A question for northerners

[Sina]

I live in Labrador and sometimes the weather here gets bitterly cold. Usually kids who live within 1 mile from the school walk to school but in the winter everyone is bussed.

Here is our School Board’s policy regarding weather closures:

HOLY SMOKES PHEMIE!! You win!!! hahahaha. I didn’t really have much to say on this thread as we basically have the same policies as people in Wisconsin. I live in the Canadian Rockies and we get cold streaks about 4 times every winter and rarely is school cancelled.

 

[Phemie]

I’m in SE Wisconsin and we have closings for severe weather including extreme low temps. It seems that if the temp before wind chill is 5 degrees or below, it’s a safe bet there will be no school.

5 degrees?? Our kids would be out of school for 3 months straight!

 

[st_lucy]

Northern North Dakota, I remember one winter when my kids where little it was -40 for about two to three weeks with wind chills at -60 at times. School, still on. Nothing closed. We are tough up here. Or something.

 

[Pax2u]

I’ve worked at a school in northern Michigan for 11 years. We’ve never been closed because of the cold temperatures. Our school policy is no outdoor recess if temperature (not wind chill, temperature) is zero or below…otherwise, the kids bundle up, go out for awhile, and do fine.

We generally have between 3-5 “snow days” per winter…days that school closes due to ice and/or blowing snow.

 

[marthagreys]

Where I live in northern Michigan we go by the -20 degree rule. I live in an extremely rural area, and the concern is the possibility of a bus breaking down 30miles from any building and being dangerous for everyone on board.

 

[Sabda]

I’ve worked at a school in northern Michigan for 11 years. We’ve never been closed because of the cold temperatures. Our school policy is no outdoor recess if temperature (not wind chill, temperature) is zero or below…otherwise, the kids bundle up, go out for awhile, and do fine.

We generally have between 3-5 “snow days” per winter…days that school closes due to ice and/or blowing snow.

We also have a similar policy. The little ones do not go outside if the temperature is 32 F or lower. The older ones don’t go out if it’s 20 or below.

Last few years we have had 2 snow days built in. This year we have 4 snow days built in. I guess they expect this to be a bad year. So far I’d say they where wise to do that. My sil works as a teachers assistant and she spent most of Christmas break complaining about how many snow days we could have gotten out of it. It started snowing on Christmas Eve. White Christmas’ are rare around here. The weather has been crazy ever since.

Thanks guys and gals for letting me know. It’s been interesting to see how others do this. Over here it’s pretty much left up to the discretion of the school. At least that’s the way it looks.

 

[jmcrae]

Our area here in Oklahoma is currently experiencing a very serious arctic cold snap as many of you know. Pretty much all the schools are closing because of it. Many kids do not have proper clothing for temperatures that are THIS cold, also many kids walk and have to stand and wait for the bus.

One complaint I have heard that has got me thinking is the fact that schools in the north do not close because of temperatures. Ice and snow yes but not temperatures. I would think if the temps where bad enough they would. So do your schools close when it’s super cold outside. I’m talking unusually cold for your area.

A lot of people out here are praising this decision to close schools but there are some that are really gripping about it. The “I have to work so they should go to school” arguments But then there is this argument about the temps and how schools in the north don’t close. I’ll admit that one has me curious. So what say you.

It would have to get down to minus 50 or worse (ie: too cold for a car to start) before schools would close around here, if the weather were otherwise clear.

Kids stay indoors for recess if it’s colder than minus 20 Celcius (cold enough for bare skin to freeze), but otherwise, they are expected to dress for the weather, which means, warm boots, warm socks, long underwear, pants (girls don’t normally wear dresses in the winter unless they’re wearing long pants underneath them) and lots of layering on top, beginning with a t-short, covered by a long sleeved shirt, covered by a sweater, and then a parka, and of course mittens, a scarf, and a woolen hat that pulls down over the ears.

 

[Liberanosamalo]

They told us to turn on outside faucets to drip to keep them from freezing. Two on the side of my house wouldn’t even turn. Well, one did and nothing came out. I didn’t even try to force the other one. Should I be worried?

