Stephen, I love this. Snow days in the South were indeed rare as hen’s teeth, and the possibility of one occurring kept us kids glued to the TV weather reports. One station here in E. Tennessee had a weather forecaster named Margie, with the tag line “Margie said it would — and it did!” (Must have been a network script of some sort?) Thanks for the memories.
Also, thanks for the week in review posts on Friday. It helps me keep up with whether I’ve missed anything.
I think I remember it taking a lot to stop the buses, in middle nowhere Ontario where I went to school. Generally if that happened it was really heavy snowfall or freezing rain taking down trees and wires. I remember one day with the trees all turned into white canopies by several feet of fairly early snow, and spending the day outside in it. Think that was the usual pattern. Yeah the buses can’t move and the Hydro workers are very busy, but we’re actually playing in that.
My kids were either walking to school or driven, so more rarely got snow days. Now and then tho school for them was just the few scattered teachers who made it making up games and playing videos.
I grew up in Louisville, Ky (where snow days were relatively common) and after college, moved to Macon, Ga (where snow days are almost nonexistent). I publicly snort-laughed reading this waiting for an oil change because my wife (born and raised Macon) still acts like cannibalism-level events are imminent every time there’s so much as a mention of the word “wintry”. I try to reassure her, what with my nearly 3 years of experience driving in snow (I went to college in Alabama), but still, she expects Snowmageddon every time. Great piece!
Ah, snow days. I remember, whether I was the one in school or it was my kids, watching the bottom of the TV screen while Katie Kouric and Matt Lauer rambled about something before throwing it over to Al Roker, waiting for our school district to join in on the cancellations. I've heard it described as similar to watching the ticker during the NBA or NFL draft. And if you missed it (when I was in school, our district started with a "B" and for my kids, we lived in a town that started with a "C"), usually joining in on the letter of the alphabet right after what you were waiting for, you had to sit there for a tense 5 or 10 minutes as the ticker went through every school in the state—private schools, separate preschools and daycares you couldn't care less about because they were 200 miles away.
Growing up in Minnesota, there were surprisingly few actual days off from school because of the weather—there had to be too much snow for buses to be out, which usually meant at least 2 feet of new snow on the ground from overnight. Either that, or if the temperature dipped below -30° (I've heard it's since been upped to -20°). But when there 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 days off, I totally get you on catching up on Y&R—"The Price Is Right" (with Bob Barker, of course) was on right before that and after Y&R you had to switch over to NBC for "Days of Our Lives." My kids, unfortunately, never knew those joys—they just put it on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network and called it a day.
But whether it was me or my kids, we never had to suffer the "remote classroom" scenario kids do now.
Stephen, I love this. Snow days in the South were indeed rare as hen’s teeth, and the possibility of one occurring kept us kids glued to the TV weather reports. One station here in E. Tennessee had a weather forecaster named Margie, with the tag line “Margie said it would — and it did!” (Must have been a network script of some sort?) Thanks for the memories.
Also, thanks for the week in review posts on Friday. It helps me keep up with whether I’ve missed anything.
I think I remember it taking a lot to stop the buses, in middle nowhere Ontario where I went to school. Generally if that happened it was really heavy snowfall or freezing rain taking down trees and wires. I remember one day with the trees all turned into white canopies by several feet of fairly early snow, and spending the day outside in it. Think that was the usual pattern. Yeah the buses can’t move and the Hydro workers are very busy, but we’re actually playing in that.
My kids were either walking to school or driven, so more rarely got snow days. Now and then tho school for them was just the few scattered teachers who made it making up games and playing videos.
I grew up in Louisville, Ky (where snow days were relatively common) and after college, moved to Macon, Ga (where snow days are almost nonexistent). I publicly snort-laughed reading this waiting for an oil change because my wife (born and raised Macon) still acts like cannibalism-level events are imminent every time there’s so much as a mention of the word “wintry”. I try to reassure her, what with my nearly 3 years of experience driving in snow (I went to college in Alabama), but still, she expects Snowmageddon every time. Great piece!
👏👏👏
Ah, snow days. I remember, whether I was the one in school or it was my kids, watching the bottom of the TV screen while Katie Kouric and Matt Lauer rambled about something before throwing it over to Al Roker, waiting for our school district to join in on the cancellations. I've heard it described as similar to watching the ticker during the NBA or NFL draft. And if you missed it (when I was in school, our district started with a "B" and for my kids, we lived in a town that started with a "C"), usually joining in on the letter of the alphabet right after what you were waiting for, you had to sit there for a tense 5 or 10 minutes as the ticker went through every school in the state—private schools, separate preschools and daycares you couldn't care less about because they were 200 miles away.
Growing up in Minnesota, there were surprisingly few actual days off from school because of the weather—there had to be too much snow for buses to be out, which usually meant at least 2 feet of new snow on the ground from overnight. Either that, or if the temperature dipped below -30° (I've heard it's since been upped to -20°). But when there 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 days off, I totally get you on catching up on Y&R—"The Price Is Right" (with Bob Barker, of course) was on right before that and after Y&R you had to switch over to NBC for "Days of Our Lives." My kids, unfortunately, never knew those joys—they just put it on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network and called it a day.
But whether it was me or my kids, we never had to suffer the "remote classroom" scenario kids do now.