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Snow | Pad Patter 1/6/22

QuiltyMom said:
It was a crazy storm. I’m in NoVA also, near Arlington, and we had between 6-8”. Friends in Ashburn got 3”. Others in Falls Church got 4”. Alexandria got 8”. And poor Fredericksburg got slammed, as @michelepixels and your friend know all about. Now they’re calling for 2-4” more overnight. I’m ready for Summer!
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I’m across Route 7 from Marshall High School ... just down the road from Tysons Corner Mall. FCPS have already cancelled school for tomorrow. I sure hope they can go back on Monday.
 
Oh my gosh, Jenn - I've watched the snarled traffic (two days) on TV with horror! Several years ago, we decided (I decided) that we were going to make our annual Christmas trek to Sanibel Island, FL from Michigan - by van. BIG MISTAKE!! We were stuck for hours on I-95!!! We got caught in a "big snow storm" around Atlanta and of course, they couldn't handle it so the miles and miles of traffic sat, bumper to bumper for hundreds of miles! I'll never forget it (obviously). We'd turn our engines off to preserve gas and then get cold, and turn them back on. Honestly, people were out in the interstate road - walking around. I could SO relate to the latest horror! It was a solid sheet of ice and when we'd idle, our van would slide from side to side. it was so frightening.

Finally, my hubby got the map out (yes, it was back in the "map days" and he found an exit for us to take and we took the back roads to Florida - it was much further, but at least we were MOVING. We walked down "memory lane" when this happened recently.
 
Gahhh I read that word and cringe lol I hate snow so so much!!

We had about 7 inches of snow Sunday night/Monday morn and had "snow days" Monday and Tuesday. But we don't really have snow days anymore. Since the invention of virtual learning, we have virtual days in place of snow days. I don't mind it at all because it's a pretty chill day and we don't have to make them up!! The only time it sucks is when they expect teachers to come to the school to work because evidently we can't be trusted to work from home. I have 200 sick days built up...let them tell me I have to drive in this and I'll suddenly feel very very ill :giggle

That said, it is currently snowing again. I left work early today to get home before it started. DH went to stay in a hotel near work (he works night shift) so that he would be able to get there tonight and have a place to go in the morning. I look for us to close for tomorrow and have another virtual day.

Did I say I hate snow?! :furious
 
HavaDrPepper said:
They didn't like the fact that they'd have to come up with lesson plans for their virtual day when needed. I told her that if they were smart they would have stuff already planned that they could pull out when needed. Just like what my mom did when she had a sub. She always had some stuff that a sub could pull out and do with the students that reinforced what they had already learned, leaving new lessons for when she was there.
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We were told at the beginning of the year to have "snow day lessons" ready in our Google Classroom or Canvas because we would be doing virtual days. That's the way I looked at it, like having sub plans. We do have scheduled video meetings with each of the classes through the day, but the kids never show and it's not required that they do as long as they complete the lessons. In reality, they may have a couple of hours worth of work and then they are free to enjoy the snow. I love that we don't have to make them up!! We have 2 holidays coming up that we would have to be using for make up days if it weren't for the virtual option.
 
I'm also in Northern VA. We got 8 inches of snow near me with another 1-3 expected tonight. School was cancelled all week. My county said months ago that our first 5 snow days would be days off and days 6+ would be virtual days, so these 5 were "real" snow days. My family is in New York and Connecticut, and they laugh at us every time the schools here close and stay closed for amounts they wouldn't blink at in the Northeast. But a lot of it is plows and snow infrastructure. We get a lot less snow, so we have less equipment to clear it and it takes longer. That said, I really think that some of this week was the schools taking an easy out during a Covid surge when they knew they would have terrible staffing issues. The weather gave them an excuse to cancel, and they took it. I don't blame them! We've already gotten a letter from the superintendent about all the disruptions we should expect as they try to stay open. I'm actually a little jealous of the public schools this time around--I'm a preschool teacher, and generally if the county closes we close. But since we'd already announced (pre-storm) that we were going to stay virtual this week, we ended up running virtual classes even though the public schools didn't. Virtual classes require so much more work and prep than being in person!
 
IntenseMagic said:
We were told at the beginning of the year to have "snow day lessons" ready in our Google Classroom or Canvas because we would be doing virtual days. That's the way I looked at it, like having sub plans. We do have scheduled video meetings with each of the classes through the day, but the kids never show and it's not required that they do as long as they complete the lessons. In reality, they may have a couple of hours worth of work and then they are free to enjoy the snow. I love that we don't have to make them up!! We have 2 holidays coming up that we would have to be using for make up days if it weren't for the virtual option.
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I like your attitude about it! A lot of the teachers here just like to whine about everything and do as little work as possible. Just think about it... virtual school day vs. make up day by losing a holiday/spring break/extend school year. No brainer for me. Virtual wins.

I don't think they've had any days off this year. No measurable snow so far. Don't remember any bad fog days in the fall that might have caused a day off either.
 