We’ve had cold temps like this before and I had no exterior pipes bursting.

When the sun comes out tomorrow and the temps go up a little should I try to turn on the faucet again?

 

[kristacecilia]

When it gets too cold, often parents drive the kids to the bus stop and let the kids wait in the car till the bus comes.

That’s what people do where I live (Ontario). They also don’t close schools in our area. I don’t think I have ever known a school to close. What will happen is that the bus companies (which are privately owned, not owned by the school district) will not run. SO if you hear that “Company X Bus 1234 is cancelled” and you ride that bus, you aren’t going to school. I have never heard that the publically funded schools have cancelled classes- only private schools. And I don’t recall the buses being cancelled for very low temps, usually only for snow, ice, or freezing rain.

Not when we had two feet of snow overnight. Not when we had over 1/2 in of solid ice on everything and branches were breaking and cars wouldn’t start. Not when it was -40 with the windchill. Never. Not that I have known of, anyway.

This pretty much makes no sense to me because I have yet to figure out what the teachers and children who walk to school or are driven to school do on those days.

ETA: Our children are all very well prepared for cold weather, though. All children wear full snowsuits, snow boots, hats, mits/gloves, scarves, etc to school everyday in winter. I think it is required for them to be allowed outside during recess. I also think that the children are kept indoors if it is extremely cold. In a climate that was unused to such cold weather I could easily see why they might close schools for very low temperatures.

 

[Sabda]

They told us to turn on outside faucets to drip to keep them from freezing. Two on the side of my house wouldn’t even turn. Well, one did and nothing came out. I didn’t even try to force the other one. Should I be worried?

We’ve had cold temps like this before and I had no exterior pipes bursting.

When the sun comes out tomorrow and the temps go up a little should I try to turn on the faucet again?

I have never heard of turning on the outside faucets. They usually tells us to let our inside faucets drip.

Of course we’re on a well so the rules are a little bit different. Usually they are talking to people who are on a city system. We always make sure we have a light on in the well house to keep those pipes from freezing. That has always been our big concern. We had that happen one year. I stood outside with the hair dryer trying to help the pipes warm up a little faster. That was before we knew we where supposed to use a light. Since then we have never had the pipes freeze. DH even has it on a thermostat. The light automatically comes on when the temps hit below 40.

 

[Bankostu67]

I would assume all schools would have a temperature closing in place, but if they did include one it would probably be at a ridiculously cold temperature that it would never reach to.

Like I attend school in Nova Scotia, and our school board says that if the temperature gets to -30C (-22F) without wind chill then school will be closed.

Which to me seems like a very cold temperature, though of course I’ve never felt an Alberta Clipper before. Not that I’m complaining .

Its still cold to wake up to a Nor’easter though.

 

[Rkirby]

Thanks guys. DH lived in South Dakota for 8 yrs and he said the only time he heard of schools closing was if the highways closed. I was curious about other areas of the country.

I live in rural SD now. Last spring we had a blizzard and the schools were closed for 3 days because we had so many roads blown closed. On Thursday they finally had the roads cleared enough to send the busses out. School started 2 hours late and then they sent everyone home early before the roads turned to mud and the busses couldn’t get through. The schools were closed the next day due to mud!!!

Generally the north is prepared for snow and cold and has the equipment to handle it. The warmer states don’t need to invest the money in snow equipment because they only need it occasionally. When we lived in TN everything shut down for 6 inches of gentle snow.

 

[jmcrae]

I have never heard of turning on the outside faucets. They usually tells us to let our inside faucets drip.

I’ve never done that either - then again, I only ever use my outdoor faucets if it’s quite warm outside. The reason for letting them drip indoors is so that they will continue to work, even when it’s extremely cold (running water doesn’t freeze). But if you don’t try to turn on a frozen tap, no harm can come to the pipe, and if you don’t use it again until after the pipe is well thawed, then there would be no need to let it drip.

