With the return of snow this Tuesday morning - and a National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning in effect until 6 pm - local schools and businesses are changing their plans for the day.closed for the day, C.H. Booth Library Director Douglas Lord has decided to keep the town library closed for Tuesday, March 13.Newtown Youth & Family Services is closed for the day.Parks & Recreation Commission's meeting planned for Tuesday night was canceled on Monday. A staff member who answered the phone Monday afternoon confirmed that the decision had been made due to the expected weather.Conservation Commission's March 13 meeting was also canceled.Newtown Bridge Club's 10 am games and 2:30 workshop have been canceled today. As of 8 am, the club had not yet decided whether it would host its regular 7 pm games.FAITH Food Pantry is closed this morning. Volunteers expect to be back at 31 Pecks Lane for their regular Thursday evening session.state offices will be closed for the first shift today, due to the significant snowfall that is impacting the state and expected to continue into the evening. Nonessential, first-shift state employees should not report to work on Tuesday.last week's nor'easter has melted, but there is still plenty on the ground to be added to.EverWonder Children's Museum is closed today.fisio Physical Therapy and Wellness LLC and Gift of Gab Speech & Wellness have both notified The Newtown Bee that they are closed for the day.Ben's Bells Connecticut studio in Bethel is closed today.Newtown Girl Scout Service Unit has been canceled.Edmond Town Hall is closed today due to the snow.Local businesses, groups, clubs and other organizations with plans being changed due to the weather are invited to contact Associate Editor Shannon Hicks (shannon@thebee.com) to have their notices added to this list.[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-309420" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Weater-Service-March-13-2018-7-am-graphic.png" alt="Weater Service March 13 2018 7 am graphic" width="800" height="513" /]The National Weather Service released this graphic at 7:30 am Tuesday, March 13, showing updated snowfall totals for the nor'easter that arrived before daybreak. Slightly higher amounts are forecast for the Twin Forks and southeast Connecticut. Snowfall rates of 1-plus inch per hour are possible in heavy bands.

In addition to Newtown Public Schools announcing that schools and staff offices would be

The town's meeting calendar has also been affected. Newtown

Within the past 15 hours, the

Governor Dannel P. Malloy this morning announced that

on Tuesday," Governor Malloy said. "We encourage everyone to be safe and stay off the roads if at all possible.

"As the snowstorm develops and anticipated accumulation amounts across the state continue to grow, we believe that it is best to keep state offices closed for the day 

"If you absolutely must travel, please allow extra time, reduce speeds, keep a safe distance from plows, and do not attempt to pass plows, as that can be extremely dangerous," his statement continued. "If employers can allow people to work from home or alter their hours, we encourage them to do that as well."

In addition, Rhode Island has reportedly enacted a tractor-trailer and tandem trailer ban, which went into effect at 4 am.

"While a similar ban is not planned for Connecticut at this time," Gov Malloy said, "state officials will continue to be in communication with their counterparts in Rhode Island as the situation develops."

According to the latest announcement from the National Weather Service, Newtown could receive up to 8 inches of snow by the time the current weather system moves out of the area. Much of the snow from

The

Tonight's meeting of the

-National Weather Service graphic