Say it isn't snow!

WEST MILFORD — Winter. It has been pretty harsh this year. To say the least. Depending on where you were located in the township, you had anywhere from a few inches up to a foot of snow on Wednesday. And that came just days after another six inches or so fell on Monday. It seems we're always shoveling, snow blowing, plowing.

Speaking of plowing, the township workers and contractors were out in force Wednesday, plowing the 191 miles of town roads throughout the township. According to Jill Knipp, administrative secretary at the Department of Public Works, plow drivers were called out at about 1 a.m. and many were still at it 12 hours later. The snowfall throughout the night, followed by freezing rain, kept crews extremely busy and many drivers off the roads. Only Skyline Drive was closed, according to the DPW. No power outages were reported.

And a regional shortage of road salt isn't impacting West Milford. While many municipalities throughout the tri-state area are reporting shortages of the salt that is vital in keeping roads clear of ice, that's not the case here.

"Our buildings are doing just fine," said Knipp. "West Milford is in good shape with salt. We started early ordering it."

Snow days
Schools have been hit hard. This week alone, schools were closed on Monday and Wednesday and delayed on Tuesday and Thursday. The district schedules seven emergency closing days for the year; so far, elementary schools have been closed six times for snow, middle and high school were closed five days. There have been four delayed openings and two early dismissals for elementary school and three early dismissals for Macopin and the high school.

The second marking period was extended one day, moving the beginning of the third marking period to Wednesday. But then there was a snow day on Wednesday.

A workshop for parents of children with special needs was cancelled on Jan. 22 for snow and rescheduled to Wednesday. Oops. Another snow event so the rescheduled date had a snow day of Feb. 6.

In December, inclement weather canceled the ACT test on a Saturday and moved the production of The Nutcracker to another date. Even middle school evening conferences, back on Nov. 26, ended one hour early because of weather conditions.

With most of February still to come and all of March, which can be very unpredictable, district officials may be looking to abbreviate spring break in April or even to extend the school year in June to make up for any extra snow days.

Here's hoping that Stonewall's prediction of an early spring (see page 2) is right on the money.

How are you surviving the winter and the snow? Go to westmilfordmessenger.com and tell us. And send us your photos!