Mild winter so far but there's a long way to go

Lack of snow has saved town $73,000; school district hasn’t used a single snow day Warwick — Someone please check the calendar. It is the beginning of February and yet the school district hasn’t used a snow day as of press time. The Town of Warwick “didn’t drop a plow yet” as of Jan. 25, which was also the first two-hour delay for our snow-hungry school kids. What gives? Well, if there hasn’t been even a fraction of the usual snowfall so far this winter, at least the cold weather has come in, allowing skiers the opportunity to slush their way down machine made snow-covered mountains. While many are thirsting for a snow day, natural snow on Mt. Peter, and a Frosty in their own front yard again, there are some who welcome this precipitation-less winter. “I’m loving it,” said Jeff Feagles, Department of Public Works commissioner for the Town of Warwick. “It’s great not being awakened in the middle of the night.” That sentiment is surely echoed by each of his 30 workers. Comparing December 2006 to December 2005, the Town of Warwick has saved $73,000 in overtime and materials. Not once in the entire month did the DPW have to send its sand and salt trucks onto the road. Three weeks ago, in the second week of January, the trucks spread sand and salt on the roads for the first time this winter. In all, they have been out sanding and salting just three times. Last Thursday, at the urging of Feagles, the school district gave a two-hour delay for an early morning snow that eventually left no measurable accumulation. “We were out early,” said Feagles, “and Mt. Peter Road was nasty. So was Brady Road. The two-hour delay gave us a good head start.” By the time the buses were rolling, the salt trucks did their job, melting the snow as it hit the ground. “It is better to be safe,” Feagles added. “We have miles of winding roads. My guys know their stuff when it comes to snow. That’s for sure.” And you can afford to be safe when the district factors in five snow days into its calendar and hasn’t used any by the end of January. “This doesn’t happen often but I do remember a year in the early 90s where we didn’t use any snow days,” said Dr. Frank Greenhall, superintendent of Warwick schools. “Those years are very few.” And with snow days, as the saying goes, you either use them or lose them. At least most of them. If there are any snow days left, the district will add one day onto the Memorial Day weekend. Just one day. “We’ll have a few extra days of education,” said Greenhall, if that’s the case. Granted, there’s still February and March coming. Winter may still wield a massive punch yet. But remember just a few years ago? Warwick had a big snowstorm the first weekend in December and there was snow on the ground, literally, through the end of March. Instead of plowing snow, Feagles’ guys have been doing lots of other work they normally couldn’t do in winter, like repair culverts and other roadwork usually reserved for the nicer weather. So, as the nearly 1,000 tons of salt and salt/sand mixture sits in the town’s storage garage, and kids wonder if this year will be like that year more than a decade ago when all snow days went unused, there is still hope. Earlier in the week, forecasters were calling for a possible “wintry mix” on Thursday night into this morning. Just in case that doesn’t happen, be sure to wear your pajamas inside out and backwards every night until that elusive snow day finally comes.