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Southern Wisconsin snow 2008
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Southern Wisconsin snow 2008
Whether it's a chore or a holiday, we want to see your snow pictures. » Send us your photo
JANESVILLE — The news couldn't be better for local students: Schools closed today for the second day in a row.
That leaves school officials to figure out when students will make up the day.
And despite the cold, there's some good news for grown-ups too: Forecasters have backed off their predictions of ice jams on the Rock River.
The National Weather Service issued a flood warning Thursday for the Rock River south of Janesville, but it has since dropped the warning, meteorologist Chris Franks said. It now expects the river to hit about 8 feet at Afton today, about a foot under flood stage, he said.
"Ice jams are incredibly difficult to predict," he said.
The cold weather is making another kind of headache for Janesville school officials. They need to determine when they will make up for today's day off.
Janesville schools have tied the record for number of days off because of weather. With today's day off, the schools have been closed four times.
Three of those days must be made up. The school board voted Tuesday that the first two makeup days will be Friday, Jan. 23, and Monday, April 13.
Jan. 23 had been scheduled as a day off for students but a work day for teachers. April 13 was to be the last day of spring break.
Superintendent Tom Evert said he would not discuss options for the third makeup day before getting advice from school board President DuWayne Severson.
Board member Peter D. Severson, no relation to DuWayne, was critical at Tuesday's board meeting of the process for choosing the Jan. 23 date.
Peter Severson said announcing Jan. 8 that the makeup day would be Jan. 23 gave parents little time to prepare and forced the school board to agree.
Evert indicated that criticism the board was not involved early enough is why he will wait before discussing options publicly.
Past options have included holding school on Saturdays and adding a day to the end of the school year.
The Janesville Education Association, along with the board, must agree to any makeup date, because the school calendar is a part of the teacher contract.
Among other cold-related issues:
n Janesville Public Works responded to one water main break Thursday at Pontiac Drive and Lilac Lane, said Dan Lynch, water utility director.
He was surprised there weren't more.
"We've had up to six or seven breaks in one day from this type of situation," he said. "For whatever reason, they don't seem to be breaking right now, knock on wood."
-- The city has tried to limit outdoor activities besides trash and recycling collection, said Mandy Bonneville, assistant operations director. Crews continue to apply sand to slippery areas.
"That's about all we can do at this point, as salt and any other liquid chemicals we have are pretty ineffective," she said.
-- The Rock County Communications Center had not received reports of hypothermia, frostbite or fire, a spokeswoman said. A few people called reporting smoke, but in most cases it turned out to be steam from cold air meeting warmer water.
-- The weather caused a power outage for 274 Milton-area residents from 4:20 to 6:40 this morning, said Steve Schultz, an Alliant Energy spokesman. He wasn't sure if cold or wind caused the outage.
-- Franks predicted higher temperatures this afternoon and beyond.
Janesville should get to about 3 degrees above zero today—the first time temperatures will break zero since Wednesday night—and rise to the 20s Saturday and Sunday, he said.
The area could get an inch or so of snow tonight into Saturday, he said.
