Holmdel is under a blanket of snow, in parts 14 inches thick, due to the thick, heavy snowfall overnight that fell upon existing snow.

Schools were closed. In the Old Manor section of the township, several residents were out with shovels to free the cars in the driveways. A neighbor was helping other with a whirring snow plow. A few children were found sliding on the packed snow.

Although traffic was moving on Bethany Road, most people have clearly chosen to stay parked.

NJ Transit bus service is back in service, but riders should expect delays, the agency said, advising them to check njtransit.com for service updates.  

Blustery north winds, pelting icy rain and heavy snow dominated the evening skies overnight. Although the snow ended by the morning commute, the area was blanketed and the 2-hour delayed opening for all schools was upgraded to a full day off Thursday, according to the school district website.

 Town Hall closed at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Board of Education officials announced that meant their first meeting of 2011 would also be cancelled. Its usual venue, the Satz middle school, was closed, as were all schools to extra-curricular activities. Officials had made a hasty plan to meet at Town Hall at 6 p.m. last night, but that plan was nixed in a memo distributed around 1:45 p.m.. 

Slick roads caused mayhem in Holmdel Wednesday. Holmdel police were kept busy scrambling all over town to respond to motorists mired in snowbanks, tangled in fender benders. 

On Wednesday cars kept sliding into each other, in places like Holmdel and Roberts Road. A sedan went off the road at South Holland and Yellow Brook and hit a tree. A car damaged by a sheet of ice thrown by a truck needed help at the Parkway entrance. 

There could be accumulations of more than seven to eleven inches of snow on top of the one to three inches that fell earlier, with some freezing rain mixed in, says the weather authority. 

The snow is expected to be heavier and wetter than in recent storms, said officials.   

Recycling Services: 

Recycling for Thursday, January 27  has been canceled in its entirety due to the impending snow storm.  The make-up day will be Tuesday, February 1.  Materials should be placed at curbside Monday evening.

These changes do not affect the normal 2011 schedule.  The next week recycling week will be February 7 through February 11.