Anyone from Alaska? Snow/school question

[Minnesota!]

I cannot imagine canceling school or outdoor play at 35!

Our cut off here is supposed to be 0, I believe, but if it is sunny, they do go out below that, too.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I don't live in Alaska but we are in Manitoba which is just north of North Dakota. My kids have never had a snow day ever. As a child (and yes that was a long time ago!) I remember one big blizzard in the 1980s that we had a day or two off school and another in the mid 90s while I was in university.
Sometimes if it's too cold (-40 with windchill) school buses in the city don't run and then kids have to be driven, take a city transit bus or skip school. My kids don't take bus so that never applies to us.
Now out in the rural areas it's different due to the hazards of highway winter driving. They do sometimes get snow days on account of road conditions. I would imagine in the farming communities you do get days where the town kids are there but not the farm ones.
They have indoor recess when it's -18 F with windchill.

 

[clori]

I don't know if my dd's school has a set rule. They will go outside on a sunny 20 degree day but not on a windy frigid 20 degree day. I doubt they go out when it is close to 0 F or below. When there is snow on the ground they no longer use the field or playground but at least get to go out to the black top area. Our classroom teachers go out to recess with the kids so I think they decide and most prefer to go out vs having indoor recess so it varies from grade to grade. One reason though for not going out when they feel it is too cold is several kids may not be dressed appropriately for staying outside vs just getting dropped off/picked up. Many kids wear a northface coat which really isn't designed for single degree days. Some kids don't have hats/gloves etc. I'm just guessing but if you live in an area with temps frequently being 10-20 below Fahrenheit that kids are dressed more appropriately for cold weather.

 

[leebee]

We don't actually have a set temperature for "indoor recess" but generally it seems that we will go out if it's above 0 degrees. That, of course, varies with the wind chill. We had sun and 12 degrees the other day, but the wind chill was -17. No WAY were we going out in that! Regarding dress, parents and students are all told that we will have outdoor recess whenever possible, so each student needs to wear/bring hat, gloves, jacket, and boots every day. Kids in K-5 are also told to wear their snow pants. If K-5 students don't have boots and snow pants, they have to spend recess on the paved area; they can't go onto the playground or climb on the plowed snowbanks. 6th-8th graders get a pass, as most of the prefer to spend recess standing around "being cool," and if they are out on the playground, they usually aren't rolling around in the snow. Kids without the proper gear still go outside- no excuses, you and your parents have all been told, and if you aren't dressed for conditions, you'll be cold.

We've had over 120" of snow this year and five snow days. My school district abuts the local "city" on one side but then runs out into rural areas and beyond (way out into the willy-whacks) so the superintendent has to consider whether the buses can navigate narrow, slippery, twisty, unplowed country roads as well as the main, more maintained streets. We are making up 2 of the snow days by doing student early release days on days that had previously been designated no-school/teacher workshop days. The other 3 days were clearly designated as "snow make-up days" when the calendar was published. It's all good; last student day is June 16, last faculty day is June 18. I sure wish it would hurry up and get here!

 

[tzolkin]

My son lives in Fairbanks, Alaska ... school starts in mid August, and ends before Memorial Day in May. There really aren't any snowdays as snowstorms are rare there, at least on the scale of what he experienced when he lived in upstate NY. Winter vacation isn't any longer than it was in NY, and there's only one week off in the spring (this year that week is in early March). Outdoors recess is cancelled when the temperature dips below minus 20.

You may have a misconception about the amount of snow that Alaska receives ... many areas don't really get that much snow, or not a lot of snow all at once. But once it gets cold, the snow stays!

I was going to post the same thing.

Look up Syracuse and the Tug Hill area of NY. Those are some of the the snowiest places in the US. Here's an article one of my family members send me this week. Well over 300" is a normal amount.
http://www.niagara-gazette.com/news...cle_2a6fdf04-c6ad-11e4-b78f-13e0b7bb43c8.html

Other areas in the Northeast have "winter" but nothing like the snowfall in the "lake effect" region. I think people assume that because they are nearby or in the same state that the weather is the same.

Just spent my first winter in NC after living up there for 15 years.
My kids had 8 snow/cold days in the last few weeks. If we had two a year when we lived in NY that was unusual.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

That is a high cutoff. At our school in Indianapolis it is 20. (although positive not negative! I am not as tough as an Alaskan!)

Northern Wisconsin resident here. Our schools call home as well for absences and our outside recess cutoff is 0. As soon as the temp drops to -1, they stay inside for recess. The unofficial threshold for canceling school due to cold is -35 or lower with the windchill (so not actual temp.) We're not as hearty as Alaskans, but almost!

 

[Wishing on a star]

I think there are a lot of misconceptions about different areas of the North and the South!

I live here in the South.
School has been called for many days this year.
I posted one account of the recent ice-storms.
I know somebody who lives where the ice was horrendous.
She, and most of the area, were without power for a full week.
Schools were cancelled for a full week.
Schools donated the frozen food that would go bad, because the power and freezers weren't running, to the Red Cross shelters.
I saw pictures of this natural disaster.
And, DH and I actually drove thru that area last weekend.
Everything I had heard was true.
Many places look like tornados went thru, because the ice just took everything down.

And, about cold days.
Yes, we could possibly have cold days when it is very very cold.
While we are just not prepared, at all, to de-ice busses and get them running, etc...
The bigger factor is the kids.
This is the very poor rural south.
Not only do kids not even own adequate cold weather clothing/gear, but even if they do, they are like brainless and think they can walk out the door in jeans or shorts and a hoodie. (okay, nuts, I know....) But, this is a very very real concern.

During that latest ice storm, the news was of the THOUSANDS of people who were trapped on the Interstates, especially coming down thru KY and TN. Here it was, the worst ice-strorm of the decade/century, and people seemed to have absolutely NO awareness of preparedness or risks... There were people out there on the interstates with little babies in their cars, no blankets, food, gas... Mind boggling!

 

[bcla]

Look up Syracuse and the Tug Hill area of NY. Those are some of the the snowiest places in the US. Here's an article one of my family members send me this week. Well over 300" is a normal amount.
http://www.niagara-gazette.com/news...cle_2a6fdf04-c6ad-11e4-b78f-13e0b7bb43c8.html

I heard one of the snowiest places in North America is right here in California. It's at Lassen Volcanic National Park in the Lower Cascade Range. However, it's pretty low right now as we're having a drought. Mount Rainier is actually the snowiest.

http://www.nps.gov/lavo/faqs.htm

On average, how much snow does the park get over a typical winter?
Typically, the park recieves 400 to 500 inches in a snow season ( November through April). This is measured at the southwest entrance of the park at an elevation of 6700 feet. there have been years when the park received over 700 inches in a snow season!

 

[Mommyof2Boos]

One thing a lot of people also dont take in to account is it is rarely windy and very dry up here in the Interior of Alaska. I would rather deal with -40 properly dressed in Alaska then -5 with -40 windchills in the Midwest where the propernclothes don't exist. That cold, wet winds is what gets you. But that -40 in Alaska can be very dangerous because after -25 it all feels the same and people don't always dress for the thermometer temps just what it feels like.. the rate frostbite happens between those two temperatures is quite different.