The freak snowstorm that passed through Alamance County on Tuesday was little more than a blip on the Doppler radar to Burlington’s municipal government.
The city ultimately skated through this disruption with ease despite the storm’s relatively abrupt onset compared to the blizzard that swept through North Carolina earlier this month.
According to Burlington’s city manager Craig Honeycutt, the latest storm’s comparative lack of warning prevented brine dispersal and other preparations that the city normally makes in the anticipation of winter weather.
“We really didn’t know we were getting snow in any amount until Wednesday morning,” Honeycutt recalled in an interview Wednesday. “But we didn’t think it was going to be anything major, and in the end, it wasn’t.”
[Story continues below photo.]
Out of an abundance of caution, Burlington’s administrators cancelled a city council meeting that had been scheduled to take place before the snowfall began on Tuesday evening. They also gave many city staff members some extra additional time to make it into the office on Wednesday.
“We had a two hour delay this morning for non-essential employees,” Honeycutt added. “Our concern was that it wouldn’t get above 30 degrees, and we wanted to give our employee more time to drive into work.”
The city manager went on to note that, to his knowledge, not a single car accident could be attributed to Tuesday night’s snowfall. Nor were there any power outages or other interruptions of service due to the storm.
