Five inches falls Monday in area.
By: Lea Kahn
It looked like Christmas in April, as an unseasonable snowstorm dumped nearly 5 inches of heavy, wet snow Monday morning on an unsuspecting Lawrence Township.
Public school classes remained in session, but after-school activities were canceled, school district officials said. The township Planning Board meeting was canceled, as were practice sessions for youth soccer, baseball and softball teams. The Recreation Department’s lacrosse program practice, set for Wednesday, was canceled, as well.
Police responded to a dozen accidents related to the snow, which began falling around 8 a.m. There were reports of cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles sliding off the road into ditches or striking curbs, poles and street signs.
"We didn’t need a snowstorm that required plowing in April," Municipal Manager William Guhl said. "This has been a hard, expensive winter. It probably cost about $8,000 or $9,000 in material and about $2,000 to $3,000 for overtime (for the Public Works Department snowplow crews)."
The timing of the storm allowed Public Works Department crews a chance to reinstall the sanders and snowplows on the trucks, Mr. Guhl said. The crews arrived for work at 7 a.m. By the time the snow began accumulating on the roadways around 10 a.m. or so, the men had reassembled the equipment.
The Public Works Department crews began salting the roads around 10 a.m. or so, Mr. Guhl said. The plows were sent out after lunch, and continued all afternoon and into the evening, he said.
"The fact that the weather was not cold helped," Mr. Guhl said. "It was wet, not icy. It wasn’t as inconvenient as a January or February storm with cold and ice. The roads were sloppy (Monday), and as a result, they were slippery."
Mr. Guhl said the $55,000 allocated in the 2003 municipal budget for snow removal had been exhausted from previous storms. However, there is money available in the snow removal trust fund to pay for this week’s snowstorm. Money that is left over from previous snow removal budgets is shifted over to that fund, which has about $20,000 in it.
The early spring snowstorm also has impacted youth athletic programs, said Steven Groeger, township superintendent of recreation. The teams cannot practice and they cannot play this week, he said.
Although the Public Works Department has prepared the playing fields, they may have to go over them again, Mr. Groeger said. The snow is like rain it creates muddy conditions. The fields must have time to drain, he said. But it won’t be necessary to go back to square one to prepare the fields, he added.