Well the weatherman predicted lake effect snow all night long, so they closed school last night for today and then we didn't end up getting much more than a couple of inches. My boys were thrilled though! :giggle
 
rach3975 said:
I'm also in Northern VA. We got 8 inches of snow near me with another 1-3 expected tonight. School was cancelled all week. My county said months ago that our first 5 snow days would be days off and days 6+ would be virtual days, so these 5 were "real" snow days. My family is in New York and Connecticut, and they laugh at us every time the schools here close and stay closed for amounts they wouldn't blink at in the Northeast. But a lot of it is plows and snow infrastructure. We get a lot less snow, so we have less equipment to clear it and it takes longer. That said, I really think that some of this week was the schools taking an easy out during a Covid surge when they knew they would have terrible staffing issues. The weather gave them an excuse to cancel, and they took it. I don't blame them! We've already gotten a letter from the superintendent about all the disruptions we should expect as they try to stay open. I'm actually a little jealous of the public schools this time around--I'm a preschool teacher, and generally if the county closes we close. But since we'd already announced (pre-storm) that we were going to stay virtual this week, we ended up running virtual classes even though the public schools didn't. Virtual classes require so much more work and prep than being in person!
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You must be in Fairfax County too. And I agree, FCPS took advantage of the snow days in the face of COVID surging again causing staffing issues. Bummer that you had to do preschool virtually.
 
We were supposed to get snow Monday morning...but nothing! My kids were very disappointed. It didn't get cold enough. This week there have been 2 days of school delays due to potential ice/snow (although doesn't affect me since we homeschool).

We get snow just a couple of times of the year and we live in a rural mountain area that is not equipped to handle snow. So it can get hazardous with just a little bit of snow. It all depends on the roads you have to drive...steep driveways, mountain roads, etc...

Last year my daughter was going to work early in the morning and it had snowed a couple of days before but was mostly all melted and gone. She hit a patch of black ice (where the melted snow had frozen) and rolled her car early in the morning on her way to work. She had driven on the same road the night before and it was fine because the temp wasn't below freezing....so she thought it would be fine. Thankfully she was fine!
 
Scrapping with Liz said:
Last year my daughter was going to work early in the morning and it had snowed a couple of days before but was mostly all melted and gone. She hit a patch of black ice (where the melted snow had frozen) and rolled her car early in the morning on her way to work. She had driven on the same road the night before and it was fine because the temp wasn't below freezing....so she thought it would be fine. Thankfully she was fine!
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Oh my gosh! That sounds terrifying! I'm so glad she was okay. When I first read this I thought you said "last night" and I was like wow... you're so calm about it for it being last night! Reading is hard... :giggle
 
Black ice is no fun. Many years ago I was going to a day seminar in Ft Wayne with a co-worker who drove. He hit black ice and we swerved but thankfully he was able to correct with no issues. We were also on a 4 lane highway during what would be called "rush" hour. It took me the rest of the trip to calm down my heart was pounding so hard.
 
Karen said:
Oh my gosh! That sounds terrifying! I'm so glad she was okay. When I first read this I thought you said "last night" and I was like wow... you're so calm about it for it being last night! Reading is hard... :giggle
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LOL!

HavaDrPepper said:
Black ice is no fun. Many years ago I was going to a day seminar in Ft Wayne with a co-worker who drove. He hit black ice and we swerved but thankfully he was able to correct with no issues. We were also on a 4 lane highway during what would be called "rush" hour. It took me the rest of the trip to calm down my heart was pounding so hard.
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The moment she called my husband I knew something was wrong. I jumped out of bed in my PJs and we hopped in the car. We knew there was black ice so we had to drive super carefully and right as we came up to the bend where we knew she flipped we started to slide but we were going slow and were fine. We were all shaken up but she didn't have a scratch on her. She had called a friend from work who is a volunteer firefighter...so by the time we got there they had helped her out, called police and tow truck, etc., and blocked off the roads. It could have been so much worse. She was feet from rolling into a river!

It took her a couple of weeks until she would drive again. And now she doesn't want to drive if there's any hint of snow or ice.
 
Scrapping with Liz said:
LOL!



The moment she called my husband I knew something was wrong. I jumped out of bed in my PJs and we hopped in the car. We knew there was black ice so we had to drive super carefully and right as we came up to the bend where we knew she flipped we started to slide but we were going slow and were fine. We were all shaken up but she didn't have a scratch on her. She had called a friend from work who is a volunteer firefighter...so by the time we got there they had helped her out, called police and tow truck, etc., and blocked off the roads. It could have been so much worse. She was feet from rolling into a river!

It took her a couple of weeks until she would drive again. And now she doesn't want to drive if there's any hint of snow or ice.
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Yikes! So scary, especially so close to the river. Eeek! I don't blame here for not wanting to drive in the snow or ice either. That would definitely make a lasting impression!
 
Karen said:
Yikes! So scary, especially so close to the river. Eeek! I don't blame here for not wanting to drive in the snow or ice either. That would definitely make a lasting impression!
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Especially someone so young with less experience driving.
 
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