Cyclone’s greetings.
Even with all that rain, Eddie Campbell Jr., was pragmatic about the isobars and low-pressure systems Tuesday.
“At least it’s not snowing,” the superintendent of Monongalia County Schools said.
“Or cold,” he added, on the soggy, 60-degree day. “We don’t need that.”
Cold – the aftermath of which – is why those pre-kindergarteners at North Elementary aren’t going back to school today.
It’s why the fifth-grade class at Mountainview Elementary won’t answer the bell either, on this, the first day back in the district after holiday break.
Both schools sustained damage from burst pipes during that sub-arctic blast just before Christmas that sent temperatures into a dangerous plummet.
In some locales across the district, the mercury dipped 30 degrees, or more, in 30 minutes.
Nine of Mon’s school buildings, more than half of those in the district, were damaged when pipes let go.
Cafeteria freezers couldn’t handle it in some schools, and whole HVAC systems in others were cold-weather casualties, Campbell said.
Meanwhile, he said, Mountainview fifth-graders will go back Thursday while the clean-up in their building continues.
“And we’re delaying the start of our pre-K classes at North until next Monday,” he said.
“Those two schools got the worst of it.”
The weather pattern known as a “bomb cyclone,” was the culprit, as it inched its way across the country, ahead of Santa’s sleigh.
In Buffalo, N.Y., the snow the cyclone brought with it stacked taller than a kids’ water fountain.
An icy shroud, with a vortex of dangerous wind-chills within, settled over the rest of us.
“Every bit of our damage is attributed to the cold weather,” Campbell said last week, as he began the long slog through the insurance paperwork.
The weather was still acting up in the back row Tuesday.
Spates of heavy rain drenched the area, and AccuWeather said to expect additional precipitation today, with off-and-on showers to go with that high of 65.
Temperatures will again drop in the 40s Thursday, with the possibility of snow flurries on Friday.
In the meantime, just how unprecedented was that pre-Christmas bomb cyclone?
Well, another one was forming off the California coast Tuesday, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
TWEET@DominionPostWV
