Snow has finally melted away from Snow Storm Jonas

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Ezra Nugiel

Snow covers the parking lots at Cherry Hill East.

After an abnormally barren winter, anticipation for snow finally melted away during the weekend of January 22nd, as snow storm Jonas arrived. No, unfortunately this was not a debut Jonas Brothers album, but a record-holding 22.4 inch snow storm that engulfed the East Coast. This storm ranked as the fourth heaviest snowstorm in the Philadelphia area. The previously snowless winter was more than compensated for, as the area received a quantity of snow equal to Philadelphia averages during the course of an entire season.

In the Philadelphia area however, the storm did not reach blizzard status. The difference between a blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind, not the amount of snow. To be classified as a blizzard, the following conditions must prevail for a period of three hours or longer: a sustained wind or frequent gusts to 35 miles an hour or greater, and considerable falling and/or blowing snow, reducing visibility frequently to less than one fourth of a mile.

While the storm may not have reached blizzard conditions, it still had a sizable impact on conditions at the Cherry Hill Schools. Each school began two hours later than usual to ensure safe driving conditions and to minimize traffic delays. The Cherry Hill Public School Districts Building and Grounds Department were in charge of plowing the parking lots of each school.

However, the right turning lane on Kresson road was still completely obstructed. Hannah Goldberg’s (’17) usual five minute drive to east turned into a 33 minute drive due to traffic delays. She left her house at 9:12 a.m. in attempt to reach East by 9:30 a.m. She only arrived at 9:45 a.m. She said many of the streets only had one lane open. This was because many of the plows had cleared one lane while piling the excess snow onto another.

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Snow piles up and creates a lot more traffic on the way to school.

Conditions were “dangerous, icy, and bumpy,” said Goldberg (’17).

In addition to obstructed driving lanes, snow was piled up along the sides of the parking lots, covering several students’ parking spots.

While snow storm Jonas may have fulfilled many desires for a snow filled weekend, it certainly left conditions in a slippery state.