HARTFORD, Conn. — Dozens of schools, most in eastern Connecticut, have closed or delayed opening Monday as they continue to remove up to 2 feet of snow that fell Saturday.
The frigid temperatures, which fell below zero in places early Monday, also may have factored into school officials’ decisions.
“The amount of snow was too much for the city staff to remove in just one day,” Kristen E. Stringfellow, superintendent of schools in Norwich, wrote in a letter to families and staff Sunday.
The eastern section of the state took the biggest hit from the storm, with blizzard conditions reported in New London County on Saturday. Norwich got 22 inches of snow, Groton and New London 21.5, and Moosup 24 inches, according to Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist at Western Connecticut State University’s weather center. A parking ban is still in effect in Norwich until Monday at 2 p.m. so snow may be removed from the streets.
Norwich has enough snow that delaying classes a few hours wouldn’t cut it, Stringfellow said.
“I just spoke to the city manager, and a two-hour delay of school tomorrow would be insufficient. They need the whole day to make the roads safe for school buses on Tuesday. The city manager is very sorry for the inconvenience but safety is their priority and ours as well.”
State police responded to 1,200 calls for service Saturday, including 90 motor vehicle accidents and 208 calls for disabled or abandoned vehicles or debris in the road. There were no serious injuries or fatalities reported.
State police reported that Interstate 84 westbound was shut down twice Saturday, in Tolland and in West Hartford, as was Interstate 95 north in East Lyme, due to tractor trailer accidents. Interstate 95 was also shut down in the East Lyme/Old Lyme area Saturday morning because of multiple motor vehicle accidents. Gov. Ned Lamont had issued a ban on tractor trailer trucks on state highways, which expired at 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
“We are fortunate the storm was not bigger, as staffing remains our ongoing challenge,” said Connecticut DOT spokesperson Kafi Rouse in an email. “While there is a workforce shortage, we planned and responded to the weather event accordingly. As with every DOT across the country, we are suffering from a shortage of CDL drivers in the workforce.”
About 200 households experienced power outages Saturday during the storm, according to Lamont’s spokesman Max Reiss, much fewer than was expected given the forecast.
Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross said Sunday that all of Connecticut’s storm-related outages were taken care of Saturday and that the company had sent crews to eastern Massachusetts to help with the impact of the storm on Cape Cod.
Cold air flooded into the state after the storm, with a wind chill of 3 degrees reported Sunday morning in Hartford, Lessor said. Warmer temperatures are on tap for the rest of the week, reaching into the 40s on Wednesday with scattered showers forecast for Thursday.
Friday, however, there could be more snow, Lessor said.
“Friday, we have to watch again,” he said. “The U.S. and Canadian models say warm and rain, but the European says moderate snowstorm. So at this point, Friday is up in the air.”
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