By Tray Wetherell

Editor In Chief

Mother Nature decided that school was not a priority this week as a deep blanket of snow fell upon the St. Louis area with some areas posting more than twelve inches.  Starting Wednesday night, the unusual snow band tracked along the Interstate 70 corridor squaring the snowfall right on St. Louis and the surrounding areas.  North of Interstate 70 got the worst with Granite City posting 12.5 inches and people reporting Thunder snow in North St. Louis County.  For its part, Lewis & Clark along with hundreds of schools and organizations erred on the side of caution and cancelled classes for Thursday reflecting the mood that this snowfall was going to be more than just a few inches.

State and Local street and highway departments struggled to keep up with the snow falling between an inch to two inches per hour.  Both Missouri and Illinois transportation departments asked that commuters stay off the roads until after the morning rush hour to give the plows the chance to clear the snow and make roads passible.

Thursday, with the snow clearing still going on, the temperature began to plummet with some areas at or slightly below zero.   This compounded issues on the roads as black ice became a big issue on overpasses and ramps onto the highways.  Three fatalities were reported and highways in the area were snarled as drivers who thought the roads were clear drove as they normally would.

Next week the forecast does not look good either.  The National Weather Service estimates that there are as many as three systems making their way to the St. Louis area bringing possibly as much as another foot of snow to the region starting Friday night and ending sometime next week.   Stay tuned and remember that if you are a student at Lewis & Clark to sign up for the student alert system at www.lc.edu . Registering your cell phone is easy and when classes are canceled you won’t have to rely on the TV to be in the know.