Thursday morning might have been the great winter storm that never was, but hang on, kiddies, more flurries are predicted.

Students did get a two-hour reprieve from classes with most schools starting a couple hours late, giving some time to roll a respectable snowman or snowwoman from the rapidly melting supply.

Jeff Castle, meteorologist for The News Courier’s news partner WAFF Channel 48, said flurries were possible this morning but no accumulation was expected. The forecast through the weekend includes possible flurries and highs in the 30s and low 40s with lows in the 20s.

Thursday’s snow left 1 to 2 inches on the ground in some places but the ensuing rain quickly melted it.

And while Alabama State Troopers report seven wrecks between midnight and noon Thursday, fortunately, none involved injuries.

Across north Alabama, many schools delayed opening or closed after an overnight coating of snow and sleet made travel hazardous. Limestone County Schools opened two hours late, Athens Bible School opened at 10 a.m. and Athens State University opened at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Athens City Schools began on time.

The Associated Press reported that more than a dozen school systems as far south as Cullman County told students to report later than normal to give the slush time to melt. A few systems took the day off, including DeKalb County, where more than 1 inch of snow was reported in higher elevations.

Snow turned to rain as temperatures rose, and most of the wintry mix on the ground disappeared as temperatures hit the mid-30s.

The Alabama Department of Transportation reopened most roads that were closed in the pre-dawn hours. But a wreck on Interstate 65 in Morgan County was expected to keep the northbound side closed through noon.

In Limestone County, officials closed just one road, Shipley Hollow, after two minor wrecks occurred there, according to District 1 County Commissioner Gary Daly. He said there were also slippery conditions on Pinedale Road near Alabama 53.

“We closed Shipley Hollow because of the wrecks,” said Daly. “The first one was an SUV that went off the road and turned over, then in the second one, the car slid off the road and hit a bank. We put sand down, but people were trying to drive around the barricades while we were putting down the sand.”

Daly said Shipley Hollow was reopened by midday.

Commissioners in the other three districts said they did not have significant problems. District 3 Commissioner Bill Latimer said there remained “a little slush on bridges” at midday, but he had not applied any salt to roadways.

“I will use urea on bridges if the ice comes back,” said Latimer. “That melts the ice without being as corrosive as salt.”

Bill Daws in District 4 the rain that came after the snow kept the snow from packing. He said slushy conditions prevailed throughout midday. “There were a couple of places where we had to salt on Section Line and Elk River Mills roads, but we didn’t sand any bridges,” said Daws.”

Gerald Barksdale in District 2 said his crews applied sand to a couple of bridges and some heavily traveled intersections. He said there were no serious wrecks, “and we’re thankful for that.”

Forecasters are not expecting any significant accumulations from Monday’s predicted flurries. According to Channel 19 meteorologist Dan Satterfield, the old rule of thumb was 1 inch of rain makes 10 inches of snow.

“But this is just an average,” he said. “In a wet snow the ratio is much lower—more like 1 inch of rain to 5 to 6 inches of snow.”

But should it snow today or any time later in the season, the occasion might call for snow cream. This is one recipe for the seasonal treat:



Snow Cream



2 quarts or more of clean white snow

2 quarts of milk

1 can Eagle Brand milk

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

 

Mix all the ingredients together, use enough snow to make it thick. Make sure it is mixed very well, then put in the freezer for 1 hour.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes