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Unexpected snowstorm closes schools
Bridgett Baker
Ryan Armstrong lays back on his sled as he slides down the hill at Village Park on Wednesday.
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Published: February 4, 2009
Cabarrus County and Kannapolis schools had the day off on Wednesday due to inclement weather, but students will make up the day on Monday, Feb. 16, which is Presidents' Day.
The holiday was previously a day off for students, but now that school has been canceled several times due to inclement weather, school will be in session. For some students, the makeup day was not good news.
"It makes me mad because I already had plans for that day," said Ashley MacCoy, a sophomore at Northwest Cabarrus High School.
She and her friend, Hilary Overcash, a junior at Northwest, had planned to go shopping that day. Even though they were disappointed about the makeup day, they enjoyed their snow day by sledding and making a snowman in Skybrook neighborhood where about 15 other people were.
At Village Park in Kannapolis, local students and families celebrated the day off by sledding and throwing around a football. Crystal Carroll of Kannapolis came to the park with her husband, her three kids and her friend's child for several hours of sledding.
"They don't seem to be getting cold," Carroll said of the children. "They're so resilient."
The Carroll family bought two sleds on Wednesday after visiting 10 stores to find them. They finally found sleds at Centerview Hardware in Kannapolis.
Carroll said they had planned to drive to Charlotte if they couldn't find sleds at a local store.
She thought sleds were hard to find because of the infrequent snow days. In fact, her daughter, 4-year-old Shiane Carroll, had never seen snow before, and her dogs were scared of it.
Some local people had been unprepared for the snow. The National Weather Service had called for no more than a 40 percent chance of precipitation on Tuesday, but meteorologist Jeffrey Taylor said that amount is still considered a solid chance.
When the snow fell, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College students Derek Craddock, 19, and Brett Bauckon, 20, both of Kannapolis, were ready for it. They came to Village Park at midnight, sledded for several hours, and returned Wednesday afternoon to throw a football and try to find a place to sled after much of the snow had melted.
"(The snow) made me feel like a little kid again," Bauckon said.
Both students were grateful for classes being canceled. The community college did not open until 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
"It's pretty great having to miss that statistics test today," Bauckon said.
Cabarrus County Schools has announced that it will open two hours late on Thursday so that staff, students and families will be able to drive to school in daylight and notice potential road hazards, Ronnye Boone, public relations director, said in an e-mail.
As for the weather for the rest of the next week, Taylor said that it will clear throughout Thursday and over the next few days. He said that the next day of rain will not be until Tuesday or Wednesday with a 15 to 20 percent chance.
• Contact reporter Jessica Groover at 704-789-9152.
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