Newtown Parks & Recreation has announced that all afternoon and evening programs scheduled for Wednesday, January 30, have been canceled.

Activities at the Teen Center today have also been canceled.

Tennis sessions are still on for the morning, however.

The cancellation notice comes as the town recovers from an overnight ice storm that, while not nearly as severe as [naviga:u]the January 20 storm[/naviga:u] that caused damage across the area, left many secondary roads and surfaces coated in ice. Schools initially had a [naviga:u]delayed opening on [/naviga:u][naviga:u]Wednesday,[/naviga:u][naviga:u] but were then closed for the day[/naviga:u] as Public Works crews continued to clear roads of icy conditions. 

A National Weather Service (NWS) Wind Advisory, calling to west winds of 15-30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph, will be in effect for Newtown and much of the southern section of Connecticut from 1 to 7 pm Wednesday.

Most of Connecticut will be under a Wind Chill Advisory on Wednesday evening. The weather service advisory will be in effect from 7 pm Wednesday through 10 am Thursday, with wind chills as low as 20 below zero expected. 

Only the very eastern section of Fairfield County, and southern portions of New Haven, Middletown and New London counties will remain under the Wind Advisory for the Wednesday overnight.

The National Weather Service is warning that morning sunshine will “give way to increasing clouds as an arctic cold front approaches the region. The front is likely to bring a period of snow showers or snow squalls to the region this afternoon, along with strong gusty winds. While not every location will receive snow, those that do will experience a rapid drop in visibility and a quick coating of accumulation.”

In addition, the cold front will be accompanied in northern Fairfield County, and other regional locations, by a line of snow showers and/or snow squalls that will last around 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

“Brief whiteout conditions with a quick coating to around an inch of snow is possible in any of the heavier snow squalls,” NWS is advising. “Motorists should plan for hazardous travel during the evening commute.”

Closings & Cancellations

Local businesses, organizations, etc that need to announce cancellations, delays, postponements, etc, are invited to contact The Newtown Bee to share that information. Send e-mail to [naviga:u]shannon@thebee.com[/naviga:u]. Notices will be added to this story as they arrive, and will also be posted on our [naviga:u]Facebook[/naviga:u] and [naviga:u]Twitter[/naviga:u] pages. 

Tonight's rehearsal for Newtown Choral Society has been canceled. 

The Newtown High School Mid-Year Graduation Ceremony, which had already been postponed from last night to tonight, has now been canceled, according to NHS School to Career Counselor Peg Ragaini. The students who would have been honored tonight will instead be invited to the February 19 Board of Education meeting for recognition of their achievements.