The Geography of American Snow Days

Winter Storm School Closings

It is now the end of January and Winter 2014 seems to have a long way to go. For much of the country, this year has been record breaking in terms of winter storms and cold. We have been trapped by the "polar vortex" and have had numerous snow related travel headaches. Even Atlanta found itself paralyzed for nearly a full day by the rare onslaught of a winter storm. 

How do school aged children feel about all of this? Have they lost more days of school than on an average year? Let's take a look at how snow affects school cancellations across the country. The results are quite interesting!

I find this to be quite interesting, and there are some important things to point out. First and foremost, this map tends to reflect the frequency of winter storms. Areas that experience more winter weather appear in darker shades of blue and thus require more snow to cancel schools. These areas have the plows to deal with the weather.

Northeast

Most of this region is a dark blue color. Here in New England, we get snow all the time and I find the map to be quite accurate. It often does take about a foot of snow or so for schools to be cancelled. One interesting exception that I want to point out is in Rhode Island. Notice the tiny state is shaded the color of 3" of snow. This is actually true. Partially due to budgetary issues and partially due to climate, Rhode Island schools close with much less snow than the rest of the Northeast.

South

This I find particularly interesting. For most of the South, any snow results in a school cancellation. This includes even the prediction of snow! This week we saw a few inches literally grind several southern cities to a halt. This may seem odd to Northerners, but the South simply does not have the infrastructure to handle any snow at all.

Midwest

Similarly to the Northeast, this region requires between 1 and 2 feet of snow to cancel schools. Although surrounded by lighter colors, Chicago appears dark blue. This indicates that the city has the budget to be able to deal with much more snow than rural areas around the city. One other point about the Midwest is that during winter, it is often so cold that the cold, not the snow, is what ends up closing schools.

West

This region is largely governed by elevation. Close to the coast, there is little snowfall and almost any will result in school closings. But move inland a bit to the mountains and there suddenly is ample snow and it requires much more for school closings and delays. 

Snowstorm Parking Cones

Take Your Cones Off The Street!

Here in New England we are at the beginning of yet another winter storm. This year we have been attacked with words such as "smowmageddon," "Polar Vortex" and most recently "Bombogenesis." The fact that our media has nothing better to do than scare us into believing that each storm will bring the end of the world is annoying for sure, but what I find to be much more offensive is the fact that so many people think that it is somehow appropriate to save parking spaces for themselves and their extended families using traffic cones, chairs, or other items.

This is Illegal

Yes really. It is against the law to save yourself a parking space using an object on a public street either before, during or after a winter storm and there are actually several good reasons why. Let's take a look.

You Don't Own the Street

This is fairly simple. A public street is owned in common by everyone. This means that no individual has a greater legal right to occupy the street than any other person. Essentially this creates a first come, first serve environment. Public roads are maintained by the city you live in and this maintenance is funded through taxes, which are paid by everyone. Put simply, everyone pays for all of the roads and therefore is equally entitled to use them. 

Placing an object to reserve a space that is not being occupied by your car is an example of claiming ownership. This would be similar to someone fencing off a section of a city park to prevent others from using it and then walking away. Everyone can see that this is ridiculous. So why then do we think it is okay to do on the street?

Here is a particularly brazen act of space saving. A bag, really?

It is Inefficient

This one may not be obvious at first. It might seem that a parking space is just a parking space and and that saving a specific spot does not necessarily interfere with others. It does. Take a look at this picture for a clear example.

In this photo no cars are occupying the parking spaces, but they are all reserved by chairs. Perhaps the people who own the chairs and have "reserved" themselves a parking space are all at work. But it doesn't really matter where they are, all that matters is that they are not in the spot. 

Suppose for simplicity that these people work from 9-5 and place chairs out in the morning when they leave. Perhaps there is another person who wants to visit a friend or relative on this street at lunchtime. If there were no chairs, the person would have no trouble parking while on a lunch visit. They could then leave and the spot could be open again when the workers returned at 5. But because the chairs are preventing other cars from using the space when unoccupied by cars, it is inefficient. 

Now What?

I admit that it is frustrating to have "your" parking spot taken and have to look for or shovel a new spot. I really do understand, it has happened to me many times. But it is much worse for any given snowy city as a whole when individuals try to own public streets. This type of behavior should not be tolerated.

If you are trying to navigate a snowstorm and you happen to find that a parking space is occupied by a cone, chair or handbag, know that you have every right to move it and take the space. In fact, I urge you to do so in order to help reverse the sense of entitlement that Northern city dwellers feel during the snowy winter months.