Heavy snowstorm causes havoc across north

Oh, the weather outside was frightful.

Schools across the north country faced closures and early dismissals Friday as heavy lake-effect snow blew through the region, creating a multitude of accidents and closing down Fort Drum.

Nearly all St. Lawrence schools were closed Friday morning for the second day in a row. Clifton-Fine was the only district that chose to open and have an early dismissal at noon.

In Jefferson County, most schools faced dismissals as early as 9:30 a.m.

The Howard G. Sackett Technical Center in Glenfield and Harrisville Central School were the only two schools in Lewis County that did not change procedure because of the blustery weather.

“The storms elevated in intensity much more quickly than we expected them to,” said Terry N. Fralick, Watertown City School District superintendent. “We had to make some pretty swift moves.”

Indian River was able to get through three instructional periods before students were bused home at 10 a.m. The district sent elementary pupils home at 11:30.

“The weather here wasn’t as bad this morning,” said Mary Anne Dobmeier, assistant superintendent at Indian River. “We tried to have school. You just never know with the weather patterns.”

After a decision was made to have students come to school in the wee hours, snow began to fall throughout the Indian River district about 8 a.m.

“Elementary students were well on their way here at that time,” Mrs. Dobmeier said.

The morning snow consolidated with lake-effect snow by noon, when many of the school buses were done dropping off students.

Arsenal Street would have been a difficult obstacle for buses to maneuver, however. City police reported it became impassable at 11:15 a.m.

Peter E. Monaco, assistant superintendent of city Public Works, said his crews had a difficult time getting snow off the main streets. Salt wasn’t working well because of “the blowing, the snow, and it turned to slush and then it was refreezing,” he said.

It didn’t help that two tractor-trailers got stuck on the hill on Arsenal Street and the road had to be closed about noon. Vehicles then were rerouted to Coffeen Street, but that caused a traffic jam from Bellew Avenue to the Jefferson Community College entrance.

“It was a nasty, nasty winter day,” Mr. Monaco said.

Early on, he canceled trash collection for the day, and by midafternoon, he called back all CitiBuses because it was hard for them to maneuver, he said.

Schools and businesses were not the only institutions that closed Friday. Fort Drum faced early closure at 1 p.m. as driving conditions became hazardous.

Several accidents were reported throughout the day.

One of the worst occurred on Route 126 when two vehicles hit head-on at 8 a.m., and firefighters had to use a hydraulic rescue tool to free three people trapped inside them, Jefferson County sheriff’s officials said. They were taken to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown. Their identities and conditions have not been released.

Also, a snowplow on East Gotham Street rolled over about 3:30 p.m. as it tried to ascend a steep hill.

State police Sgt. Patricia Sitts had no idea how many accidents — fortunately all minor — had occurred in the north country since the snow began Friday morning. She was kept in the office to take calls because it was so busy, she said.

“It’s horrible out there,” she said. “It doesn’t get much worse than this.”

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department advised no unnecessary travel.

Those sitting at home did not have it much better, however.

Some 14,000 customers from Watertown to Saranac Lake were without power at noon Friday, according to Virginia J. Limmiatis, media relations representative at National Grid in Syracuse.

A breakdown on National Grid’s online power outage map showed approximately 6,610 people in Jefferson Country and 11,805 people in St. Lawrence County were affected by power outages by late afternoon Friday. Lewis County did not have any outages reported at that time.

According to David R. Thomas, National Weather Service meteorologist in Buffalo, wind gusts reached 20 to 30 mph in the region, reducing visibility to zero at times.

“This is the worst part of the storm as we head into the weekend,” he said.

By the end of Friday, he expected Jefferson County to receive 3 to 6 inches of snow, much higher than his Thursday estimate.

The winds will reduce to 5 to 15 miles per hour by today. Snowfall will reduce from blizzard-like to a flurry.

As high pressure settles in today, wind chill will make it feel anywhere from minus 20 to minus 25.

“Saturday night, we’re going to see some very cold temperatures,” Mr. Thomas said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if minus 20 was recorded by someone as the low.”

Monday will be warmer, but freezing rain and snow are expected to return by late Monday or early Tuesday.

Times staff writers Gordon Block and Craig Fox contributed to this report.