By Brodie Erk

December 2nd was predicted to be the first big snowstorm of the year for Pennsylvania, and although the exact forecast differed across the state, anywhere between 1 and 5 inches of it was expected. A two-hour delay was widely anticipated, and many schools eventually announced one. For Palisades, that delay manifested into a full snow day, but when the morning dawned, students awoke to find grey slush instead of white snow. Although the danger of driving on the icy roads (numerous car accidents were reported in the area) lent merit to the decision, December 2nd was ultimately not a snow day in the traditional sense, and for two separate reasons, this outcome is becoming a trend.

The most obvious culprit in the death of the snowday has been the decline in snowfall, with between 10 and 20 percent being lost every decade in the northeast, and reductions are occurring in more than just quantity. According to some estimates, the snow cover season was shortened by two weeks between 1972 and 2013. These reductions hit certain areas (such as central PA) especially hard. The city of Scranton has lost 25 percent of its snowfall in just ten years, dropping from 45 inches to 33. Areas closer to Philadelphia, such as Bucks County, have remained more volatile, sometimes receiving extremely heavy snowfall, and sometimes very little as a result of the complex dynamics involved in climate change and meteorological shifts. Eventually, however, records of snowfall from our region will align more closely with the broader downward trend, but until then, such unpredictability may continue to play a role in an unmet expectation for snow, as it did recently. 

Virtual school is the other major factor in undermining the classic American conception of the snowday, but it’s one that many people may not consider. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual school, in various forms, has become a widely accepted method for traditional schools to avoid making up missed days at the end of the year. This is possible through the Flexible Instructional Day program (FID), which was approved by the Department of Education just before the pandemic began. It allows school districts to make up to 5 missed days into virtual school by having students tune into their courses via their computers. 5 days might not seem like much, but in a region where snowfall is rapidly being reduced, and where the clearing of roads is often very efficient, those 5 days might take the place of most, or even all the potential off days students might have otherwise received. While a student doing their course work online during a virtual snow day is at home, somewhere they would not normally have been, they are also still working, rather than taking the day off to engage in traditional winter activities, which is undeniably a shift from the American custom. 

In conclusion, a combination of a changing climate, and an evolving education system has begun to strip away something that made the winter months special for many students, and more broadly, their families. When asked how he felt about the lack of snow on the supposed snow day last Tuesday, Oliver Mutterpearl, a Palisades student, responded, “I love snow days so much, waking up to see the white outside and how it reflects everything is such a great feeling, that’s why it sucked that it didn’t happen on Tuesday. I literally planned for a friend to come over to enjoy the snow, but instead we just had to stay at home and bedroth. At least I had wrestling to keep me busy.” In spite of the disappointment, he reports that he is still looking forward to the rest of the winter season, “ I really hope that real snow days happen more often.”

Sources: 

Scranton, Williamsport are seeing less snowy winters | wnep.com

Where’s Winter? A Season of Change in the Northeast | Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC)

Flexible Instructional Days | Department of Education | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania