Northern Tier roadfooders

Our temperatures here in Ohio have dopped to below zero, with a wind chill index making it -15. All the schools in the region are closed due to the dangerous temps. What I would like to ask you folks who live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan etc. is: since your weather is like that a good part of the winter, what do you do about the schools? I'm sure they don't stay closed for weeks at a time. Are there provisions for heated bus stops, etc.? Just curious--we were talking about this last night and nobody knew.

My daughter has lived in Minneapolis for years and remembers the schools closing only twice. That was because of unusual ice storms. She said the temperature yesterday was -1 with a windchill of -25 to -30 below. The same was expected for today. School wasn't going to be canceled as far as she knows. Some of the public transportation stops have heated shelters. The bus stop by her apartment isn't a shelter at all.

I live in KC and it's ridiculous how many snow days the schools around here take. If we get more than 3 inches of snow school get canceled.

It is very rare here in the Twin Cities for the schools to close for cold unless there are furnace issues or a broken water main. It was -16 F. this morning with a windchill of -40 F. My daughters certainly wanted the school closed!

They normally stay open due to the cold, but with this mornings wind chill, they all shut down around here.. Kids in the Grand Rapids School district either have to grab a city bus or walk to school, there is very limited busing. But another reason schools are closed today is due to a blizzard we had over the weekend. Roads have been plowed out, but considering salt dont work when it's this cold, nothing but an ice skating rink out there.. (You can read about our local deal at www.woodtv.com ).
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Schools rarely close in Minnesota. Never for the cold but do if there are blizzards. St. Paul has its winter carnival and had a downtown parade yesterday in below 0 conditions. They did shorten it to three blocks.

There are few heated bus stops. More are however coming online at major park and rides.

As for snow, generally our streets are plowed as soon as it starts snowing and sanded and salted prior to starts of snow. Usually if the snow ends in the evening our streets are plowed curb to curb before we get up to go to work. The only place where there are problems are in the inner city of Minneapolis and St. Paul where there is so much street parking to interfere with plowing efforts.

Minnesota is relatively warm compared to 20-30 years ago. With electronic ignition I have had no problem starting my cars. Block heaters and such are a thing of the past.

Winter outdoor activity goes on. People ice fish, hockey, broom ball, cross country ski, downhill ski, snow mobile, and snow shoe in the parks all winter. Joggers and walkers still use the paths that are cleared of snow. Once you get used to it it is not so bad. The trade off are glorious springs, falls and SUMMERS. We don't have to sweat like pigs in the summer. We can get temps over 100 but our evenings generally cool down. To this day I have no air conditioning in my house. It is naturally cooled and rose only once to 88 degrees when it hit 106 outside.

PS. I forgot to mention science experiments. When it reaches -20 like it did at our house you can take a pan of boiling water toss it in the air and watch it vaporize.

I grew up in Upstate New York and no, we didn't walk to school naked and shoeless up hill both ways in 2 feet of snow, but I cannot ever remember school be called for cold. It was rarely called off for snow. The school busses would be fitted with tire chains, and they'd sound like army half-tracks rattling down the road, but we went to school. We lived out in the country, and the roads could be quite interesting. Often we would wait for the town plow to go ahead of us. Our mothers just dressed us up like the little brother in "A Christmas Story" and we went out to the end of our driveways and waited for the bus to come along. I once asked our local school district superintendent why school is now so often delayed and closed on days there seemed virtually no reason to close schools. His answer was true but sad..people are so quick to file suit, hoping to win the "lottery" that they can't take the chance. If a careless driver slides into a school bus, it's the school's fault. They should have known that the careless driver would be there. There's no way for them to win.

Notes on Winter School scedules-
The first teaching job this Southern Californian started was above Oneida Lake in Upstate N Y (68-72). I had never seen a place where one had to dig down to find the roof of their car if they left it close enough to the road for the plows to really give it a 'cover'. Lots of folks really did use snow machines (Ski-Doos)to get around town. The most dangerous thing I recall was the snow piled beside the roads so high you could not see anything at intersections or driveways until you were actually in front of the driveway. Lots of close calls and fender benders every winter. Studded snowtires on all 4 corners helped a bit !

Skip forward to the 1988-2000 era. I had returned to the High Desert (Mojave) of SoCal. We had at least 1 and usually several snow days each of those years. The district reached from the summit of Cajon Pass out to Victorville (about 20 miles) and ranged from 4500 ft down to about 2700 ft in elevation. Snow amounts are normally based on altitude there. More at the higher end than the lower. Due to conflicts between the elementary and high school district schedules NO Delayed Openings were allowed. It was School or NO school-period. So we might wake up to a couple of inches of wet snow in the early morning and by noon the sun would be out and the snow all gone. What a nice way to have a snow day!
Southern California has the right idea on how to time its snow days for times when you can really enjoy them!

Here in Indiana we have delayed openings often...today there was a 2 hour delay for almost all the districts on this side of the river from Louisville. I did se a notice for a Kentucky County that said "2 hour delay at the driver's discretion". I have never seen the decision for a pickup or delivery left to the bus-driver anywhere else.