Barely two weeks after a blizzard, the region is going to get hit today with yet another storm, packing snow, sleet and freezing rain.

The mix of precipitation is expected to begin early today before turning to all snow in the afternoon and continuing through the early evening.

"You'll have the sleet (and) freezing rain all night that will be building up. It's just not going to be pretty," said Gary Lessor, meteorologist from the Weather Center at Western Connecticut State University.

Lessor predicted the storm would close schools, with snow ending between 9 p.m. and midnight. Snow accumulations would total 4 to 8 inches inland in New London County, and 2 to 5 inches along the coast, he said.

And another storm will follow it up on Thursday night.

"It'll be all snow, no sleet, no freezing rain," Lessor said. "We have a nice trough over the Northeast. Lots of cold air. It's going to get colder before it gets warmer."

Temperatures in New London County are expected to fall into the teens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, possibly dipping below zero at night, Lessor said.

Joseph Sastre, Groton's director of emergency management, said town public works crews would begin plowing the town's 93 miles of roads once the snow started sticking to the pavement.

"We seem to be in a moisture cycle. If this was summertime, it'd be raining every couple of days," Sastre said. "For the shoreline, it doesn't look too bad. It'll be a little bit deeper inland. It's typical. You don't know how everything's going to end up."

The Groton Town public works department also clears the driveways and parking lots of three public schools: Carl C. Cutler Middle School, Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School and Robert E. Fitch High School. School facilities handle the parking lots and driveways of Groton's other schools as well as sidewalks and emergency exits. After the blizzard, drifts as high as 8 feet blocked entrances to portable classrooms. In some areas, cars remained buried in driveways.

As of Sunday night, schools in North Stonington, Norwich, Preston, Salem, Colchester, Griswold and Lisbon had canceled class today. The Stonington K-12 School Building Committee has postponed its meeting tonight until Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the high school commons.

With the forecast calling for even more snow and ice, there were residents Monday, such as plowing contractors and tow truck drivers, who said they were looking forward to more.

One of them is Waterford's Ryan Grillo, who started shoveling snow for a friend's company two years ago and, last fall, bought his own plow truck.

"Obviously, most of the time I like this weather," he said. "In fact, this winter's been so extreme I can't take on any more customers. I'm at my limit and would love to do it more, but I don't want to promise people and then not be able to help."

And while Grillo is glad for the business, he's discovered there's an aesthetic side to his line of work.

"I plow with my brother, Adam. It gives us a plenty of one-on-one time to talk and bond that maybe we wouldn't get otherwise. Or, driving by yourself, you can reflect a lot. Most of the time I'm plowing at night. The radio is distracting so it's quiet and you see the snow and no one else is out. It's pretty beautiful and peaceful."

Bill Lille has co-owned the Sprigs & Twigs landscaping business with his wife, Linda, for 19 years - but this is the first winter they've ventured into snow plowing.

"We looked at it in the context that we have loyal, trusted employees, and this gave us a chance to keep them on year-round. So I definitely look at snow in a different context, now." He laughed. "Of course, we're trying to gain experience and get established, and I'm not sure we were counting on the big storm two weeks ago. But our goal is to do an excellent job and, the truth is, it can be really peaceful out there."

The past few weeks have also been a bonanza for sledders.

At the Norwich Golf Course, Tim Fowler and his children spent part of Sunday afternoon sledding on "Suicide Hill," the steep fairway on the second hole.

"It's about 45 degrees with a lot of jumps and turns," Fowler said. "Snow's a lot of fun to play in - not so much to work in."

A maintenance man at a large apartment complex, Fowler said he'd spend Sunday night clearing expected snow and ice from the facility.

"So today was a good time and now we'll go get some hot chocolate and then tonight I'll go in," he said.

His son, 14-year-old Thomas, can relate. If dad's at work, it's Thomas's job to shovel the home driveway and walks.

"It's OK," Thomas said. "I'm glad to help out since dad's working."

But Olivia, his 12-year-old sister, said she has the best situation.

"I don't have to shovel anything. In fact, when Thomas is done, sometimes I'll put snow back in our driveway so I can slide around."

d.straszheim@theday.com

r.koster@theday.com