Poplarville winter wonderland comes with joy and concern - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

Poplarville saw its first significant snowfall in years Friday. For some children, it was the first time ever seeing snow in their lives. 

"They're all excited. We don't get snow around here much," Brian Carlisle said of his kids. "They're all running around out in it, 5:30 in the morning. Hopefully, it sticks enough they can make a few snowballs and do something."

Because of the snow, Pearl River Community College was closed, but not entirely.

"We cook breakfast for the students that are on campus," said Gail Tillman. "And if they're hungry and want to get up this morning, they can come eat breakfast this morning."

This winter wonderland was unusual and fun for Brendan Gray, who was out of school for the day.

"I was surprised because it happened about 4 O'clock and when we woke up, it was snowing," Gray said. 

This kind of event brings out the kid in all of us. Add Cindy Landry to that list.

"I love it," Landry exclaimed. "The last time I saw this was in 2008. And my grandkids are already up looking out the window, ready to go make snow angels."

But there's a more serious side to this different kind of day, taking care of roads, according to Pearl River County Emergency Operations Director Danny Manley.

"The DOT is out salting them right now so that's what we're going to monitor and hopefully the rest of the roads will not become slick," Manley said. 

For Pearl River County emergency management officials, Friday isn't what they are worried about. It's Friday night and the overnight hours. Because if this precipitation remains, it could turn into black ice when the temperatures plummet and that could be very dangerous. Last time we had that situation, I saw 30 wrecks in 30 minutes."

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