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Snow Days | Pad Patter 1.5.17

keepscrappin

keepscrappin

ScrapWithTheWind
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Apr 2, 2010
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We got snow, snow and more snow last night, but living in Utah I've come to expect that a few times each winter.

We woke up to a phone call at 5:30 am telling us that we would have a 2-hour delayed start to school today. The kids were sad that it wasn't a full snow day off from school, but at least they got to sleep in. Too bad my hubby didn't get a late start for work. He had to leave way early. He got up and plowed out our driveway and sidewalks and and headed into work. He was a little late, because it took him 1.5 hours to get there! He normally has a 30 minute drive, but with all the snow it was crazy slick and slow going. I'm so glad he got there safely.

I'm on to drive the school carpool this week, so I'm glad that we have the late start to give the crews more time to finish plowing out the smaller roads and the school parking lots. It been crazy this week with all the snow and last night was the biggest we've gotten so far. Thank goodness for the snowplow crews.

As a kid I always loved it when they closed the schools for snow, but now they've changed the laws and we have to make up snow days if there's more than 1 each winter. Thank goodness, they allow the delayed starts. That helps to make sure things are safer to get the kids to school.

Do you live in an area that gets lots of snow or delays or closes school for other weather related reasons? Did you love snow days when you were a kid?
 
I didn't even know what a snow day was when I was a kid growing up in San Diego. :D Now, as a mom raising kids in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I know what snow days are but whether they close schools don't affect us as homeschoolers. A snow day cancellation is more likely to be disappointing to us because it cancels an activity we signed up for and wanted to attend! But if the snow doesn't cancel an event we'd planned, then we go out and play in it if it's enough snow. We don't really get very much here. Several dustings and a couple of snowstorms with maybe 6 inches is pretty typical.

I've been watching a snowflake appear and disappear repeatedly on my weather app for Saturday. And I scrolled past a Washington Post weather report on FB saying there might be some snow soon. If so, it will be our first since last February. Or maybe March; often we get a snowstorm in March. It's kind of silly we rarely get snow in December -- no white Christmases -- but get it mostly in February and March.
 
oh yes, I was thinking how nice it would be to homeschool during the winter and not have to worry about driving in the snow. I admire you moms that can do it. I need the break from my kids and I'm sure my kids appreciate the break from me too... lol I tend to be a control freak and homework Nazi so being the teacher too would not be a good combination... hehe
 
We homeschool too, but on snow days, we don't! lol...heck I don't homeschool for good weather some times..bhahha
it is just to pretty to be sitting in this room...we are going OUTside..
Our town only has ONE snow plow, so we depend on the sun to melt.
The schools are closed even for a dusting!
 
Here in NY - yes we usually get plenty of snow days and we have those 2 hr delay starts. (I agree. Those delay starts are a life saver!) We've used 2 delays so far I think. And we budget in 5 snow days for the school year. Anything over we have to make up - any snow days we do not use, we get back in the Spring.

I love the sleeping in part of a 2 hour delay - bc my kids wake at 5:30 in order to catch the HS bus. Not fun. It's much nicer to get going at 7:30 am!

I loved loved snow days as a kid - just as much as mine do now. But once we get to 5 snow days and the threat of losing beautiful Spring days off is upon us ... we don't wish for them anymore.
 
We've had a fair chunk of snow here this year. It's technically considered a "desert" climate so even though it gets cold, we don't get a lot of precipitation. But it's definitely snowed a lot this year and we're expecting another 3-6" Saturday and Sunday.
 
We are on our third snow day in a row here right now! It's crazy and unprecedented. Before this, we hadn't had any snow days at all since we moved here two years ago, but now we seem to be making up for it. I am a teacher, and we were scheduled to return from Christmas break on January 2nd, but we still haven't been back at all. It rarely snows around here, so no one seems to know what to do when it does.
 
Here in Michigan we are allowed 5 snow days any over and above those are days we need to make up. Past years, which I really like, the time we need to make up is added on to each school day by minutes. Which isn't even noticeable that much. I think I remember last year by time they did the math and started the add on time it was like 3 minutes were added to each school day.
 
Depends on the amount of snow.

We are a hardy bunch here in the North East, and most of the people around here are used to snow. We've got loads of plows, road treatments, and salt. We usually are in school with snow up to 5" or so, most likely a delay... and anything after that, it depends on the type of snow, whether heavy, thick, icy, powder, etc.) We have 3 days built in... and if not used, we get them back toward the end of the year. :)

Most of the time, we get snow delays, but a few actual snow days. :) I love them, since I can then sleep and go to work late with an acceptable excuse (they are not very understanding here!)
 
Only snow days here have happened during/because of a blizzard. Chicago Public Schools has had 3 snow day and I think 3 extreme cold day closures since 2000. My daughter went to a Catholic grammar school and they had three snow days built into their school calendar, so once they let them have a snow day late in the season since they hadn't used any of their days. It did snow that day, but not much and they had canceled school before it ever started snowing. They changed principals and it never happened with the new one.
 
