Hoover City Schools to open late, Shelby County Schools closed Thursday
Hoover public schools will start classes two hours later than usual Thursday, Jan. 18, to allow time for road conditions to improve in the morning, school officials said. Shelby County Schools, on the other hand, will remain closed on Thursday.
Hoover school buses also will operate on a two-hour delayed schedule, spokesman Jason Gaston said in an email.
All locations of Jefferson State Community College, including the Shelby-Hoover campus on Valleydale Road, also will delay opening until 10 a.m.
Shelby County School officials announced the decision just after 5 p.m. Wednesday night.
"After an extensive review of conditions across Shelby County it has been determined that there are still a significant number of roads that will remain icy and potentially dangerous," officials said in an email. "The predicted temperature will not rise above freezing until about 11:00 AM tomorrow Jan 18th. Therefore for the safety of all students, Shelby County Schools remain closed tomorrow."
The National Weather Service this afternoon said that while the snow has ended in central Alabama, road conditions still were hazardous across a large part of the area, and therefore travel tonight is ill-advised.
Another hard freeze is expected tonight, with temperatures dropping into the teens, the weather service said. However, temperatures should warm up more quickly Thursday morning than they did this morning, going above 15 degrees by 8 a.m. Thursday across central Alabama.
Skies should be sunny Thursday with a high of 41, according to the weather service.
All public facilities operated by the city of Hoover will be on a normal schedule Thursday, city spokeswoman Lori Salter-Schommer said.
This post was updated at 5:30 p.m. with information about facilities operated by the city of Hoover. and at 5:50 p.m. with information about a delayed start for Jefferson State Community College.