Snow squalls cause closure of roads, schools in Kincardine area for second day in a row

For the second day in a row, blowing and drifting snow has caused the closure of roads, schools and offices, and the cancellation of programs, in the Kincardine area.

Highway 21, from Amberley to Goderich, remained closed, Tuesday morning, as did Bruce County Road 86, from Highway 21 to Lucknow. The South Bruce OPP reported that Bruce County Road 23 had been re-opened.

School buses were cancelled and the schools were closed in Kincardine, Ripley, Lucknow and Walkerton. This was the seventh straight day for school bus cancellations, and the third day in two weeks for the closure of the schools.

With Kincardine District Senior School closed, principal Don Burns sent a message to students and their parents/guardians, stating that exams were now optional. Completing an exam Wednesday or Thursday could only raise a student's mark.

“I sincerely thank all of you for your patience as we all navigate snow day No. 17,” he stated. “Although snow is a normal part of living in Bruce and Grey counties, 17 inclement weather days in one semester is not.

“Our teachers have worked diligently to adjust final assessments and curricular learning throughout these inclement weather days and I thank them for this. Thank you to our students for understanding the unusual nature of this situation.”

Exams were being doubled up, with two scheduled to be written Wednesday and two on Thursday. Friday is a Professional Development Day.

Burns said that with this compressed exam schedule, “we have made the decision that students’ marks will be determined based on the following criteria: A final mark will be calculated using the greater mark of either the term mark only, or the term mark and summative/exam. This allows any students to raise their overall mark with their exam result, while also preventing them from lowering their overall mark as a result of their exam performance.”

In the Municipality of Kincardine, operations crews reported heavy snow and drifting on the roads, with fair-to-poor visibility, all day. They asked people to stay at home, allowing crews to clear the roadways. Many roads were impassable or down to a single, messy lane.

The Kincardine municipal administration centre was closed, as was the Tiverton Sports Centre and the Underwood Community Centre. The Davidson Centre was open, but the pool was closed, and programs were cancelled.

Outpatient laboratory appointments at the Kincardine Hospital were cancelled, due to inclement weather. Patients with booked appointments were contacted and had to re-book. Urgent/same day blood-work continued to be processed as normal.

While municipal roads and some county roads were re-opened, Highway 21, from Amberley to Goderich, and Bruce County Road 86, from Amberley to Lucknow, remained closed all day, due to heavy drifting.

At 5 p.m., Bruce County Road 86 was re-opened. But as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Highway 21, from Port Elgin to Goderich, remains closed.

The forecast is calling for more snow and wind through the rest of the week, with temperatures all over the place, from seasonal to a high of two degrees Celsius, and dropping to a low of minus-nine Celsius on Saturday.

-- photo courtesy of the South Bruce OPP