No snow day or late start for us today, even though we were really hoping for one. It's been snowing here (UT), but where we live hasn't seeing much snow like the cities around us.
 
aballen said:
No snow day or late start for us today, even though we were really hoping for one. It's been snowing here (UT), but where we live hasn't seeing much snow like the cities around us.
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I was actually a little surprised that Davis County delayed the start. I'm guessing they thought we would get more later in the morning from the lake effect off the Great Salt Lake. That lake effect is tricky and we never know how much snow to expect. We get pounded when the cold air comes from the west and picks up all that moisture. It really dumps it on us, when it hits the mountains on the east. Glad it moved south more this time. Luckily the snow, stopped before school would have normally started. Even with that, I'm still glad it was a late start because the school parking lot was cleaned out a lot better than it has been earlier this week. My oldest daughter said the high school parking lot has been a mess this week, but was better today. I think the threat of so much snow encouraged the district to get the plows out sooner and the delayed start helped them plow better because the cars weren't there in the way.
 
no snow here. I'm too close to the ocean (but not close enough to see it! LOL) and sea level. BUT, I grew up in Southern Oregon and I've been watching my friends from home post photos. It's insane. The Rogue Valley has A TON of snow which is super unusual since it's in a valley. It's been fun to see. Usually their biggest worry is ice and a terrible fog that hits in the winter. I don't think they've been able to start back to school yet. They've had 3 snow days so far. My daughter doesn't go back until Monday so we still have a couple more days ...
 
enjoyyourpix said:
no snow here. I'm too close to the ocean (but not close enough to see it! LOL) and sea level. BUT, I grew up in Southern Oregon and I've been watching my friends from home post photos. It's insane. The Rogue Valley has A TON of snow which is super unusual since it's in a valley. It's been fun to see. Usually their biggest worry is ice and a terrible fog that hits in the winter. I don't think they've been able to start back to school yet. They've had 3 snow days so far. My daughter doesn't go back until Monday so we still have a couple more days ...
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My son is on a LDS mission in Salem, Oregon and they've had some snow this year. They won't let the missionaries drive when it snows so he's done a lot of tromping through it. Thank goodness he's a Utah boy so he's used to it! lol
 
Like Julie said- we're really dry here in Eastern WA but we get plenty of snow. But it's the fluffy, blowing around stuff that is fairly easy to drive in. We have a few snow days built into our yearly schedule- but rarely have them. Occasionally we'll have late start- but I can only remember 1 or 2 days since my daughter has been in school the last 3 years. So far most of our snow was during Christmas Vacation so we'll see how the rest of the year goes. Right now it's SUPER cold!
 
We typically have several snow days. I can only remember one year in my 28 years teaching that we had less than 5. Last year, I think we had 11 or 12. It's not that we get a lot of snow...we will get one really big one and then a bunch of like 3-5 inch ones, but we are in the mountains and the boonies. There are lots of back roads and lots of mountain roads that sometimes don't see a plow for days. I live in a subdivision that is privately maintained, and the plow driver just comes around when he feels like it, I guess. I have to go up hill to get out of my driveway and then immediately up hill again, and again to get out of the subdivision. It is not fun. I've slid backwards down the hill more times than I care to count. The older I get the more I hate it. I have been known to call in sick on days I just don't want to risk it. As for making them up... we make up the first 5, but 3 or 4 of them are built in to the calendar like MLK day, Presidents Day, etc they will take as make up days. Then they add on the end of the school year. The second 5 we don't have to make up, beyond that we start making them up again. There have been a few years that they added time on the school day (like 15 min a day) to make some of it up. I really don't like them. I would rather have the other days off and time at the end. And I just hate snow haha.
 
Sokee said:
Here in Michigan we are allowed 5 snow days any over and above those are days we need to make up. Past years, which I really like, the time we need to make up is added on to each school day by minutes. Which isn't even noticeable that much. I think I remember last year by time they did the math and started the add on time it was like 3 minutes were added to each school day.
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Yep! Here in Michigan we're allowed 5. I drive school bus for our district, so I know if we're having a snow day almost as soon as the superintendent decides it! That's a plus.... minus, I don't get paid for snow days (yet). I'll get paid for snow days once I've "passed" my probation (65 working days).

My kids love and hate snow days. "I'm bored" is usually uttered fairly early... which means that child gets extra chores. ;) Most of our snow days end up being due to extreme cold vs. actual snow. We've had "snow days" for major fog events. My rule is: If the schools decide it's not safe to come to school/work - then it isn't safe to go anywhere!! We usually curl up on the couches and watch tv or movies and eat whatever junk food we can find.
 
keepscrappin said:
I was actually a little surprised that Davis County delayed the start. I'm guessing they thought we would get more later in the morning from the lake effect off the Great Salt Lake. That lake effect is tricky and we never know how much snow to expect. We get pounded when the cold air comes from the west and picks up all that moisture. It really dumps it on us, when it hits the mountains on the east. Glad it moved south more this time. Luckily the snow, stopped before school would have normally started. Even with that, I'm still glad it was a late start because the school parking lot was cleaned out a lot better than it has been earlier this week. My oldest daughter said the high school parking lot has been a mess this week, but was better today. I think the threat of so much snow encouraged the district to get the plows out sooner and the delayed start helped them plow better because the cars weren't there in the way.
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Yeah, I think your side of town gets more snow for sure. Even South of us gets more snow than us.
I know, the parking lot at our elementary school was not plowed the other day. All they did was a line by the drop off section. The JRH did better, but still I would rather not drive when it's like this. I can't believe it took your husband 1 1/2 hrs to get to work. Yikes! DH's work is 2 miles from our home, so commute it's not bad.
 
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