Snow Continues to Accumulate, All Sports Tonight and Friday Postponed

UPDATE: 5:08 p.m. A Township Committee meeting tonight has been canceled. Boys' varsity and freshman basketball matchups at home against Parsippany Hills have been moved to Saturday at 2 and 3:30 p.m., respectively, and a boys' Mennen Cup tournament game against Morristown-Beard scheduled for tonight has been moved to 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Wrestling regions, scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday, will now only take place on Saturday. And the girls' basketball Morris County Tournament final against West Morris Central, also originally scheduled for Friday, has been moved to Sunday at 2 p.m.

The next Township Committee meeting will be March 11.

Regardless of the weather, Borough Hall will be closed tomorrow for inventory.

The snow continues to fall in earnest. The borough's DPW director, Bob Venezia, was looking at radar maps as he spoke from his office this morning.

"It's starting to wind up," he said. "It looks like a real beast."

He said the snow will taper for periods throughout the day before picking up again. A good amount of borough DPW workers took breaks at noon before coming back and working 12-hour shifts. After they have completed that long shift, workers will have six hours off before they go back on the clock.

Township DPW Director Joe Barilla said his crews started plowing at 10:15 a.m. today. His workers will not be on shifts, but will instead take periodic breaks throughout the day.

He cautioned the snow could stick to the roads more easily as temperatures drop.

The National Weather Service has said the snow will increase in intensity in the evening. During that time, winds will also be blowing at up to 30 mph, and travel is not recommended.

The School District of the Chathams closed schools all day today. Several school districts around the area—such as the Madison School District—closed early.

"My best determination was that there was a good chance there would be dangerous road conditions," Chatham District Superintendent Jim O'Neill said in an email this morning explaining his decision to close schools.

He also said early dismissal is "the most difficult option for our parents to deal with." He noted the district has a tiered bussing system, which means that if an early bus has trouble driving and runs late, subsequent buses will also be delayed.

The district has four snow days built into its calendar. Today is the third the district has taken and O'Neill said "tomorrow is likely to be the fourth."

All in all, the area is expected to receive 12 to 16 inches of snow by noon on Friday.

Check back for updates from Chatham Patch as the day progresses.