Schools and definition of too cold - REALLY?

[9mmfan]

Mishawaka canceled yesterday because of the cold. Wind chill was about -15 below. Car started a bit slow.
A friend of mine and his sister moved her from Grand Forks, ND many years ago. They told many a story of the snow so deep the Air Force base had to bring out there big equipment they use to clear off runways to open up the town. They use to play hockey outside on frozen pods to about -25 degrees before they would call it quits.

 

[Brandon]

We had to plug the trucks in when I worked at Lowes. It did nothing for those trucks (they were newer chevy 6500's)
My Blue Bird starts right up.

 

[Myla]

The day goes by faster.

I'm all for anything to make the day go faster... Mind you I need more hours in a day to get everything I want to get accomplished.

More sleep
more time at the gym
more time to spend with my loved ones.
A snow day would do that for me I suppose. Except I don't think we get those once we leave school.

 

[gunowner930]

Is this just a dumb Canadian thing? I'm thinking yes.

No, not at all. We get acclimated to the climate we live in. Central Indiana has a much warmer climate than most of Ontario, therefore we're not used to weather that is that cold. I've seen people in Daytona Beach bundled up with scarves after a cold front passed through in December that dropped daytime temps into the high 50s. I remember living in Southern California while in the Marine Corps, and coming home to Indiana during the winter always felt miserably cold even though the weather was about average for that time of year.

 

[Myla]

No, not at all. We get acclimated to the climate we live in. Central Indiana has a much warmer climate than most of Ontario, therefore we're not used to weather that is that cold. I've seen people in Daytona Beach bundled up with scarves after a cold front passed through in December that dropped daytime temps into the high 50s. I remember living in Southern California while in the Marine Corps, and coming home to Indiana during the winter always felt miserably cold even though the weather was about average for that time of year.

I know, I was born and lived the first 5.18 years of my life in the Philippines. I recall going to a resort in the mountains called Bagyo (Weather Forecast Baguio, Philippines | Baguio Weather | Wunderground), the temperature averaged around 22C/71F and we bundled up with double/triple ponchos. Now I ski in weather like -27C/-16F at the base of a mountain and
I'm OK with it. Seems normal now.


Happy Friday everyone!

 

[Ripper]

I have a friend that ran the transportation department shop for north west Allen county schools, he said it take some time on the cold mornings to get all the buses up and running and normally that is the cause of the delay. If you've got 150-200 (i dont know how many they have, i'm just throwing a number out there) buses to get started and on the road, a few non starters will put a kink in even the best planed departure.

 

[IndyGunworks]

the problem w/ the bus not startng theory is that my wifes school (greenfield) was cancelled at like 11 the night before. It DEFINATLY wasnt because of the roads because there wasnt a snow flake around. If it was because of the bus problem, and they new it would be a problem the night before then they had plenty of time to plan and get some guys in there two hours EARLIER to get all the busses going on time.

 

[Brandon]

There are reasons they do not call the mechanics in earlier in the morning to start buses on a cold day.

They have to work the afternoons as well to assist any buses the break down in the afternoon, wont start.... all that good stuff, calling them in early would be a disastrous call seeing townships do not want to pay overtime and all that great political bs.

I know I have told this one a few times on here, but a couple of years ago when I was on the starting team, we got the call to show up somwhere between 430-5 am to start them. Somewhere around the time of 545-600am we had around half a dozen buses started. So we called for a 2 hour delay. by that time we had MAYBE a dozen buses started. School was later closed for the day. If I recall correctly the temps/windchills were not that much colder then this past week.

 

[hacksawfg]

I grew up in Minnesota, and don't remember ever having classes delayed or canceled because of the cold. Maybe a 2-hour delay if you got more than 8-inches of snow. Now I live in Indiana, but work for a company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They think it's cute that school is delayed because it's only 10 outside.

Everyplace you go with outdoor parking in Winnipeg has outlets outside, because even the gasoline fueled cars need to have their engine blocks warmed up. Can't wait to get up there next month for work.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

We had a whole system to plug them all in, never had trouble with starting except dead batteries and other things that go south in the cold. Doors wouldn't open, stoparms wouldn't go out, that kind of thing. The big problem is the diesel fuel turning to jello. The mechanics would be busy on cold mornings, but the buses would always go, maybe a few spares. I think most of it is putting the precious little dumplings out in the cold for a few minutes. We're all yuppified around here, but you'd be surprised how many of them won't wear a coat.

 

[$mooth]

Heck, growing up in Calgary, it wasn't unusual for temperatures to hit -40 Celsius most days during the winter, and they never cancelled recess, let alone school. Either your parents took you, or you walked because a bus system was almost unheard of. The kids always used the ridiculous temperature as a reason to cut Luge tunnels out of the icy hill and crazy carpet their way through them. We had one winter in particular where we'd received about 5' of snow overnight. Dad went to open the garage door in the morning, and all we had was about 5 cm of sunlight poking out of the top of the 7-8' snowdrift piled up where the door was.

The kids now are babied way too much, and then people wonder why we're stuck with a society of whiners and people that sue over everything.

Down in Lexington, KY, where my parents are, they cancelled school because they received an 1/8" of snow on the ground. Holy smokes! My parents were floored.

I lived in Calgary until High School (moved to VA). Never had a snow day or a 2-hour delay. I don't remember ever having a day off due to weather/temperature. Same with recess. If I got to school early, before the doors were open, I'd wait in Dad's car until it was time.

Although we had a yellow school bus until grade 6. After that, we took the city bus (school district sold us the monthly passes at a significant discount).

When we were in VA, my parent's didn't believe us the first time we told them school was cancelled for an inch of snow.