It’s a frigid December morning. Three inches of snow were predicted to fall the previous night, but the ground is clear as day. This is what students living in Montgomery County have experienced this winter.
During this school year, there has been only one snow day that resulted in the closure of schools. This is far fewer than the number of days off that students have experienced in prior years, which has sounded an alarm to many that global warming has caused a real and significant impact.
The average annual snowfall in Montgomery County is 18.71 inches, but so far less than six inches have fallen during the current “snowfall season.” Additionally, no more snow is forecasted to fall in Montgomery County early March by both Accu-Weather and The Weather Channel.
Most students have experienced at least one gigantic snowfall during their life, especially when they were kids, so another one would bring back great memories like sledding and building snowmen. Freshman Dylan Marshall said, “It kind of sucks that we haven’t had much snow, not just because of school cancellations, but also because of the childhood nostalgia that we are missing out on.”
Even with this nostalgia aspect, students may not go outside during a snow day and just want a day off of school. Freshman Humza Sehbai said, “Whenever we get snow days, I usually just stay inside and play videogames with my friends online or sleep much more than I should.”
Montgomery County’s system for deciding if there should be a snow day or not has been a controversial topic. According to the MCPS website, “Weather conditions or continuing impact from severe weather or other events such as a widespread power outage, may cause a delayed opening, early closing or closing for the day. The most severe conditions within the county are used as the basis for the decision-making criteria.”
There have been countless instances when schools were cancelled the night before and there was no precipitation. Additionally, there have been just as many times when there was lots of snow on the ground, but Montgomery County schools stayed open, while NoVa public schools did not. Sophomore Nikki Faroughi said, “I have a ton of friends who live in Northern Virginia, so it’s a real bummer when I can’t hang out with my friends because I have school and they don’t.”
Even though it isn’t likely, students are still hoping for another snow day to happen before the end of the school year. Students are sticking with the traditions of wearing their pajamas backwards and inside out, doing a “snow dance” right before bed and flushing an ice cube down the toilet, even when the Montgomery County Snow
Calculator shows a one percent chance of snow. Freshman Sureena Atwal said, “I check the snow calculator pretty often and even when there’s the smallest chance of a delay or closure, I make sure to put an ice cube on my welcome mat.”
