Evening Classes, Events Canceled By Anne Arundel Schools

ANNAPOLIS, MD — With snow on the way by rush hour, and state highway officials urging commuters to leave work early, Anne Arundel County Public Schools has canceled events for Thursday afternoon and evening. The school system says all school-sponsored after-school activities scheduled for Jan. 17, including evening middle school and high school classes, are canceled.

Extended school day programs that are part of the regular Performing and Visual Arts magnet middle and high school curriculum, will be held as scheduled.

For the status of activities sponsored by agencies other than Anne Arundel County Public Schools, including after-school day care, check with that agency.

The community meeting about acceptance and inclusion scheduled for Thursday night in Pasadena has been tentatively rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at Chesapeake Bay Middle School.

Thursday's snow will be followed by more snow, sleet and freezing rain this weekend, the National Weather Service says. Flakes should start falling late Thursday afternoon and continue overnight. While the accumulation will be an inch or so, it will fall as drivers are trying to get home from work, and roads could turn icy as temperatures drop after sunset, the weather service says.

The greatest threat for impact from this light snowfall during evening rush hour will be north and west of Interstate 95 from Baltimore to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and also near Interstate 66 in
northern Virginia, forecasters say. Commuters are urged to allow extra drive time tonight, and consider using public transportation or work from home.

Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration crews will be treating roads alongside hundreds of thousands of drivers during the afternoon commute, and officials are asking residents to leave work early.

"We are asking the public to leave work early enough to get home before the storm hits or shelter in place so that our crews can clear the roads," said MDOT SHA Administrator Greg Slater in a news release. "If the snow plows and salt trucks are stuck in normal rush hour congestion, our crews can't treat the roads and motorists may be stuck in snow gridlock for hours."

According to the latest forecast models, 1 to 3 inches of snow is possible Thursday evening. The Baltimore-Washington region could start seeing precipitation as early as 4 p.m., although the latest weather predictions call for snowfall starting closer to 7 p.m.

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