School Closures in the DC Region

[Subtropics]

It seems we have gotten to the point where 1'' of snow = a closure for our region. I do NOT have a problem with this, unlike some people, but I think it is telling in a couple ways.

 

1) It shows just how little snow frequency we get. If it snowed frequently kids would never go to school 3 months out of the year.

2) The region is becoming more southern in this regard. Raleigh would close for an inch of snow. DC is now in that same boat. Flakes fly and traffic is a nightmare, and people freak out. ALA Southern city.

3) Look around on cold days here. I rarely see scarves, I rarely see gloves, hats are on maybe 50% of people. Heck, some people wear sweatshirt hoodys and don't even own winter jackets. This shows our average winter low high in the low 40s just isn't that cold. The average person around here doesn't own actual winter gear, and this includes the children.

4) Schools do seem to have gotten more quick on the days off as opposed to even a few years ago. Could this be attributed to our new snow climo?

 

Just remember, DC is not a snow area and the way our area handles snow should be a reminder of this. It is a special event when we receive measurable snow. We are ill prepared to handle the winter elements here, and I think it will get increasingly worse as our climate continues to change. While not radicial shifts, it doesn't take much for a DC winter to suddenly be the Richmond/Raleigh winter of 50 years ago.

 

[Jandurin]

Timing matters too.  It's not like we got an inch of snow that ended at 3AM.

[George BM]

I remember back in the day (2000's) when Fairfax County Public Schools would not close even when 6+ inches of snow had fallen and roads were... not good. Maybe it had to do with me being in the west/northwest edge of the county where the most hazardous winter conditions often occurred so perhaps I saw things differently from others.

But I remember one fairly decent ice event (end of January 2008?...it was winter 2008 I know that) where Fairfax County Public Schools were on a 2 hour delay. Almost none of the ice had melted when I was walking up to the bus which was right in front of my house. When we were dropped off at school I kept on doing the moonwalk back towards the buses while trying to get to the grass wondering if I would fall and/or slide under a bus. Someone who had already made it onto the grass pulled me to "safety". There were countless stories of kids falling and broken bones and accidents. The mountain of complaints from parents reached the moon. That seemed to be the event that changed Fairfax County. 

 

[MN Transplant]

I think it is a societal shift also.  There is much more of a sensitivity to a worst-case scenario.  I think you would find that places up north close more often too than they used to.  Especially universities that almost never closed in the past.

 

The other local aspect is that some of the school districts have built in additional days in the calendar to make sure that they meet the state-regulated number of instructional days.  That gives the districts more leeway in closing schools since they are already playing with house money.

[gymengineer]

I can only speak to Montgomery County, but for us, closing for an inch almost never happened before this season. 2/7/07 was a closure for 1-1.5”. 

There have been plenty of examples of 2-hr delays for *more* than 1” of snow, like 1/24/13, 1/11/11 or 1/8/10.

[gymengineer]

3 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

I think it is a societal shift also.  There is much more of a sensitivity to a worst-case scenario.  I think you would find that places up north close more often too than they used to.  Especially universities that almost never closed in the past.

 

The other local aspect is that some of the school districts have built in additional days in the calendar to make sure that they meet the state-regulated number of instructional days.  That gives the districts more leeway in closing schools since they are already playing with house money.

Yeah, I’ve noticed Boston area schools closing a lot more now.

What’s especially surprising for today’s closing is that Montgomery County has now used up all its snow days. Only 2 now instead of the 4 or 5 days in the past...

[NorthArlington101]

2 minutes ago, gymengineer said:

Yeah, I’ve noticed Boston area schools closing a lot more now.

What’s especially surprising for today’s closing is that Montgomery County has now used up all its snow days. Only 2 now instead of the 4 or 5 days in the past...

Huh, I was going to say what I think the cause is the fact that most counties are adding more snow days to the schedule. 

