Ok, I admit that I can be a broken record about snow phobia in Virginia and the inability of drivers to cope with a single flake of the white stuff without creating piles of burning wrecks. However, my four children will be staying home today because of the snow. I had to actually go outside to see it but it is there — a dusting of the stuff but enough to shutdown one of the largest school districts in the country.
I honestly cannot remember school closings in Chicago growing up. I am sure that they happened (though University of Chicago had a reputation for never closing), but they were so few that they were not a big part of growing up. We did not have buses and walked to school regardless of the snow. (Ok, I know that sounds like your annoying parents of how tough life was growing up). More importantly, everyone learned to drive on the snow — a few basic rules like not to slam on the brakes on ice.
Fairfax is shellshocked after it decided not to even delay school recently in the midst of a snow storm with icy road. The kids and parents started a social media frenzy — making #closefcps the most popular hashtag of the day. The problem was not the snow but frantic, non-snow driving Virginia who seemed to rush into their cars to plow into ditches or each other in the annual Hunger Game carnage that is winter driving in McLean. I drove the kids and their friends to school and watched in amazement as a man in a luxury sedan did a 360 spins twice in the middle of the intersection. What was really impressive is that he stayed on his cell phone chatting as he spanned in circles next to my van.
A couple days later the school closed for cold temperatures (no snow). Now, it has closed due to a literal dusting of snow. No wonder this is a region of snow phobics. They are raised where the scene below requires all classes and programs to be cancelled for public safety.
mespo,
We are pretty careful here in the mountains. Most of our car wrecks look like plane crashes. There have been times when I was unable to get up our driveway with only an inch or two of snow when it packs hard. And that is in the Jeep.
The schools are cautious, which is a Good Thing. A school bus full of kids at the bottom of a ravine would be a Bad Thing.
Chuck:
Richmond had less accumulation than NOVA and recorded 344 crashes before 11:00 am this morning with two fatalities — and schools were closed! We’ve got less than half their population, too. Cannot imagine the havoc if schools were left open here like they did in Fairfax on Jan 6, 2015. Then eight NOVa school buses skidded off the road and stranded lots of kids. Accumulation was less than 3 inches in most locations. The schools apologized.
As a school safety administrator, Professor Turley makes a good law professor.
Canon, I suggest you stop phoning Auto Correct for assistance. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about half the time.
RWL, WGN is on the north side of Chicago, near Lane Tech, a famous school that send many students to MIT, Cal Tech, etc. Skilling does talks there and mentors kids in science. I have seen him @ a local sub shop when I lived just a few blocks from Lane Tech. I didn’t speak w/ him but I’m a good read on people. The kind way he treated the staff just getting a sub tells me everything. I taught my daughter, if a date treats restaurant staff poorly, DUMP HIM!
RWL, Tom Skilling went to the U. of Wi. and worked @ Madison and Milwaukee stations prior to going to WGN. He is such a nerd, but so lovable. You can tell the other people on the news genuinely like the guy. He LOVES weather. He is the polar opposite of his sleazeball Enron brother, Jeff Skilling. Amazing both could come from the same womb.
Nick,
Wow! Good info.
Nick,
Good to see that someone else knows about Tom Skilling! When I visited Chicago in the early 1990s, my Chicago relatives told me about WGN news at 9pm. You are right: it dose not come on here in STL at 9pm (we have DirecTV, and WGN is on channel 307. However, WGN news only comes on at 5 or 6 am here).
In STL, last year, we had a snowstorm on January 5th. Days before the storm hit, people were preparing for the worst. It was one of the worst snowstorms ever in STL. Not only did we receive 14 inches of snow, but also we had 2-4 days of daily highs between -8 to 8 degrees. Crazy people still ventured out in the storm the day of and the day after. The following week we reached highs of 59 degrees!
Paul, you don´t need snow to enjoy a snowday! Bake cookies, play board games and cards, read books, make some house music, go for a walk in the woods or around the block, fix a big pot of chili for dinner. It´s a day off from school – that´s something to celebrate – no?
Riesling – I agree that you don’t need the snow to enjoy the day, however, you just pretend to be sick and take the day off.
