WOODBURY — After the snow fell this weekend and Nonnewaug students and staff relaxed at home during their snow day, plows worked to clear the NHS parking lots of the hefty 18’ inches of snow.
However, as the plows pushed, mini mountains formed, changing Nonnewaug High School into Nonnewaug Ski Resort.
As students arrived after their day off and two hour delay they were met with a wall.
Not brick, not stone, but snow.
“I saw what I can only describe as a gargantuan wall of snow,” says Nonnewaug science teacher Joshua Kornblut. “It was a white mountain that just filled the parking lot. It was all my eyes could focus on.”
Along with mini ski mountains surrounding the parking lots, many spots were turned into ice rinks.
“It was tough pulling in the parking lot,” says Nonnewaug senior Nesim Iljazi. “I couldn’t see when going around because the snowbanks were so high. I couldn’t even see my spot, so I parked almost in another spot. And there was ice and snow all over. You couldn’t really see anything.”
Similarly, the truck lot is also submerged in snow, leaving many sections slippery and prone to sliding.
“When I was trying to pull into the truck lot out back,” Senior Noah Zupan says,” my front end slid out and I almost smacked the curb. That would have damaged my entire front end of my truck and I would have been mad.”
Many spots in the truck lot are barely visible or completely covered.
“I was spinning out trying to back in,” says Nonnewaug senior Connor Segers. “The entire truck lot was basically covered. You had to literally stick your head out the window just to see a line. It wasn’t very prominent. Some spots were completely blocked by snow.”
Not only is the Nonnewaug parking lot a skating rink, but so are most Woodbury roads as well. A two-hour delay was issued by Region 14 to give time for the town to clear the roads, but sub-zero temperatures have made most roads a slip and slide adventure.
I started going down the hill on Ash Swamp, and the road wasn’t plowed very well, so I started fish-tailing a little bit,” says English teacher Rebecca Gambardella. “That was scary, but I was going slow. The snowbank there was so high that when I was trying to turn out to get on the road, I couldn’t see the oncoming traffic.”
Skating is fun, just not in a two-ton vehicle.
“I should have known better and taken the main roads,” says Gambardella. “So anyhow, it was very bad. I got scared.”