Not sure if I heard this on here or not so take it with a grain of salt but I believe Arlington increased the amount of snow days built in, as well as FFX this year. Someone told me FFX has something crazy like 15 built in, while Arlington now has ten. Used to be 10/5 respectively. Not sure if that is entirely true but its part of my theory. 

[SomeguyfromTakomaPark]

Closing for today's snowfall was overdoing it.  A 2-hr delay was sufficient.  By the time 9 o'clock rolled around all the primary roads had enough traffic to be completely clear and buses should have been be able to navigate all but the steepest secondary roads.

[Jandurin]

Maryland reduced its snow day allotment because of the Larry Hogan school schedule thing.

[KingJWx]

4 minutes ago, NorthArlington101 said:

Huh, I was going to say what I think the cause is the fact that most counties are adding more snow days to the schedule. 

Not sure if I heard this on here or not so take it with a grain of salt but I believe Arlington increased the amount of snow days built in, as well as FFX this year. Someone told me FFX has something crazy like 15 built in, while Arlington now has ten. Used to be 10/5 respectively. Not sure if that is entirely true but its part of my theory. 

I believe Fairfax used to have 3 built in snow days (makeup days needed after that). Then they changed it in 2014-15.

[NorthArlington101]

1 minute ago, KingJWx said:

I believe Fairfax used to have 3 built in snow days (makeup days needed after that). Then they changed it in 2014-15.

Thanks for the clarification. Definitely more then it used to be for both counties, even if the numbers I'd heard passed around weren't accurate. Wouldn't be shocked if other area counties upped their snow day allotment. 

[mattie g]

Each of the four bullet points in the op are kind of dumb, if I'm being perfectly honest.

MN Transplant's theory makes much more sense.

[yoda]

30 minutes ago, NorthArlington101 said:

Huh, I was going to say what I think the cause is the fact that most counties are adding more snow days to the schedule. 

Not sure if I heard this on here or not so take it with a grain of salt but I believe Arlington increased the amount of snow days built in, as well as FFX this year. Someone told me FFX has something crazy like 15 built in, while Arlington now has ten. Used to be 10/5 respectively. Not sure if that is entirely true but its part of my theory. 

Fairfax changed the rules in which they only now need (at the very least) 990 hours of teaching/instruction for students.  @gymengineer had made a post about this in another thread -- at least I think it was him. 

I think 2 hour delays are becoming more and more frequent for school systems around here.  As @MN Transplant stated in his post above, its more about the societal change and impact in today's world -- and unfortunately, a more litigious society.  If schools opened on time today and a student who walks to school falls on ice and breaks his leg, the parents would be the first to blame the school system for not delaying so that there would be "no ice" on the sidewalk and that their child is able to walk safely to school. 

[ThePhotoGuy]

Every storm is different. It all depends when it falls and how much or little falls. It does seem like school closings and delays have been more common around here. 

I was walking around 1030-11, and the side roads around here were still snow covered. Where cars had driven the slush was pretty compacted and were pretty icy. We received 1.50 inches around this area. I can see how it was warranted today. 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

It's been alluded to already I believe, but I'm sure at least part of the issue is that the population in the metro DC area has exploded even in just the past couple of decades.  I'm sure the logistics of dealing with that have changed and can be a nightmare at times.  The traffic is worse of course, plus add to that many more people in this area from places that may not necessarily be used to handling winter driving conditions.  And the occasional times that roads are not treated correctly.

My daughter is in MoCo schools, and I will say I agree some of the closures get a bit ridiculous, or at least seem that way on the surface.  However, 2-hour delays for something like this morning I have absolutely no argument with (though was surprised they ended up closing a bit later!).  That said, MoCo is pretty large and I know there are some areas that are out there and remote.  I have no idea what the road conditions are in the northern part of the county as I live close to DC here.  There have been days in the past where there were closures/delays primarily because the northern part of the county was in worse shape (e.g., ice), even if Silver Spring/Bethesda/Chevy Chase was OK.  The Jan. 2016 blizzard is a good recent example off the top of my head of that kind of discrepancy:  yeah, I can see that the Monday and Tuesday after the storm, things were shut down to dig out.  However, by mid-week, where I was at the roads were cleared and it wasn't bad getting around.  Yet MoCo was closed that *entire* week through Friday.  I suspect that's because farther up in the county, they got nearly 3 feet of snow and some of those side or more remote roads were probably still a disaster.  Of course, they can't really just shut down certain schools in the county that are affected by adverse weather, they take out the entire county even if one's area is in OK shape.

