Storm Center: Sunday, February 10, 2013

7:55 p.m. – Here is our last planned major update, unless I magically get power back in my apartment before Monday…

• RIPTA buses will be back in service on Monday, although obviously, some stops might be unavailable because of heavy snow.
• Chariho, East Greenwich and Westerly have also cancelled classes, making it a clean sweep for local high schools for Monday, I believe. The Compass School in Wakefield is also closed, as are Salve Regina and Rhode Island College – I forgot to mention them earlier. I think the only place still holding classes is Brown – how Ivy of them!
• The CANE Child Development Center is closed Monday because of a lack of power.
• A parking ban for South Kingstown is still in effect until further notice.
• All classes at the Education Exchange in Wakefield / Peacedale are cancelled for Monday because of a lack of power.

Thanks for following along, folks! And keep adding your photos to our gallery.

5:20 p.m. – Some later afternoon / early evening updates for y’all, based on information I’ve gotten since this morning.

• In case you didn’t notice from the big banner on the site, there is no school Monday for Narragansett, South Kingstown, Prout and URI. Click here for our article on that.
• National Grid has released another statement about power restoration efforts – See the attached PDF. You can also view it by clicking here. To summarize: Almost all of Rhode Island will be back to powered by Sunday night, with heavily damaged areas getting turned back on Monday afternoon and night. (Unfortunately, a lot of Washington County falls under this “heavily damaged” umbrella.) Grid said power restoration efforts could not begin until 9 a.m. Saturday because of the heavy snowfalls and winds from the blizzard.
• Lincoln Chafee has enacted the adverse-weather policy for state workers because of the bad power and road conditions across the state. Workers can check with their supervisors to see if they’re deemed essential personnel or not for Monday.
• According to the Red Cross, about 300 people spent Saturday night at shelters in Rhode Island. If you need a shelter, call 211.
• The National Weather Service and the governor’s office are both warning citizens that about a half-inch of rain is forecasted for Monday. When you combine the rain with melting snow and temperatures in the 40s, this could cause significant roof and flooding damage. If you can, please remove as much excess snow from drains and your roof today and tomorrow!

That’s all for now! I will probably update at least one more time before the end of the night, depending on where I go from here. (I’m currently leeching power from the Cool Beans Café in Narragansett. It’s a nice, cozy place to update from, as opposed to my powerless apartment. /commercial plug)

6:28 a.m. – Hopefully, this is the last one of these articles that I’ll have to do! On to the notices and what not…

National Grid is working on restoring power in the area, but the staggering amount of snow out there is making progress somewhat slow.

For example, on my way home from the URI game last night at about 10:30 p.m., a saw a bunch of downed wires by the Peace Dale Library and the Guild just frozen into the side of the road, basically. Kingstown Road was also shut down from the Dale Carlia intersection to the bowling alley.

Keep that in mind when looking at the “loss of power” numbers. At this point yesterday, 8,194 customers in South Kingstown were without power, and 8,549 were without in Narragansett.

A day later, the numbers are at 7,762 and 5,422. A bit of progress, but probably not as much as everyone is hoping for because of the cold temperatures and snow.

National Grid has given a rough estimate of 11:45 p.m. Monday as the “worst case” scenario power restoration time. As far as I know, there hasn’t been a change to this number, but restoration will occur sooner than that in most areas.

Thankfully, Mother Nature might finally be cooperating in the next couple of days. The high temperature for today is projected to be above freezing, about 34. And on Monday, there is a good chance a good portion of the snow will get washed away, thanks to a rainy day forecast and 47 degrees. (Of course, that’ll bring a slew of flooding issues to the forefront, but hey… Anything but snow at this point in my mind.)

As far as school cancellations for Monday, as of Sunday morning nothing has been decided yet. Keep your eye on the RIBA Cancellation System website though.

I’ll be updating this story periodically throughout the day. Don’t forget to add your own pictures to our template! Let your neighbors see what the snow has done to your yard, and various other spots you’ve been able to photograph.

PREVIOUS STORM COVERAGE

• National Grid Responding to Blizzard of 2013
• Widespread Power Outages in Washington County
• 2 to 3 Feet of Snow Now Projected
• Storm Center: Friday, February 8, 2013
• (spoiler alert: they cancelled too!)
• Blizzard Watch Now In Effect for Friday Morning
• Post Your ’78 Blizzard Pics Here!
• Early Warning – Snowstorm Forecast for Friday Night