On Monday, December 9th the students and faculty of Region 16 awoke to a surprise- School had been cancelled.

While over 400 schools across the state had delays, it appeared that Region 16 was the only school district that decided to close. Surrounding towns including Naugatuck, Ansonia, and Waterbury all had delays. Other towns like Cheshire and Meriden had no change to their school day and arrived at regular time this morning.

Due to the timing of the storm and the possibility of freezing ice until after 9:00a.m., Region 16 felt it was necessary to close the schools in order to ensure the safety of both the students and staff.

Many students especially, awoke only to be thrilled by the fact that they did not have to get out of bed on this cold, wintry morning. Twitter feeds began blowing up with students expressing their positive emotions about the snow day.

With temperatures not rising as quickly as meteorologists first thought they would, the freezing rain seemed to linger across the state longer than expected. While some students were confused why school had been cancelled due to the limited amount of snow on the ground, the reason for the closing was because of the ice threat not the snow totals.

Throughout the state a number of accidents took place as people found themselves slipping and sliding across the slick roadways. According to wtnh.com, one accident that occurred in Greenwich resulted in an over twenty car pile-up. On I-91 North a tractor trailer rolled over causing the road to be closed for hours.

With a large number of accidents happening, perhaps it was in Region 16’s best interest to close their doors for this ice storm. Those who did have to travel however, were encouraged to allot for extra time in their commute and to drive slowly.

For today, it seems temperatures are warming up and throughout the state any remaining freezing drizzle will soon turn over to rain. However, meteorologists are now keeping a close of the possibility of snow accumulation across the state by tomorrow afternoon.