Winter storm forces Moab schools to close on Tuesday
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An overnight winter storm hit Grand County early Tuesday morning, blanketing the area with snow and causing local schools to shut down for the day.
According to Ron Pierce, Moab’s official weather observer for the National Weather Service, Moab received 8 inches of snow on Dec. 8, making it the highest one-day snow total for Moab since Jan. 4, 1973, when 8 inches also fell.
At Grand County High School, a couple dozen students had already arrived around 6:30 a.m. for Hal Adams’ driver education class. Instead of heading up to their classroom, however, the students grabbed snow shovels and helped clear the sidewalks in front of the school.
Meanwhile, school and district officials were already busy making phone calls and following the procedures associated with canceling school for the day.
GCHS sophomore Lauren Keogh, who rode in from La Sal with her mother to the early-morning driver education class, said the snow was over 2 feet deep at her house, and that the roads were still slick and packed with snow.
“It was a hard decision,” said Grand County School District Superintendent Margaret Hopkin.
She said that district transportation was not the issue. “The buses were fine… they would have been slow,” she said. “The two main things were that people were having trouble getting their cars out of their driveways, and that the roads and parking lots had not been cleared.”
School officials notified radio stations and other local media of the decision, and school principals notified teachers and other staff members. Hopkin said that a recently implemented automated phone calling system, which the district is using on a free trial basis, also managed to place more than 600 calls in just a few minutes to students’ homes, notifying them that school was canceled for the day.
Hopkin said the school district office didn’t receive any complaints regarding the school closures. In fact, most students apparently welcomed and celebrated the day off. Some used the time to catch up on homework, while others spent time outside sledding, making snowmen, and having snowball fights.
The Red Devil boys basketball home opener scheduled for Tuesday night against Waterford in Moab was also canceled, but the game may be rescheduled later, school officials said.
The school district’s interim business administrator Robert Farnsworth, who grew up in Moab, said it was the first “snow day” he could remember over the past 25 years in Grand County schools.
“[School board member] Bryon Walston remembers a snow day back in 1972, and there may have been another one in the 1980s,” Farnsworth said.
School board members have not yet decided when the snow day will be made up, but said it could be on district-wide furlough day scheduled for Jan. 18.
Grand County schools resumed their normal schedules Wednesday. Moab Charter School, which also closed for the day on Tuesday, was back in session Wednesday as well.
Tuesday’s official total of 8 inches also marked a new high for Dec. 8 in Moab, breaking the old record of 3 inches set in 1899. Moab’s highest one-day snowfall ever recorded was on Dec. 31, 1915, when 33 inches fell, adding on to 11 inches that had fallen the day before, Pierce said.
According to Pierce, significant snowstorms for Moab over the past 40 years include 7 inches on Dec. 28, 1972, 7 inches on Jan. 5, 1988, 6 inches on Jan. 17, 1972, and 5 inches on Jan. 29, 1997.
“It was a pretty a big storm for Moab,” Pierce said.
According to Ron Pierce, Moab’s official weather observer for the National Weather Service, Moab received 8 inches of snow on Dec. 8, making it the highest one-day snow total for Moab since Jan. 4, 1973, when 8 inches also fell.
At Grand County High School, a couple dozen students had already arrived around 6:30 a.m. for Hal Adams’ driver education class. Instead of heading up to their classroom, however, the students grabbed snow shovels and helped clear the sidewalks in front of the school.
Meanwhile, school and district officials were already busy making phone calls and following the procedures associated with canceling school for the day.
GCHS sophomore Lauren Keogh, who rode in from La Sal with her mother to the early-morning driver education class, said the snow was over 2 feet deep at her house, and that the roads were still slick and packed with snow.
“It was a hard decision,” said Grand County School District Superintendent Margaret Hopkin.
She said that district transportation was not the issue. “The buses were fine… they would have been slow,” she said. “The two main things were that people were having trouble getting their cars out of their driveways, and that the roads and parking lots had not been cleared.”
School officials notified radio stations and other local media of the decision, and school principals notified teachers and other staff members. Hopkin said that a recently implemented automated phone calling system, which the district is using on a free trial basis, also managed to place more than 600 calls in just a few minutes to students’ homes, notifying them that school was canceled for the day.
Hopkin said the school district office didn’t receive any complaints regarding the school closures. In fact, most students apparently welcomed and celebrated the day off. Some used the time to catch up on homework, while others spent time outside sledding, making snowmen, and having snowball fights.
The Red Devil boys basketball home opener scheduled for Tuesday night against Waterford in Moab was also canceled, but the game may be rescheduled later, school officials said.
The school district’s interim business administrator Robert Farnsworth, who grew up in Moab, said it was the first “snow day” he could remember over the past 25 years in Grand County schools.
“[School board member] Bryon Walston remembers a snow day back in 1972, and there may have been another one in the 1980s,” Farnsworth said.
School board members have not yet decided when the snow day will be made up, but said it could be on district-wide furlough day scheduled for Jan. 18.
Grand County schools resumed their normal schedules Wednesday. Moab Charter School, which also closed for the day on Tuesday, was back in session Wednesday as well.
Tuesday’s official total of 8 inches also marked a new high for Dec. 8 in Moab, breaking the old record of 3 inches set in 1899. Moab’s highest one-day snowfall ever recorded was on Dec. 31, 1915, when 33 inches fell, adding on to 11 inches that had fallen the day before, Pierce said.
According to Pierce, significant snowstorms for Moab over the past 40 years include 7 inches on Dec. 28, 1972, 7 inches on Jan. 5, 1988, 6 inches on Jan. 17, 1972, and 5 inches on Jan. 29, 1997.
“It was a pretty a big storm for Moab,” Pierce said.
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