Highway crews clear roads after foot of snow, schools to delay opening Tuesday

Highway crews continued clearing North Fork roads Monday after Winter Storm Fern dropped up to a foot of snow over the weekend, with main routes like County Road 48 and Main Road largely passable while work on secondary streets continued.

Southold, Mattituck-Cutchogue and Greenport schools will all have a two-hour delayed opening Tuesday, Jan. 27 to allow crews to finish clearing roads. Early morning activities have been canceled.

Mattituck residents saw 12 inches of snow, while those in Orient recorded 11 inches, according to the National Weather Service. By Monday morning, Flanders had received 11.4 inches, Baiting Hollow 10 inches and Riverhead 9.4 inches.

For neighbors who put down their shovels Sunday after battling the snow, Monday morning’s powder proved heavy from Sunday night’s wintry mix. 

Highway Superintendent Dan Goodwin said crews began pre-treating roads around 8 a.m. Sunday and started plowing around 1 p.m., when about three inches had accumulated.

The crew plowed until midnight, then went back out at around 8 a.m. Monday to put more salt down. Throughout the storm, the highway department had 35 people working to keep streets clean and machinery working.

“The crew really did a phenomenal job,” Mr. Goodwin said. “It certainly tested our preparation from every facet, between the road crews having marked all of their more sensitive locations with plow markers and drain markers, knowing where all those features are that they have to be careful of when they’re plowing, to doing the operator maintenance on the vehicles.”

Mr. Goodwin said preparing for storms of this magnitude is a year-round effort, with crews beginning preparations for the next winter as soon as the current season ends.

Southold Police Chief Steven Grattan told The Suffolk Times Monday afternoon that most residents heeded warnings to stay off the roads during storm, resulting in a “relatively quiet” Sunday for police. Officers responded to just one minor accident involving a plow truck that damaged a garage near the Town Hall Annex.

Officers also helped two drivers whose cars became disabled — one in Greenport around 3 p.m. and another in Cutchogue at 5 p.m., Chief Grattan said. The Cutchogue vehicle was left at the 7-Eleven on Main Road, while the other car was towed from Route 25 near Greenport Village to the owner’s home.

“I would encourage people to stay home, stay warm,” Chief Grattan said. “The roads are relatively clear, certainly the Main Road and County Road 48. But the crews are still out, they’re still treating the roads. And there’s certainly plenty of private plow companies out now clearing driveways and other parking lots.”

Schools, ferry service and Southold Town offices are set to reopen Tuesday after being shut Monday because of the snow. No power outages were reported, according to PSEG Long Island.

Southold’s State of Emergency, first invoked Saturday, Jan. 24, at 9 p.m., remains in effect through 5 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27.

As everyone recovers from the weekend of shoveling, the North Fork may not be out of the wintry woods yet. The National Weather Service forecast indicates a 30% chance of snow this weekend, with temperatures remaining in the 20s throughout the week.