Floyd County Schools remain closed Monday — the sixth straight day without classes — but system personnel are expected to be at work.

Although students haven’t been to class since Friday, February 13, the boys’ basketball team scored a first-round victory in conference tournament play Friday night in overtime against Giles in the FCHS gym and hit the road Tuesday to play Martinsville at James River High School at Buchanan.

The Lady Buffs play a semi-final round in conference Tuesday at James River as well and, with a win, will play the championship game on Wednesday.

Temperatures in the mid-to-high 40s melted a fair amount of snow around the country and area Sunday but the thermometer is expected to sink back down to around 24 and leave icy conditions on the wet roads.  With a high of only about 25 expected Monday, conditions will remain hazardous.

Monday night brings a single-digit low of nine degrees, followed just 30s in the high through the week and lows in teens and cold end of the 20s.

The first of March on Sunday brings back highs in the 40s and some warming but, at the groundhog predicted, winter remains in the area.

Sub-zero cold and harsh winds that drove wind chills into the extremes have kept plumbers with calls about frozen water pipes and other maladies, including well pump problems.

Extreme cold overcame marginal insulation in some homes.  A number of homeowners said they battled the problems by keeping one or more faucets in their homes running during the night.  One woman set her electric washer to start its cleaning cycles after midnight and that activity kept water flowing through her house each evening.

Locust Grove Supervisor Lauren Yoder reported a new calf arrived right at the height of the bitter cold snap.  Both mama and newborn are doing fine, he said, after taking steps to protect the animals.

Several reports of minor accidents from the hitting slick spots on roads.  Just damage to the vehicles, however, and not to drivers or passengers.