The 21-inch snowfall left residents digging and municipal budgets strained.
By: Scott Morgan and David Pescatore
Area residents were busy this week digging out from 21 inches of snow dropped by a storm that gathered strength from the Gulf of Mexico and moved up the East Coast, passing over our region Sunday and Monday.
"This storm is definitely one of the top three of all-time in terms of the amount of snow," said Keith Arnesen, staff meteorologist at the Rutgers University Cooperative Extension.
The region experienced blizzard conditions at times, although the storm failed to meet the National Weather Service definition of a blizzard.
Mr. Arnesen explained that the barometric pressure actually wasn’t as low as it normally would be in a storm of this impact due to higher than normal ocean temperatures. The strong winds we felt, caused by the high-pressure system to the north, would have been much worse had the low-pressure system been lower.
The Presidents Day storm, the most powerful snowstorm to hit the area in seven years, had township employees working overtime clearing roads and rescuing stranded motorists.
All of the Department of Public Works’ 21 plows and salt trucks were out clearing the township’s 70 miles of road.
Besides disrupting people’s daily routines, a storm of this level also tends to cause havoc in a municipality’s budget.
"We are already well above the proposed snow-removal budget for the year," said Mayor Janice Mironov.
The township could not provide figures for this storm alone, but Mayor Mironov said that DPW had exhausted $90,000 worth of calcium-treated salt this year. The 3,000 tons used represents both this year’s supply and the leftover from 2002.
She said she expects to add $25,000 to the proposed $53,000 snow-removal supply budget and $20,000 to the fund for employee overtime, which stood at $32,500.
The job may have been easier because the storm happened over a holiday weekend, with few drivers on the road, but that same fact made it more expensive. Mayor Mironov said that the 23 DPW employees had to be paid holiday-pay for Monday.
The township adopts a temporary budget, based on the previous year, to cover the first quarter of the year until a final budget can be created and approved. Mayor Mironov said that when emergencies like this happen early in the year, the council has the luxury of adjusting the proposed budget to cover the extra expense.
Police reported several minor accidents and said that all of the officers worked extra shifts assisting motorists stuck in the snow.
"It all went relatively smoothly considering the magnitude of the storm," said Detective Sgt. William Froehlich.
Even though the snow stopped falling Monday afternoon, the East Windsor Regional School District closed on Tuesday to allow time for school grounds to be cleared of snow.
In the borough, things went along quietly as well. Both the Police Department and the Department of Public Works reported no accidents, incidents or glitches related to the snow.
That, of course, doesn’t mean the job of cleaning the mess was a breeze. The Hightstown DPW reported Thursday that crews were still working on snow removal, including the clearing of sewer drains. From Sunday through Tuesday, the department said, 12 workers recorded 38 total hours dedicated toward snow removal. Thirty of those were overtime hours occurring from Sunday to Monday.
The police reported no extra manpower.
Despite the heavy snow, the department has not exceeded its snow removal budget and, according to Candace Gallagher, the borough’s acting administrator and municipal clerk, salt supplies have not dwindled, as the DPW stocked up on road salt in December. Of course, another major storm could mean different results for the budget.
"Let’s hope we don’t get any more snow," Mayor Bob Patten said. The mayor added, however, that due to the state-declared state of emergency, municipalities could be reimbursed for money spent on this storm.
As for the work itself, the Borough Council uniformly praised the DPW’s efforts.
"We are very proud to see that our roads were better than anyone else’s," said Councilman David Schneider, liaison to DPW, during Tuesday’s Borough Council meeting. Mr. Schneider said he was on the way home from Hunterdon County Sunday night and noticed once he got back to Hightstown that the roads were cleaner and safer than anywhere else on the drive.
"They did a terrific job," he said.
Perhaps the hot coffee helped. Former Councilman Mike Vanderbeck, proprietor of the Slow Down Café on Mercer Street and Rogers Avenue, along with his wife, Anastasia, supplied borough DPW workers with hot coffee and muffins throughout the night. Mr. Vanderbeck said that on an unexpected Presidents Day off, he felt he might as well lend a hand toward the cleanup.
He said simply, "It was cold out there."
Forecasters are predicting that flooding is possible for this weekend, as the snow will be melting and rain and temperatures in the mid-40s are expected on Saturday.

