While a number of other school systems decided to shut down until Jan. 4 because of last weekend's record snowfall, Baltimore County has decided to reopen today, starting two hours late.

Charles Herndon, spokesman for the county school system, said schools re-opened today "because we could and there was no reason not to.” This, in spite of the fact that winter break begins tomorrow and that schools had already been closed for two days this week.

However, a decision either way —to close or not to close — leaves one group of parents unhappy, said Herndon.

After schools decided to open today, there were calls from parents  "to let us know they are not pleased with the decision in no uncertain terms,” he said. “We'd probably have gotten angry calls from people if we decided to close."

Herndon said he did, however, expect to see some reduction in normal attendance anyway because winter break begins tomorrow.

Meanwhile, to compensate for lost shopping time during this past weekend’s snowstorm, Towson Town Center, White Marsh Mall and Owings Mills Mall will stay open until midnight.

The malls opened at 8 a.m. today.

According to a statement from owner General Growth Properties Inc., most anchor stores and merchants will take advantage of the extended hours.

GGP also has extended hours at The Mall in Columbia.

The malls closed early Saturday as the storm dropped 21.1 inches on the area, according to official numbers at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, which is a record for December.

And while the worst appears to be over until the next storm hits, there remained concerned about the ramps to get on and off major roads, and the possibility of ice on the roads as the temperature drops at night, freezing what has melted during the day. Motorists have been asked to continue to use caution.

On Saturday, county crews were working hard to keep up with a snowstorm that rolled into the area late Friday night.

Marjorie Hampson, a county spokeswoman, said more than 400 county public works employees and 300 pieces of equipment are working to clear main roads in the county. Another 20 to 25 private contractors with backhoes and frontloaders have also been called in to help.

"They're battling," Hampson said. "We're continuing to plow to make the main roads passable, but it continues to come down fast and they have to go back over those roads."

Highway officials expect conditions to get worse as the sun goes down and the precipitation freezes and makes roads even more slick.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has declared a state of emergency, which allows for local jurisdictions to call on the National Guard. Hampson said the county had not made any requests for National Guard assistance as of 1 p.m. Saturday.

O'Malley said it is impossible to stay ahead of the storm because of the rapid snowfall, and that road crews are trying to keep roads "passable." He also said ramps are becoming the biggest challenge for road crews.

So far, no roads have been closed. Still, county and state officials are asking people to stay home and to exercise extreme caution if they have to go out.

"Stay home, don't take your cars out," Hampson said.

The county has 2,600 miles of roads.

It takes 18 to 24 hour to plow all of the county’s roads and four to six hours to put salt down, County Executive Jim Smith said.

Tim Burgess, chief of the county highway bureau, said Friday it could take up to 48 hours to clear county roadways is the storm was as bad as predicted.

Smith said on Friday that the county has a plan, clearing main roads first and then subdivisions and courts.

"Don't call in and ask for your street to be cleared," Smith said. "We're going to get to them."

Towson Town Center and White Marsh Mall announced they were closing about 1 p.m. Saturday.

Hampson said police have reported 91 accidents and six pedestrians involved accidents between midnight and 1 p.m. Saturday. She said no deaths have been attributed to the storm.

Fire and police equipment continue to be able to respond to emergencies, Hampson said.

About 600 customers were without electricity in Baltimore County at about 2 p.m. Saturday. Most of the outages are in the Towson and Parkville areas, according to BGE.

Sarah Breitenbach contribued to this story.

This story has been updated.

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user comments (2)

user jmichaelv says...

No photos? Should be taking user photos/videos...

Posted 4:56 PM, 12.19.09

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user slownsteady says...

Well here's our great encounter with our neighborhood postal carrier in Anneslie! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmzAFkQDGyo

Posted 12:08 AM, 12.20.09

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