Inclement weather forces school delays around Houghton

HANCOCK– Winter is in full swing with snow and freezing rain. Unfortunately it meant a shorter school day for many districts across the Upper Peninsula.

Many Michigan residents woke Tuesday morning to temperatures below 20 degrees and snowfall of at least half a foot in most areas. This is not uncommon but it was enough to put a delay on school activities in both Houghton and Keweenaw counties.

George Stockero is the Copper Country ISD superintendent and says, “ This morning at about 5 o’clock I got a call from the Road Commission and they said we got more snow than they thought and there was a lot of drifting in the back roads and they suggested we have a two hour delay.”

After talking with the Road Commission and the National Weather Service he followed that recommendation. Stockero is responsible for about five thousand students throughout seven school districts.

The road commission in Houghton County maintains an estimated 850 miles of road in the county. It costs an average of 2.2 million dollars each year just to remove snow in the 20 mile wide county of Houghton.