Tomorrow is supposed to be -15 degrees here so they closed all the schools. Is this a common practice? I can remember getting "snow days" when they couldn't get the roads cleared in time for the school buses to run, but I don't recall closing the school because it was too cold. Come to think of it, the school was usually warmer than our house.

According to the "stories" I'm hearing around here, our schools are closed due to the fact they can not get the inside temperatures (in the buses) to reach minimum requirements for "safe" transport. They started them a couple hours early today, but that still didn't get the interior (cabin area) to the required temperature. I can't remember ever having school closed for cold temps, and seldom for heavy snow, which we DID get during the 70's and 80's.

Pussification of the US. Now days kids spend all their time in front of a computer in a warm house. They don't know how to dress to spend 10 minutes outside. The parents are gone to work so nobody is home to watch them. The school district is liable for the kids. If somebody got frostbit they would sue the school.
My town was known for being the last school to shutdown for weather. They have shutdown twice this year. I can understand it for the rural areas with blowing snow. It could be dangerous if the bus got stuck. My school bus went thru snowdrifts past my house, stopped two houses away, and waited for us to get to it, in -20 with a strong North wind. We lived on the South side of a lake. Many kids lived within walking distance didn't make it in to school.

Grew up on the lake ontario shores in upstate, remember only a couple of times when cold was enough to close it and that was when the heating somehow failed in the school itself, or the cold combined with moisture caused black ice (something I've only seen once since moving to the desert!)



Now ice storms during my senior year of high school were the longest I recall school being out, 7-10 days straight if I remember right...

Now that I live in the desert it always makes us laugh when we hear they are closing school in our area, often it is just the hint of snow as with the steep
hills and roads in the foothills, ice and buses don't mix.

I remember (this won't get you old timers who walked to school uphill 20 miles both ways excited but hey...lol) standing out in snow taller than me waiting for the bus on the country road we lived on and being fresh from a morning shower literally had frozen hair on my head (back when I had hair!). No fleece, no super duper miracle boots or special clothes, just a pile of flannel and blue jeans and so forth and sometimes a knit cap....

Ahh.... memories....

It is -14 below right now without wind chill factor. Schools make the kids sit outside until they feel they are ready to open the doors and let them in.

Personally glad they close down on days like this. I make sure my kids are dressed accordingly but every morning I see [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] kids walking in clld temps wearing nothing but a hoody.

And wearing sneakers.....

Don't get me started on "Pussification". It is like a case study of natural selection.

One interesting thing I have noticed is that turkeys roost in the middle of the day when it is so cold. Has anyone else noticed this?

buck, gotta call today from someone who agrees with you on the turkey thing.

For the rest of you; spent the morning with all seven of the grandkids. Not to worry; not only are they a heck of a lot smarter than me at their age, but also more physical. The oldest three have had organized sports forever and the youngest go to a private gym.

It is unfair; my three kids and my daughter-in-law all have degrees in education. On the bright side, eventually they will all end up working for grampa and grandma!

As a kid, in mid '50's, our street was just a little too close to the school to get a free bus ride, so we walked the mile, in all weather, no sidewalks, on a very busy road, and I survived, along with my 2 siblings.

That's it in a nutshell. I have yet to turn the heat on in my office this winter, the heat coming from the adjoining offices down the hall is all I need and we've had some 20-25 below days.

Watching the Weather Channel today they said "northerners please stop calling and contacting us about the woosy southerners, they really don't know how to drive on a half inch of snow". "it's safer for them to stay home"

When I was a kid (and a newspaper was seven cents..):
We stood at the bus stop, bundled up in appropriate clothing, ...or we suffered.
We fought like cats and dogs within our family; never had time to fight anybody else.
We played in dirt/creeks/tree houses/vacant lots. Nobody died, was badly hurt or sued.
We had organized sports, but made up our own fun: baseball, street hockey, soccer, football, etc. If an adult got involved, it meant somebody was really in trouble.

I see parents waiting for the bus with kids in the car, engine running, to keep their little angels from spending ten minutes outside ...parents who would probably brag about what a great outdoorsman their little Bubba is.