more heavily traveled secondary roads where snow was packed to an ice-like layer over the asphalt. By the afternoon, every county road had been pushed, and on Saturday, more salt went down on secondary roads to melt the slush which had frozen to ice overnight.
“We were hoping that the sun and warmer temperatures would help [the action of the chemicals], and it worked pretty well,” Mr. By waters said.
With all roads passable, highway workers were able to stay home on Sunday to watch the Washington Redskins climb over the Chicago Bears in the NFC playoffs semifinal game, and on Monday, snow plows were relegated to widening the cleared area on dirt roads.
School resumed on Monday, leaving Rappahannock students with just a single snow day to make up, that set for the previously scheduled teacher workday on January 29. A few buses had problems starting Monday morning and the bus to Chester Gap needed help from a tow truck to turn around, but otherwise, there were no difficulties. Dr. Gangel said.
According to Sperryville weather watcher Dennis Wingfield, the Siberian Express that has rolled over the central and eastern United States for the past two weeks brought no record lows to Rappahannock. “But it’s been darn cold,” he adding, reporting that the average high temperature for the month stands at 32.5 degrees and the average low at 14.3 degrees. The coldest point in the continuing cold snap Jfcme last Sunday night, when the mercury dipped to three degrees in Sperryville and minus three at Rappahannock County High School.
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