Of course we’re on a well so the rules are a little bit different. Usually they are talking to people who are on a city system. We always make sure we have a light on in the well house to keep those pipes from freezing. That has always been our big concern. We had that happen one year. I stood outside with the hair dryer trying to help the pipes warm up a little faster. That was before we knew we where supposed to use a light. Since then we have never had the pipes freeze. DH even has it on a thermostat. The light automatically comes on when the temps hit below 40.

That’s quite ingenious.

 

[Phemie]

That’s quite ingenious.

In PMQs on the local military base, that’s what they do when a Q is vacant over the winter. They set a light in the living room window which comes on if something goes wrong with the heating system and the temp drops to ‘pipe freezing’ levels. It’s quicker to just drive around once or twice a day and look for the lights than to bodily check every vacant Q. Not to mention that anyone seeing a light outside of normal work hours will contact housing and let them know.

 

[2HunnyBuns]

I live in NJ and when I was a kid school only closed if we had a bad snow storm where roads were unsafe, or if the island flooded (I grew up on an island). Now we live in another part of NJ and schools only close for snow and ice storms. Schools don’t close here if it gets too cold.

 

[runner93]

Our area here in Oklahoma is currently experiencing a very serious arctic cold snap as many of you know. Pretty much all the schools are closing because of it. Many kids do not have proper clothing for temperatures that are THIS cold, also many kids walk and have to stand and wait for the bus.

One complaint I have heard that has got me thinking is the fact that schools in the north do not close because of temperatures. Ice and snow yes but not temperatures. I would think if the temps where bad enough they would. So do your schools close when it’s super cold outside. I’m talking unusually cold for your area.

A lot of people out here are praising this decision to close schools but there are some that are really gripping about it. The “I have to work so they should go to school” arguments But then there is this argument about the temps and how schools in the north don’t close. I’ll admit that one has me curious. So what say you.

When I lived in Illinois, we had school except for the cases where the roads weren’t safe. Now I live in Georgia, where I’m the only who drives when it snows or gets icy lol. Oh and they cancel school if there’s only a 1/2 inch of snow.

 

[Tracy_Spenst]

If school were closed for temperatures here in NE North Dakota, there wouldn’t be school!!!

There were some days of -40 windchill last month and nothing was even delayed around here.

When I first came to ND to meet my future in-law’s, the day after I arrived the governor called of school state-wide for the following day because it was going to be -50 with a -90 windchill! The sun was shining and it looked beautiful, so I said to my then-boyfriend, “Can we go snowmobiling?” (I’m a central IL girl.) He looked at me and said, “Tracy, you don’t go out in this cold, you don’t do anything. All it means is that you’re going to die faster out there.” I got the point!

I have to admit, now that we’ve moved back here, I’m glad we’re homeschooling. I would have a hard time sending out my kids in -20 to the bus…

Warmly,
Tracy

 

[White_Tree]

I live in New England, and I can only remember one time our schools have closed due to temperature. It was probably about 7-8 years ago now (I was in high school), and some fluid froze in the buses and they couldn’t get any of them started. So they had no choice but to cancel school. I was thrilled. A little surprised (since we had no snow), but thrilled nonetheless.

 

[TamM]

facebook.com/?ref=home#/group.php?gid=22628281984

check out the pics in this group to get an idea of winters in Canada’s capital!

 

[Missanne1959]

I grew up in western New York, took the public school bus to my Catholic grammar and high schools (can you believe that?) and the only time we ever got a snow day was if it was extremely cold, there were blizzard conditions and driving was impossible or if there was no heat/burst pipes at school.

Northerners/midwesterners, I think, are much better prepared for winter weather because they deal with it so much: dress in layers, warm snow boots, snow suits for tykes, etc. Plus, they have snow removal equipment and salt.

I’ve lived in central Alabama for 23 years, and the first time we got an inch of snow, I was amused at how everyone went nuts. They still do (milk and bread sell out quickly - I think here you are required to buy milk and bread if they even breathe the word ‘snow’). We don’t have snow removal equipment & such, so it is dangerous to drive here when it does ice up or get snowy. The arctic blast gripped Alabama for about 11 days and it was brutal.