Why do colder climate have snow days?

[NeptunePenguins]

There is this climate that averages a low of -20.9C in January or about -5.7F and it has snow days but a climate that averages a low of -7.4C or 18.7F that doesn't have them at all. So to many people they see the -7.4C climate as being BRUTAL but the -20.9C climate as being easy to live in. But why? Is it because of location? Latitude? Is it because the -20.9C has warm summers while the other place has cooler summers? Or are stereotypes at play here? 

 

 

I am guessing it is a Vegas vs Houston situation where Vegas averages a high of 40C/104F in July and Houston averages a high of 34.5C/94F in July but Vegas has dew points at like 7C during the most humid month of August while Houston has a muggy 22C/72F dew point average during their most humid month of July.

Edited May 13, 2021 by NeptunePenguins

[MrDrew]

I grew up in CA, so I had to learn all of this for my kids when I moved to CO. Most of it is on the buses. I've walked out to no snow on the streets, and my kids having a snow day.  What usually happens is that there's an area of the school district that's in a heavily wooded area, and a lot of dirt roads. The buses can't make it down the dirt roads when they're snow covered. If they can't get the whole district to the schools, they close them. If the streets are bad, even if they're paved, they keep the kids home.

The cold factor is regional. They closed the schools here when we got down to -15 to -20F for a few days. That's a normal day in the winter in MN/WI. People here don't have the clothes to deal with that kind of cold, since we usually only see 1-2 days below 0F per year. Can't make kids walk to school when they don't have gear to make it without freezing.

[Heimdallr]

In MN we almost never have schools closed just for snow. It would need to be something like 12"+ in a single night. 

We do get a few days a year closed because of cold though. It is too dangerous to have kids standing outside for a bus with a -40 wind chill.

[Mox]

3 minutes ago, Heimdallr said:

In MN we almost never have schools closed just for snow. It would need to be something like 12"+ in a single night. 

We do get a few days a year closed because of cold though. It is too dangerous to have kids standing outside for a bus with a -40 wind chill.

It used to be that way. Kids get multiple snow days a year now in MN.

[Heimdallr]

1 minute ago, Bullet Club said:

It used to be that way. Kids get multiple snow days a year now in MN.

Softies. Back in my day........ 😑

[Mox]

15 minutes ago, Heimdallr said:

Softies. Back in my day........ 😑

That's the only reason I know 😂

My siblings get more snow days off per year than I did in all my years of school combined.

[Blackstar12]

I have much appreciation for those that live in colder climates. I grew up in Florida. I have family that live in Michigan and when I visit them in the winter I bundle up like crazy. Yet I see people walking around in shorts and thin shirts lol.

[43M]

Kind of confused by the OP.   You ask about snow days and talk about different climates in regards to temperature, but you completely omit the other major factor in SNOW days....precipitation.

 

Outside of my years in the military, Ive lived in central PA most of my life.    Snow days are more about road conditions than merely just the snow itself.   School bus lines essentially determine whether or not schools get closed or have delays.   If the roads arent clear or the roads are slick, and the conditions arent expected to improve throughout the morning/day, they wont risk student safety.

 

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

I’d never until now considered the idea that there were people for whom the reason for a snow day wasn’t entirely obvious.

[pwny]

Large amounts of snow, and ice on the roads.

You don’t get ice on the roads when it’s -5°F. But if you’re above freezing and get some rain and then drop below, the entirety of the roads can become an ice slick. 

It doesn’t often get like the above and most areas won’t see severe icing, but the whole of it is not exactly conditions you want to be sending kids to school in vehicles in.

The same thing with snow days. Many of the brutally cold areas don’t get anywhere near the amount of snow that other areas do. If you get three feet of snow dumped on your city overnight, it takes a long time to get the roads safe enough to have kids in a school bus on.