Snow Day for Plum and Oakmont Schools

Don’t worry: Punxatawney Phil didn’t lead us wrong.

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh said sure, about 7 inches fell between 4 p.m. Monday through midnight. But that spring is, in fact, inching its way toward Plum and Oakmont.

“Hey, Phil was right on. We’re starting to see more sunlight and this snow is going to start melting pretty fast,” meteorologist John Darnley said Tuesday morning after tracking the storm all evening. “Spring is right around the corner.”

But it didn’t look that close around rush hour Monday, when temperatures dipped low enough to morph the rain into snow.

And it came down fast. Real fast.

“It didn’t disappoint us this time,” he said.

The weather prompted cancellations of all Plum and Riverview schools.

The Plum boys varsity basketball game against Shaler for the WPIAL playoffs was rescheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m.

Road crews for Plum and Oakmont were out all evening and night, but keeping up with the constant snowfall was difficult.

Plum administration called in road crews at 4 p.m. yesterday, Borough Manager Michael Thomas said.

The borough has 19 drivers who work in phases, he said.

"We try to stagger them so we have coverage for a longer period of time," Thomas said. "They have to get rest."

Crews are still out working on side streets as of 2 p.m. on Tuesday, he said.

Port Authority routes were limited Tuesday morning, with 25 routes starting late, public relations director Jim Ritchie said.

 Most bus services stopped at 10 p.m. Monday night.

So what to expect today? Darnley said just take a gander outside now.

“Just what you see is what you’ll get,” Darnley said. “It’s beautiful.”

He said to expect temperatures to stay in the low 30s today before they slide down to about 11 degrees overnight. Wednesday is expected to be cold — in the 20s and 30s.

The mercury will rise Thursday and Friday, when the region will see milder temperatures into the 40s. But don’t get too excited, he said: There is a 70 percent chance of rain Thursday into Friday.

Send us your snow day photos at holly.usher@patch.com!