The calls and e-mails flowing into The Sun's BackTalk line show there's plenty of anger about districts keeping their doors open today.
One sample, from Tyngsboro:

"... I saw cars fish-tailing everywhere. I saw cars slid off the road. And, unbelievably, I also saw children standing waiting for a school bus. Why? Because we had school in my town today. I was always under the impression one of jobs of our school leaders was to protect their children from needless harm. Hmmm. When more than 50% of the office and parking lots in the .com and .net world are vacant, that's generally a signal the .edu parking lots should be 100% vacant. Here's hoping today's bad judgment by those .edu leaders is attributable to nothing more than rusty play calling."

Others are aiming their anger at leaders in Chelmsford and Dracut, both of which had a planned half-day of school.

Want your opinion heard? Call 978-454-2225, e-mail backtalk@lowellsun.com, or comment here.

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The National Weather Service says about eight inches of snow fell in Tyngsboro. How much did you shovel? Let us know.

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Veteran Sun photographer David Brow's vehicle was rear-ended on Middlesex near Wood street shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday as he stopped to avoid a snowplow backing out of a nearby condo complex. Brow, who had been photographing minor accidents and the slippery commute for the newspaper, said he was not injured and his vehicle was still drivable. It sustained damage to the rear lights and fender. The other driver was also not believed injured.

Brow, ever the professional, kept on working:

This cow doesn't seem to mind the new fallen snow on Forest Street.

Kirstin Pimental clears her driveway as her son, Cooper Pimental, 3, takes a break and watches her, on Dunstable Road in North Chelmsford.

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"State Police continue to urge motorists to reduce their speed, leave extra space between themselves and the car in front of them, and leave extra time for travel during today's storm.
"Troopers in western and central Massachusetts responded to numerous spinouts and other crashes earlier today. State Police held over the night shifts in both parts of the state to assist with the morning commute. Troopers in the northeastern part of the state also responded to several crashes.
"As always, MSP reminds motorists to buckle up, in all weather conditions."

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thousands of residents Billerica, Dracut, Tewksbury, Andover and Methuen were without power for several hours as the heavy, wet snow took a toll on electrical wires according to National Grid. Power went out in the Kenwood section of Dracut shortly after 9:30 a.m., affecting 1,172 customers. In Tewksbury, 5,021 customers in the Shawsheen and River Road sections of town were without power. The outage in the River Road area extended into Andover while smaller outages were reported in Billerica and Methuen. The New Hampshire communities of Derry and Windham also experienced scattered outages.
The storm will be over by evening.
But in the end, expect about 1 to 3 inches or so of snow turning to a lot of slush in the immediate Lowell area when the rain cranks in this afternoon, forecasters said. Points West, like Pepperell and Townsend, already had 3 inches of snow by 8:30 a.m.

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I-495 N - Less than 5 mph in some spots

It's a mess out there. If you don't have go out today, stay off the roads. It's icy on I-93 and I-495, with traffic crawling under 5 mph in some spots. I saw a bunch of 18-wheelers stopped on the side of road on I-495 N. And forget about the Lowell Connector. It could be an ice rink for all the plowing they haven't done. I saw one woman pulled over on the side of the road (At least I think it was the side of the road - the lines aren't visible). She was facing the wrong way...
--Erin Smith

A truck driver pulled over on I-495 N

I-93 N near I-495

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Any school superintendent will tell you that the single worst decision they have to make is whether to close school when a storm is approaching.
It was no easier this morning, when public school leaders in the heart of Greater Lowell kept their doors open -- only to have the storm bite hard about 7 a.m. Schools in New Hampshire and the Nashua Valley pulled the trigger early.
One parent, Jean Escabi of Dracut, says she refused to put her children on the school bus this morning. Dracut schools were scheduled for a half-day.
"I did NOT send my kids to school today, not after watching that mess this morning," she tells us. "There is no way they will have the roads in better shape at 11 when they send them all home again!!"
She also sent along this photo, of Crosby Road, taken this morning:

Did you keep your kids home today? Tell us.

