Wintry mix closes Centre County schools

All over Centre County, kids finally got their chance at the first real snow day of the year on Monday, a little extra holiday that gave many a four-day weekend.

The day after Presidents Day, schools started calling early in the morning to convert Monday night’s notice of a two-hour delay into Tuesday’s news of a cancellation.

For Philipsburg-Osceola parents, that meant a 6:19 a.m. robo-call from Superintendent Gregg Paladina, who told them that the wintry weather expected until late morning was just too risky for both kids and bus drivers.

Other districts followed suit.

Before 8 a.m., calls had gone out from more schools. By midmorning, State College, Bellefonte, Bald Eagle and Penns Valley had all closed their doors. Other area schools, like Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania and Wonderland charter schools, also kept kids at home instead of having them make the trip.

In Pleasant Gap, Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology closed for its high school students during the day. Officials kept their options open about closing an adult-education heavy equipment operating class for Tuesday evening.

The bad weather also hit roads hard.

According to PennDOT’s Marla Fannin, the state gradually lifted speed restrictions put in place Monday on a number of roads in the area, including Interstate 80 in Clearfield, Centre and Clinton counties, Interstate 99 in Centre County, and Route 322 from the State College area through Mifflin and Juniata counties. By 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, all speed limits had been restored.

“PennDOT is continuing to treat roadways in the area and will continue until roads are clear,” she said.

Tuesday night, the National Weather Service showed that band of bad weather moved into the Atlantic. Temps for the rest of the week show steadily rising highs through Saturday, when the mercury rises to 48 degrees. Precipitation is limited to only to a small chance of snow showers on Wednesday and a possibility of light rain on Friday.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Wintry mix closes Centre County schools."