Policy on weather-related closure of registry

I became Register of Deeds on January 5, 1995 and that next winter, the 1995-96 season, set the all-time record for the most snowfall ever recorded in this region. We didn't have a blog back then, so the documentation of our experiences in that winter 15 years ago is sketchy.

Our snow totals this year, while considerable, still have a ways to go to threaten that record. Still, we've had plenty of stormy days this winter, many of which have had an impact on our operations. The toughest situation to deal with is the overnight storm that continues into the start of the workday. Our policy right now of whether the registry will remain closed or have a delayed opening is dictated by the Trial Court, our landlord here in the Superior Courthouse. If the court is closed, then we are closed.

The best way to find out if the courthouse is closed is to visit the Trial Court website. Closures and delays are indicated by a notice that is placed on that site, usually by 6 am, on a stormy day. Such a notice was there yesterday. Another appeared back on January 27 - I captured a screen shot of that one.

One warning about the Trial Court website: if you've visited it before the notice goes up, your computer automatically stores a copy of the older version of the page. When you revisit that site, your computer will reload the earlier version of the page that was stored on your computer, the version that doesn't contain the weather-notice. You have to click on your browser's "Refresh" button to force your computer to reach out to the Trail Court server and load the latest version of that page.

If all that "refresh" stuff seems too complicated, you can also check here. As soon as I see an announcement on the Trial Court website, I post it here, just as I did at 6:11 a.m. yesterday morning.

Finally, if the snow is falling heavily during the day, there is always a chance the registry may close early. If you have a late-in-the-day recording to do and it's snowing, please call us at 978/322-9000 to ascertain our status.