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Nobody was injured when a car slid into a school bus at the intersection of West Sixth Street and Freemont Street in Lowell, just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Trinity Ambulance was called to the scene as a precaution, police said.
There were several reports of minor fender-benders and spinouts throughout the Merrimack Valley as the region saw its first appreciable snowfall of the season. -- Dennis Shaughnessey

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Snow was already falling in Pepperell at 4:30 a.m. when I took Brady, our 11-week-old Yorkie puppy, out to do his business. By the time I left the house at 8 a.m. in my Subaru Forester, at least 3 inches of snow were already on the ground and the roads were a mess. I turned back, not because the roads were impassable, because I realized my oldest daughter was going to have a rough commute to Fitchburg State College, which had announced a two-hour delay. Better to have her using all wheel drive than me, I thought. I was already back on the road and in Dunstable in her Volvo convertible (no top down today!) when she called me with news that FSC had canceled. Not to worry, even though the roads were rough, her car managed just fine even though her snow tires are still sitting in the garage. If I had to grade the roads on my way in, here's what they'd be:
Pepperell: C (although the heavy equipment was out in full force downtown, so it would be only a matter of time before the town's snow-removal effort would be its usual A.
Dunstable: B+.
Tyngsboro: B.
Route 3 south to the Connector: D (not much evidence of plowing on this road at 8:30, although the good news is that I didn't get stuck in the conga line). Route 3 north was being plowed, though.
Lowell Connector: B-.
Lowell: C-. Thorndike to Dutton was a real mess. This is a major artery into the downtown, and I expected it to be in better shape at 9 a.m.

Finally made it in to The Sun's offices just after 9 a.m. I can usually do this drive in just under a half hour.

-- Charles St. Amand, managing editor

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The three-mile drive from Lakeview Avenue in Dracut to the Lowell Sun offices on Dutton Street in Lowell normally takes about five or six minutes. This morning's "storm" turned that commute into 40-minute excursion, rife with traffic jams, spinning tires and knuckleheads who, since last winter, have lost all concept of driving through four inches of snow.
I pulled out of my driveway in the Navy Yard section of Dracut at 7:40 a.m. Traffic started backing up just over the Lowell line. Red taillights could be seen all the way down to the intersection of Lakeview Avenue and West Sixth Street as the majority of motorists were attempting to make their way over the Merrimack River via the Aiken Street Bridge.
At about 7:55 a.m., having just crawled about a third of a mile, I opted for plan B and made a right-hand turn onto Martin Street, figuring I'd assess the traffic situation by UMass-Lowell.
That decision proved futile as I got behind a small pickup truck who was having trouble getting up the little hill just beyond Rosemont Terrace. The driver mercifully pulled over and signaled for me to go around.
Once on Riverside Street, I met up with many more motorists who obviously had the same idea as I had. Traffic crawled steadily to the intersection of Riverside Street and University Avenue. Fortunately, there were no accidents and incidents along the way.
Traversing the University Avenue Bridge was no problem and as I looked at the dashboard clock at 8:08 a.m. I could see that I was minutes away from work.
A right on Pawtucket Street and a left on Salem Street and I was almost home free. That is, until Salem Street becomes Market Street. Traffic was backed up from the Cardinal O'Connor Parkway near Dummer Street to the Club Passe Temps near Cabot Street.
I briefly thought of hooking a right onto Lewis Street but thought better of it when I saw the line of cars stacked up behind the yellow school bus. I went straight, turning right onto Dummer Street, left onto Broadway and right, through the back gate and into the parking lot at The Sun. It was 8:25 a.m. The final half-mile of the commute seemed to take the longest.

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It would appear most drivers were taking it slow and easy this morning. My commute up Route 3 north in Chelmsford to Chelmsford High school before 7 a.m. to drop my daughters off went smoothly, but it was hard to see the lanes. Traffic was moving at 30 to 30 mph. Those without four-wheel drive who tried to push it a bit suffered minor spinouts, but no accidents were spotted, except for the Bobcat operator who almost hit me clearing a sidewalk in front of Harrington School. The ride from the school to The Sun was equally uneventful, again, with folks experiencing minor spinouts if they tried to go faster than Mother Nature would allow.
Kris Pisarik

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following schools in Greater Lowell have announced closures or delays for Wednesday.
Fitchburg State College; Mt. Wachusett Community College; Academy of Notre Dame, Tyngsboro; Bishop Guertin High School, Nashua, N.H.; Hellenic American Academy, Lowell; Lawrence Academy, Groton; Lowell Catholic High School; Nashua Christian Academy; Salem Christian School, Salem, N.H.; Ayer; Boxboro; Groton-Dunstable; Hudson, N.H.; Nashoba Valley Technical, Westford; Nashua; North Middlesex Regional, Townsend; Parker Charter School, Devens; Pelham and Windham, N.H.; Salem, N.H.; Shirley; Westford; and Lowell Assembly of God Church, Tewksbury.

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)