I grew up in a snowy and cold weather place during winters (northeast Ohio).  While I can certainly appreciate the "hey we had to trudge to school in worse without batting an eye!" (uphill both ways, on our dinosaurs, no less !), there were plenty of times I recall closures for "just" cold, being let out early in advance of snow that would cause potential traffic issues, etc., as well.

[Bob Chill]

1 hour ago, gymengineer said:

Yeah, I’ve noticed Boston area schools closing a lot more now.

What’s especially surprising for today’s closing is that Montgomery County has now used up all its snow days. Only 2 now instead of the 4 or 5 days in the past...

School won't let out for summer until July 4th after we repeat Feb 2010 here shortly. 

[gymengineer]

10 minutes ago, Bob Chill said:

School won't let out for summer until July 4th after we repeat Feb 2010 here shortly. 

I know this was in jest, but literally adding on more and more days at the end is no longer an option anymore until we get a new governor  

[vastateofmind]

1 hour ago, Bob Chill said:

School won't let out for summer until July 4th after we repeat Feb 2010 here shortly. 

From your lips to God's ears...

[WVclimo]

I went to high school in western Maryland in the late 1970's.  As some of you may know, those were some very snowy winters in that area.  Our school closed occasionally for the heaviest snowfalls, but I also recall many times standing in the street waiting for the bus because there was so much snow we couldn't get to the bus stops. 

My favorite story to tell my kids was my experience in 10th grade driver's ed, behind the wheel with an instructor and two other students in the car, and being advised to stay in the tracks made by other cars with several inches on the highway and heavy snow falling as we climbed the mountains.  Can you imagine that today ?  I honestly don't know how we survived life back then, lol.  Guess it was a good way to learn to drive in snowy conditions.

Last night, my yard had 1.5" and from traveling across the county today, it looks like we were one of the snowiest spots.  Once south of Martinsburg there was barely a dusting.  Our schools were closed though.  Its a different world now, even for places much less populous than the metro areas.

[wxdude64]

5 hours ago, WVclimo said:

I went to high school in western Maryland in the late 1970's.  As some of you may know, those were some very snowy winters in that area.  Our school closed occasionally for the heaviest snowfalls, but I also recall many times standing in the street waiting for the bus because there was so much snow we couldn't get to the bus stops. 

My favorite story to tell my kids was my experience in 10th grade driver's ed, behind the wheel with an instructor and two other students in the car, and being advised to stay in the tracks made by other cars with several inches on the highway and heavy snow falling as we climbed the mountains.  Can you imagine that today ?  I honestly don't know how we survived life back then, lol.  Guess it was a good way to learn to drive in snowy conditions.

Last night, my yard had 1.5" and from traveling across the county today, it looks like we were one of the snowiest spots.  Once south of Martinsburg there was barely a dusting.  Our schools were closed though.  Its a different world now, even for places much less populous than the metro areas.

Yep, I finished in '82 and remember trudging out to the bus stop in elementary days (mid 70s) with it snowing at the time and you could hear the bus coming because of the chains. Brother was still in school in '85 when it was -18 here and they went on a 2 hour delay to be able to get the buses started lol.

Another thing (and this goes along with the 'litigious' society theory) is the bus in elementary picked up more students than seats, EVERY day the last 6-8 on the bus stood the 8 miles to school. Heck we RAN when the bell rang so we weren't the last on coming home to get a seat, and that was 3 to a seat. Can you imagine the uproar if kids 'stood' on a bus now days???

