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The ice-breaker

Jack Frost may not have dropped a lot of snow overnight, but students in many area schools still got a break today.

As of 8 a.m., Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Palmerton, Panther Valley, Weatherly and Pleasant Valley school districts, as well as Carbon Career & Technical Institute in Jim Thorpe were closed; while Tamaqua Area School District was on a two-hour delay.The reason for the closures and delays was evident as many woke up to a thin layer of ice on roadways, sidewalks and vehicles.In the Panther Valley area, approximately an inch of snow fell Sunday before the changeover to freezing rain occurred.The National Weather Service reported that 4.5 inches of snow fell in Franklin Township, while Tamaqua saw .9 inches of snow.According to John Stoj of Penn Forest, Towamensing Trails received one inch of snow with an additional one-eighth inch of ice.Summit Hill Police Chief Joseph Fittos said that it was a quiet winter event in the borough, with no crashes reported and people driving appropriately for the weather conditions.Jim Thorpe Police Chief Joseph Schatz echoed Fittos' report, stating that no accidents occurred over night.In Monroe County, Route 209 in Chestnuthill Township was closed and traffic was detoured onto Frable Road for several hours, but no details were available as of press time.State police at Frackville reported that snow was the cause of an accident in Gilberton, where a vehicle lost control because of snowy conditions and hit an unoccupied home.There was a small-scale power outage in Indian Mountain Lakes, a private gated community located in Albrightsville, related to the storm at 7:45 a.m., today. Downed power lines were the cause of the outage.No other power outages were reported, according to the PPL Electric outage website.Most roads were wet or slightly snow covered early this morning, but passable.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and municipal road crews were out all night salting in an effort to reduce hazardous conditions.As the morning commute began, a light mist to drizzle was falling, but no real problems occurred.Reports from various drivers confirmed that the worst part of their morning commutes were driveways and some local, back roads, which may have not been treated.Carbon and Monroe counties remain in a winter weather advisory until 1 p.m., while Schuylkill is in an advisory until 10 a.m.Tuesday's outlook doesn't appear to be much better though as more snow is expected to fall in the morning.The National Weather Service states that up to two inches of snow is likely to fall between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday, with temperatures just above freezing.The rest of the week looks clear with temperatures in the mid to high 20s.

BOB FORD/TIIMES NEWS Ciera Steigerwalt, 14, and her brother Josh, 9, clear the ice from their grandmother's car this morning in Lehighton.