Snow Closes Schools, Library, Municipal Offices

UPDATE: Cranford Public Library and municipal offices are closed today. DPW crews are out clearing away the snow in shifts. Mayor Mark Smith asks residents to use common sense during the storm. Keep checking Cranford Patch for snow updates.

Another snowstorm has given Cranford students the chance to celebrate a three-day weekend.

Cranford schools will be closed today due to the heavy snowstorm that continues to impact our area.

While many North Jersey districts made the announcement last night, the Cranford district waited until early morning Friday to make the official call. 

This comes after the Cranford district released students after a half-day of instruction on Thursday. The storm started dumping snow on the Cranford area at around morning rush hour on Thursday. The National Weather Service has extended the winter storm warning for the region to 6 a.m. on Saturday.

As of 5:30 a.m., NJ Transit has suspended all bus service in North Jersey until further notice. The transit service continues to offer systemwide cross-honoring through 5 a.m. Saturday, allowing customers to use their tickets or passes on an alternative travel mode.

The County of Union announced at 6 a.m. that all employees will be working on a one-hour work delay today.

As the storm continues to move over our area, the National Weather Service warns of wind gusts of up to 45 miles per hour that will result in blowing and drifting of the snow and cause visibility to occasionally be below a quarter of a mile. Between 12 to 18 inches of snow are still expected, with some areas in North Jersey likely seeing as much as two feet. Send us your snowfall counts from your home to whitney@patch.com.

The weather service predicts snowfall of about one to two inches per hour. The snow will be heavy throughout the morning, then lighten up through the night.