Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover school buses sit outside Rocky Ridge Elementary School in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023.
Hoover public schools will be closed unexpectedly for in-person instruction Friday due to the threat of inclement weather, specifically damaging winds, school officials said.
Schools and offices will be closed Friday, Jan. 12, and the day will be considered an e-learning day. Teachers will notify students regarding e-learning day assignments. All after-school events, including athletic games and practices and extracurricular activities scheduled for Friday are being canceled or rescheduled.
The decision to switch to an e-learning day was made after closely monitoring forecasts and having conversations with the National Weather Service and the Jefferson and Shelby county emergency management agencies, school officials said.
Schools already were slated to be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. School officials said they will monitor the winter weather threat for early next week, and if any delays or closures are needed Tuesday, parents will be notified through the school system’s mass messaging software, school websites and social media.
The National Weather Service as of Thursday afternoon was predicting sustained winds of 15-30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph for all of central Alabama on Friday, with the greatest chance for severe weather between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The weather service is expecting downed trees and power outages, noting that with recent heavy rains, it likely won’t take much to down weakened trees.
Then on Monday, Jan. 15, forecasters are predicting a possibly wintry mix with icy spots on roadways and some light snow accumulations possible in the northwest part of central Alabama.
They also are expecting a prolonged cold snap for central Alabama Monday through Wednesday, with lows in the 10s and 20s and highs in the 20s and 30s. The temperature may not rise above freezing on Tuesday, and the “feels-like” temperatures could be in the single digits Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said.
Officials are urging people to cover exposed water pipes and consider letting water faucets drip to avoid pipe bursts. They also advise people to bring their pets indoors, arrange for emergency heat in the case of power failure and check on neighbors and the elderly to ensure they have a reliable heat source.
Weather officials encourage people to stay alert to changing weather conditions over the next week.