[Wonderdog]

16 minutes ago, wxdude64 said:

Yep, I finished in '82 and remember trudging out to the bus stop in elementary days (mid 70s) with it snowing at the time and you could hear the bus coming because of the chains. Brother was still in school in '85 when it was -18 here and they went on a 2 hour delay to be able to get the buses started lol.

Another thing (and this goes along with the 'litigious' society theory) is the bus in elementary picked up more students than seats, EVERY day the last 6-8 on the bus stood the 8 miles to school. Heck we RAN when the bell rang so we weren't the last on coming home to get a seat, and that was 3 to a seat. Can you imagine the uproar if kids 'stood' on a bus now days???

You used to hear in FFX County that on marginal days they had to close the schools if the 5 kids who lived in the further western parts of the county couldn't get buses to them. That was 15 years ago but I always thought so what if a small number couldn't get bus service. Never understood that logic. 97 % could get bus service and the three who couldn't dictated for the rest of the school population. But that's the state of the school systems around here. 

[Wonderdog]

10 hours ago, Subtropics said:

It seems we have gotten to the point where 1'' of snow = a closure for our region. I do NOT have a problem with this, unlike some people, but I think it is telling in a couple ways.

 

1) It shows just how little snow frequency we get. If it snowed frequently kids would never go to school 3 months out of the year.

2) The region is becoming more southern in this regard. Raleigh would close for an inch of snow. DC is now in that same boat. Flakes fly and traffic is a nightmare, and people freak out. ALA Southern city.

3) Look around on cold days here. I rarely see scarves, I rarely see gloves, hats are on maybe 50% of people. Heck, some people wear sweatshirt hoodys and don't even own winter jackets. This shows our average winter low high in the low 40s just isn't that cold. The average person around here doesn't own actual winter gear, and this includes the children.

4) Schools do seem to have gotten more quick on the days off as opposed to even a few years ago. Could this be attributed to our new snow climo?

 

Just remember, DC is not a snow area and the way our area handles snow should be a reminder of this. It is a special event when we receive measurable snow. We are ill prepared to handle the winter elements here, and I think it will get increasingly worse as our climate continues to change. While not radicial shifts, it doesn't take much for a DC winter to suddenly be the Richmond/Raleigh winter of 50 years ago.

 

I think the snow removal/prep before a storm has really gotten better in the last ten years. It takes a special storm to clog the main arteries with snow, which means maybe once a year around here. the rest of the time the roads are just wet. I thought Montgomery county today should be ashamed of itself. They backhandedly blamed the forecast when it snowed another hour or two which meant what, another tenth of an inch of snow that may have accumulated? Wimps and Simps.

[snjókoma]

A lot of these systems are still scarred from 1/6/15... I know from inside sources that Arlington shifted its whole paradigm after that disaster of day (Snowed 3-4" in Arlington, Loudoun, Fairfax from 5-11 AM and all the school systems were open). Now they always have a 2 hour delay for a coating of snow when it sticks to the road and sidewalk, and always reassess closer to 7 AM and close if it's still snowing heavily. The whole debacle was important because it taught them the difference between 2" of snow at 32 degrees and 2" of snow at 24 degrees. But Arlington never does "cold days", and is still tougher than Fairfax county for the most part.

[Cobalt]

44 minutes ago, snjókoma said:

A lot of these systems are still scarred from 1/6/15... I know from inside sources that Arlington shifted its whole paradigm after that disaster of day (Snowed 3-4" in Arlington, Loudoun, Fairfax from 5-11 AM and all the school systems were open). Now they always have a 2 hour delay for a coating of snow when it sticks to the road and sidewalk, and always reassess closer to 7 AM and close if it's still snowing heavily. The whole debacle was important because it taught them the difference between 2" of snow at 32 degrees and 2" of snow at 24 degrees. But Arlington never does "cold days", and is still tougher than Fairfax county for the most part.

1/20/16 was also a biggie too. 1" of snow at 20 degrees ended up causing big problems on the roads.