When snow began falling Monday evening, several public school systems around Maryland announced that they would close Tuesday, postponing athletic events including the final day of the state indoor track championships, which will be made up Monday.
State officials first planned to wait until Tuesday to make a decision on whether to postpone the Class 4A and 3A track finals, but later Monday night, they opted to postpone until Monday at 4 p.m. at the Prince George's County Sports and Learning Complex in Landover.
By 9 p.m. Monday, Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties and Baltimore City were among many school systems from all over Maryland that had already decided to close Tuesday.
With more snow predicted for the southern counties of Maryland than further north, the meet could have been postponed even if there wasn't much snow in the Baltimore metro area. Some school systems in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, as well as Southern Maryland and on the Eastern Shore also began announcing Tuesday closures on Monday night.
Andy Warner, assistant director of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, said the state had several possible make-up dates built in to accomodate weather postponements so the meet could be made up at the Prince George's complex.
With Baltimore City and County closing schools, many private and parochial schools also will be closed Tuesday, which was supposed to be the first day of practice for spring sports in the MIAA and the IAAM.