Salting the highway

POTTSTOWN PA – Winter Storm Nemo, the label given by the National Weather Service to the nor’easter that began moving Friday morning (Feb. 8, 2013) across Pennsylvania, was expected by forecasters to bring up to six inches of wet, heavy snow to portions of western Montgomery County through Saturday night (Feb. 9). It looks, however, like they misjudged. Nemo so far has had a diminished impact in terms of snowfall, although its winds continue to gust.

The county nonetheless issued a Code Blue cold weather declaration, through midnight Saturday, because the coming conditions at the time posed “a threat of serious harm or death to individuals without shelter.” Electrical utility crews reported they were ready to deal with weather-related problems. The Pottsgrove and Spring-Ford Area school districts canceled several activities.

In Pottsgrove sports, according to e-mails from Athletic Director Gary DeRenzo:

• Friday night’s high school wrestling match was postponed and rescheduled for Monday (Feb. 11) at 6:30 p.m. at Pope John Paul High School in Royersford;
• The high school swim meet at Chichester was rescheduled for Friday (Feb. 15);
• Middle school wrestlers who would have participated in a tournament Saturday (today, Feb. 9) at Perkiomen Valley, sadly won’t get the chance. It has been canceled, and no make-up date is planned; but
• As of Saturday at 4:30 a.m., a high school winter track invitational at Kutztown University was scheduled to proceed later today (Feb. 9) as planned.

In Spring-Ford, all evening activities were canceled Friday, The Limerick Patch online news service reported. It also advised “additional cancellations (Saturday) and during the remainder of the weekend are possible.”

Montgomery County Community College cancelled all classes and activities Saturday, Director of Communications Alana Mauger said in an e-mail.

Metropolitan Edison, the utility company that serves a northern portion of Lower Pottsgrove Township, said Friday it positioned approximately 290 line workers, 260 hazard responders, 430 forestry contractors, and additional support personnel to respond to possible outages from its Reading PA emergency operations center.

The Code Blue declaration allows several county agencies and private health and social organizations to offer expanded services for those without adequate shelter, including the chronically homeless and homeless families with children.

Families who need shelter during a Code Blue are housed at the Salvation Army in Pottstown and Norristown. Single residents can go to the County Homeless Outreach Center in Building 53 at the Norristown State Hospital grounds. Transportation will be provided if needed by calling 610-292-9244.

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