The record — 21.8 inches set in February 1914 — was broken Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington. The next day, area residents didn’t need a meteorologist to tell them they had received a lot of snow.
On Tuesday, all area school districts were closed, and for some, that means they have used their five calamity days allowed by the state.
At this rate, students will be going to school in June. Hopefully, the snow is melted by then, and the schools won’t be flooded.
Since there were just a few snow flurries Tuesday, some parents took their children sledding at the Voice of America Park in West Chester Twp., while others shoveled their cars out from a mountain of snow.
Their opinions were as different as what they were holding — sleds or shovels.
“We love it,” said Mike Scherer, 39, of Liberty Twp. as he laced up his snow boots, preparing to go sledding. “I’m a kid at heart and this reminds me of my childhood.”
His twin 11-year-old daughters, Allison and Emily, and their friend, Alex Denny, 9, all seemed to enjoy having another day off school, especially one spent on the slopes.
“There are inches and inches,” Emily said.
“It’s fun to make snowmen and tunnels,” Allison said.
“It’s cool that we get to skip school,” Alex said.
It must have been Twin Tuesday at the VOA. Susan Johnson and Kathy Baumhardt of West Chester Twp. both brought their twins sledding, too.
Baumhardt, formerly of Chicago, said she told her children about winters there. Now they’re experiencing a Chicago-like winter — at least this month.
“The kids love it,” she said.
Kelly Zimmerman, 31, of Liberty Twp., shoveled his driveway for “who knows how many times,” he said Tuesday.
Charles Morris, of Hamilton, plowed his neighbor’s driveway on Cain Avenue. About his Good Samaritan efforts, he said: “Around here, we pitch in and help each other out. It’s a friendly little town. We take care of each other.”
Craig Ballard, 35, a crane operator for McGraw Kokosing, also works for Henning Lawn Service, which removes snow during the winter. He called the record-breaking snow this month “really good” for business.
When Derrick Jensen, 23, of Madison Twp., wasn’t waving outside Liberty Tax Service — in his Uncle Sam costume — he was shoveling the sidewalks outside the building on Oxford State Road.
“The snow could be worse,” he said. “It’s cold, but the snow isn’t that bad.”
Don’t tell that to Middletown residents Lorenzo Rakestraw, Les Pruden or Carl Ferguson.
Rakestraw, who was asking residents if they wanted their driveways or sidewalks shoveled, called the snow the “worst” in his 49 years.
“It’s real bad,” he said.
Pruden, 49, a 1979 Middletown High School graduate, was using his snowblower to clear out cars and sidewalks on Fifteenth Avenue.
When asked about the snow, Pruden turned off his blower, looked at the piles behind him and said: “I’m sick of it.”
Ferguson, 60, who was shoveling his driveway at the corner of Vanderveer Street and Girard Avenue, said he realizes he’s getting old because two of the biggest snowfalls in February occurred in 1993 and 2010 — and he experienced both of them.
Few cleared as many cars as salesmen at Pierson Chevrolet on Verity Parkway. Lenny Stoneking, of Middletown, said he and two salesmen shoveled out 85 cars.
“We’re tired of it,” Stoneking said of the snow. “Just as soon as we get it done, it’s time to start again.”
He looked at the cleared lot and the empty showroom: “We need less snow and more customers.”
Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
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