Chapel Hill, Orange County plan to delay, cancel classes ahead of icy start Tuesday
UPDATE: Orange County Schools is giving students another day off Tuesday from in-person and remote learning, district officials said in a phone message to parents Monday evening.
The district also canceled all on-campus activities, including after-school care, driver’s education and athletics.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools announced a two-hour delay on Tuesday.
Road conditions are expected to be hazardous Tuesday morning, as water freezes on the roads overnight. The district also has school buildings without power, Orange County officials said. They expect power to be restored to those schools sometime on Tuesday, officials said.
Duke Energy was reporting just over 4,100 outages at 6 p.m. Monday in Orange County. Another roughly 2,000 Duke customers were without power in Durham County.
Both Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools also were closed Monday after heavy rain and thunderstorms turned to sleet and slow, and temperatures fell precipitously.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Orange County public schools will be closed on Monday, as winter weather returns to the Triangle.
The school district announced Sunday evening that there would be no in-person instruction or remote learning for students and that all district buildings would be closed.
The district also said all on-site activities are canceled, including after-school care, driver’s education and athletics.
A notice on the district’s website cited “a high potential for a variety of inclement weather situations, including high winds, sleet and snow” as the reason for the closure.
A tweet from the district’s Twitter account did not mention the weather, but it included a photo of the words “No School” written on a snow-covered surface.
After record warm weather over the holidays, forecasters say temperatures will fall below freezing on Monday. The drop will coincide with heavy rain and wind as a cold front approaches.
Rain is expected to gradually change to snow across north central North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service. The heaviest snow is expected to fall north of U.S. 64, particularly along the Virginia border, the weather service said Sunday evening.
The warm ground will keep much of the snow from sticking, but up to 2 inches of wet slush may accumulate on grassy areas, according to the weather service. The weather service issued a winter weather advisory for Granville and Person counties, where the snow is likeliest to accumulate.
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Chapel Hill, Orange County plan to delay, cancel classes ahead of icy start Tuesday."
