The way the DC area reacts to snow is just ridiculous.
And I was born in DC and grew up in Rockville, so this isn’t one of those rants that people from Buffalo or Minneapolis go on about our region.
My memory goes back to the blizzard of 1966, where I got stuck in a snow drift in the backyard. Or 1979, when I lost a week of my senior year of high school to the George Washington Birthday storm. And of course, the three storms we got in the winter of 2009-10. I had really hoped those three storms would remind us of what real snow is, and we wouldn’t overreact to piddly little snowfalls.
But this winter has proved that we are just genetically incapable as a region not to go full panic at the mention of snow. Last week, we had school closures for two separate one-inch snowfalls. It is not necessary, it is not about safety, it is just pathetic. It sends a message to children that snow cannot be dealt with, the only answer is to close and run away. It presumes that there is a parent patiently waiting at home at all times for their child to return, instead of acknowledging that we live in an era (and have for a while) of two working parents or single parent households. So we get the quotes that in “an abundance of caution” schools need to close. If we always wanted to show an abundance of caution, we would never put children in school buses or have teens driving or have teachers driving long distances to get to work.
When a serious storm comes or when ice is involved, as it was today, it’s a different matter. But when we have a snow advisory for less than a few inches of snow, life should just go on.
