Hamilton County Schools were closed Monday, due to forecast ice and sleet on the roads in the Chattanooga area.
As roads iced over in the morning, some other school systems followed suit, including Chattanooga Christian, Notre Dame, Baylor and Brainerd Baptist.
Hamilton County School officials said, "The biggest issue is the timing of the forecast at this time. System administrators have been working with weather experts and public safety officials during the day to determine the best estimates of ice and sleet and the timeframe it is expected to hit the area. At this time, ice and sleet are likely to begin falling on area roads around 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. in the morning. That scenario would have the worst weather hitting when buses would be in the middle of their routes.
"With the safety of children as our top priority, we just can’t take the chance to have buses on the roads with children aboard in that situation,” said Dr. Bryan Johnson, superintendent of Hamilton County Schools.
“We have worked closely with weather experts and public safety officials to make the best decision for children.”
Cleveland City Schools and offices were closed Monday "due to winter weather coming into our area later this morning."
Officials said, "We’ve been in contact with the National Weather Service this morning and feel this is the best decision for the safety of our students and staff. Tonight’s school board meeting will be on as scheduled and all after school activities should be fine to proceed as usual at this point."
A Winter Weather Advisory was put into effect for 1 a.m. Monday until 11 a.m.
UTC will open at noon.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College has made the decision to close all campuses Monday and Monday night, due to icing in some of its counties and outlying areas. Officials plan to open as usual on Tuesday.
Having a two-hour delay will be Grace Academy and Polk County Schools.
Whitfield County Schools will be closed for students on Monday. Staff will report to work at 10 a.m. if it is safe to do so.
Whitfield County Government non-emergency offices will open at 10 a.m. on Monday. This does not apply to the Sheriff’s Office, 9-1-1, Fire Department, or Public Works. Transit drivers should report at 10 a.m. as well. Buses will begin running by 10:30 a.m.
Due to possible icy road conditions, all Walker County Government offices will delay opening until 11 a.m. on Monday. This includes the Walker Transit, which was originally delayed until 10 a.m.
All Catoosa County Government offices will delay opening until 11 a.m. on on Monday.
Stellar Therapy Pediatric Clinic will be closed until 1 p.m. Monday due to weather conditions.
After the slick streets on Monday, temperatures are set to finally climb above the freezing mark.
There is projected to be a low of around 42 on Tuesday night and around 50 on Wednesday.
However, the possibility of rain and snow is in the Saturday forecast.