60.0°,
Overcast Snowstorm strikes the Five Towns
Bad westher postpones Lawrence schools anniversary dinner; Sunday's concert remains a go
Snow started falling across the South Shore two hours earlier than expected on Saturday, with the first flakes hitting the ground around 9 a.m.
By darkness at 5 p.m., more than half a foot of snow had fallen in many parts of the South Shore, and the storm was not expected to let up until 10 or 11 p.m, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm made for messy streets, including major thoroughfares like Merrick Road. Officials were urging people to stay at home if possible to allow snow plows and sanders to clear streets. A number of accidents and near-misses were spotted on roads across the region.
With snow coming down in the Five Towns, area villages mobilized work crews to plow and/or sweep or put down salt and sand.
Lawrence School District Superintendent Gary Schall said that Saturday's 125th anniversary dinner was postponed, but Sunday's concert at the high school will take place.
Mayor Mark Weiss said a salt/sand mix is being applied to the streets of Hewlett Harbor and he wants motorists and pedestrians to be aware of the black ice and slippery, slushy snow.
“It’s slippery and in this case trickier than if it was just snow,” Weiss. “I saw a Fourth Precinct police car spin out on Piermont Avenue. We will keep treating the streets.”
Lawrence village officials said, plows are at and had people shoveling walkways to help avoid them from icing up.
In Atlantic Beach, Mayor George Pappas said that with more than three inches on ground, village trucks are plowing the streets.
Early in the day, the weather service issued a Winter Storm Warning for Nassau and Suffolk counties, effective from the morning of Jan. 7 into the early morning of Jan. 8.
High schools canceled afternoon games, and a number of libraries reported early closings.
Temperatures were expected to drop into the teens overnight between Saturday and Sunday. Motorists were cautioned to expect snowy and icy driving conditions. Visibility was predicted to be less than a quarter mile. Winds were expected to blow at 10 to 20 miles per hour, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour.
Still, kids managed to get out in the storm and have some fun sledding, and the snow did make for picturesque scenes across the South Shore.