Wisconsin has become wimps regarding cold and snow. Some folks love to perpetuate myths. Cheeseheads were pretty tough when I moved there in 1983, now there like the French, a bunch of sissies in the cold and snow. Madison cancels school when it gets cold for chrissake.
Enjoy! They´ll grow up so quickly and you´ll wish you had just one more snow day to spend with them.
Riesling – there is not enough snow to make a snow angel. 😉
Sorry ’bout the errors. Autocorrect is driving me nuts..new phone.
Canon for Veterans Ministry – 2 things 1) lived in that same state without a daytime speed limit 2) You can turn auto correct OFF
Ok ok..many already know I grew up near the Canadian in a state without speed limits …at the time. Yada yada.
Was stationed in New Orleans when it snowed and a hin layer stuck around fo Rd a couple of days. Now this is a State which routinely reads the drivers test to it high school grads…and 8th grader dropouts as so many can’t read.
The Navy Reserve Headquarters went to major reduced manning to keep its people out of harms way. Go ahead and list your states’ and communities’ snow driving Darwin wonders.
I’m telling ya’ll that you ain’t seen nuttin till ya seen Naw’Lins with a thin white blanket.
I grew up in South Carolina, and lived there for many years. Just the mention of snow would bring about cancelation of school. People would leave work in a panic, to strip the stores of bread and milk. A blizzard is a few flakes of snow. Ironically, when we would have major snows, people were not near a insane. I chalk it up for a desire for snow days!
Inga, I see shorts when it’s negative temperatures.
In Minnesota they close the schools when it first gets sunny in Spring.
No one knows what that bright shiny object is at first, and people think the world is ending.
After a day or so, people remember and feel a little embarrassed, but still check outside for fireballs for the next week.
From the looks of the snow blizzard that school was closed for, I would venture to say the idiot who gave the ok to close the school was a native of the south. Ridiculous for the north but in the south, they don’t use salt or whatever else the stuff is, only a little sand to spread on the bridges. I have yet to see anything spread on the road, just the bridges (they freeze first) Had it been in the south, it would have been quite undestandable.
Funny thing is that everyone thinks of California and doesn’t think snow or cold. We are up in the mountains here and classified as being on the edge of the “high desert” area . When it snows it stays for days and weeks. Actually, we look forward to snow since it has to warm UP to snow and that layer of snow on the roof is insulating.
There is no panic about snow. People are prepared. Some on this blog have made fun of that, but I can tell you that when it is 22 degrees as the high temperatures and -18 to -20 at night, and you have 2 feet of snow that hasn’t been plowed which is now rock hard and it is 80 miles to the nearest large town……. it is pretty nice to have a pump house full of foods of all kinds, wine, booze, candles, lamp oil and a freezer full of meat. Just bop on out to get some supplies and stay warm in the house until it is over.
Driving in the snow and on black ice (the bigger danger) is a skill. Like Tyger said: Studded mud and snow tires on the 4×4. I prefer just staying home if I can, though 🙂
People even ride their bikes in snow in Wisconsin. Flip flops and shorts are seen when the temps hit the 50’s.
In Phoenix, it snows in the winter about every ten years or so and they seem to have the same attitude as the schools in Virginia when it does. But where I grew up, in a little town high in the mountains of Colorado, where there were no school buses and everyone’s parents drove them to school with studded snow tires or chains on their cars if necessary, the school only closed once that I can recall. We had gotten 48 inches of snow in three days and it was below zero. Then it warmed up a little and the snow on the roof slid down and blocked all our doors and windows. The school had opened again by then, but we couldn’t even get out of the house for three more days. That was about 50 to 55 years ago. The lack of snow here is another reason I live in Phoenix now.
Tyger – I have lived in the Phoenix area since 1963 and have only seen it snow in downtown Phoenix 3 times. Never has traffic been impeded.
I don’t get to watch Skilling as much since WGN stopped showing their 9pm news nationally. Really miss that local newscast.
RWL remember that well and love Tom Skilling. The man unabashedly loves weather. But, you prove my point. While many folks cower in fear of the weather, normal people ignore the constant fear mongering and on occasion get stuck on Lake Shore Drive in a whiteout. Skilling is not a fear monger. And, he is skeptical of Global Warming. As all should be about virtually everything. The Good Lord gave us skepticism for a reason.