"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: SATURDAY, January 7, 1989
Corrections:
Memo:NOTE: First photo appeared on page A02, SECOND EDITION
SNOW SLICKENS ROADS, CLOSES SCHOOLS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PREDICTS 40 DEGREES, NO PRECIPITATION TODAY
by TERRY MUTCHLER, The Morning Call
Reporters Dan Hartzell, Joe Nixon, and Hal Markovitz contributed to this article.
Shamaine Graber stood in a wool coat at Allentown's Greyhound Trailways bus station, looked out the frosted plate-glass window and waited.
And waited. And waited. And waited.
She was among the victims of the season's first snowstorm which dumped about 4 inches on the Lehigh Valley yesterday, causing massive cancellations and delays.
The storm, which turned to sleet and freezing rain last night, closed schools from Bucks County to the Poconos and swamped state and local police with minor accidents and traffic jams.
National Weather Service at A-B-E airport expected 3.7 inches of snow to fall by the end of the night with possible freezing drizzle to follow.
The snowfall started at 4:30 a.m., stopped briefly at 7:30 p.m. and resumed into the late hours, Charles Giannetta of the National Weather Service said.
Temperatures today were expected to reach 40 degrees without any snow, he said.
Some flights out of Allentown- Bethle-hem-Easton International airport were canceled because of poor visibility and snow.
A spokeswoman for USAir Inc. said some incoming flights from Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia were grounded early in the day.
''The weather problem is all over the Eastern seaboard right now,'' the woman said.
Barbara Brown, a reservationist for United Airlines, said the majority of flights were running an hour or two behind schedule.
Greyhound Trailways Bus Lines, 27 N. 6th St., experienced similar problems throughout yesterday and into the evening.
''We've been running late all day,'' said ticket agent Paul Bakhit, adding that buses from Atlantic City to Allentown were canceled. ''We're anywhere from a half an hour to an hour or more late. We're getting a lot of calls . . . they'd rather have you lie to them so they have something certain (about time.)''
While children frolicked in the snow, motorist fumed.
''It's making the traffic drive slower,'' said a state trooper from Reading.
Trooper James Anderson of Stockertown said there were a number of minor accidents, adding that conditions worsened in the afternoon when the snowfall was heavier.
Carol Sabo, a dispatcher at the New Jersey state police barracks at Hope in northern Warren County, said roads were snow-covered and slick, but added road crews seemed to be keeping pace with the storm.
Highway crews throughout the area had an early jump on the storm.
Harold Windisch, PennDOT's maintenance coordinator in Montgomery County, said he assembled crews at the agency's headquarters at 4 a.m. Eighty workers were called in to operate the department's 50 vehicles in Montgomery County.
In Bucks County, PennDOT maintenance manager Joseph Lancenese said crews assembled at about 3 a.m., and about 120 men and 90 trucks were sent out.
In Bethlehem, Public Works Director Wendell Sherman said city employees hit the streets with trucks and other equipment shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday to begin salting major roads.
Once the major thoroughfares are salted, the workers begin on the intersections of the smaller side streets, Sherman said.
By midafternoon yesterday, Sherman said the street-clearing operation was under control, but the continuing snowfall and possible change to sleet or freezing rain was threatening to worsen the situation by nightfall.
Larry DeLong, co-owner of A&B Restaurant on N. 6th St., said diners clamored about the weather all day long, particularly in the morning. He said they seemed most concerned about the icy roads.
Several merchants in the area said shoppers stocked up on bread, milk and other necessities as the storm intensified through the day.
Reporters Dan Hartzell, Joe Nixon, and Hal Markovitz contributed to this article.
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"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"