Do schools shut down when it snows in Boston? (contractor, closing)

[TAZORAC]

Different parts of America have different cultures...in the South (Maryland and further south) when it snows EVERYTHING shuts down. Being that its colder and snows more often in Boston...I was wondering if schools and everything else shuts down when it snows?

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by TAZORAC

Different parts of America have different cultures...in the South (Maryland and further south) when it snows EVERYTHING shuts down. Being that its colder and snows more often in Boston...I was wondering if schools and everything else shuts down when it snows?

Your question is way too general. For schools, it all depends on timing and amounts (predicted or actual), as to whether schools shut down or just opt for early release or delayed start. But in general, no we're pretty much up & running within 12 hrs of a major snowfall (12"+) in most of the area.

[mvpsharky]

Life goes on

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by TAZORAC

Different parts of America have different cultures...in the South (Maryland and further south) when it snows EVERYTHING shuts down. Being that its colder and snows more often in Boston...I was wondering if schools and everything else shuts down when it snows?

It depends. If there's more than say 8" of snow most schools will close.

[tysmith95]

Schools don't start closing til we get 6 inches or more most of the time. It's not like the south where everything shuts down.

[Urban Peasant]

We're nowhere as scared of the white stuff as down south. It is up to the school superintendent of each district before or during a snowstorm to decide whether to shut down or not. Over the years I've witnessed schools close for a mere 5-6 inches and school administrators criticized as wimps and instances where a foot of snow is falling and schools do not close and school administrators are again blasted by parents. The timing and intensity of a snowstorm also has a role in school cancellations.

[jayrandom]

It takes more snow to shut down schools than in the South. It takes less than in places like Buffalo. Sometimes they'll cancel schools and the storm will fizzle. Usually they do a good job.

[BostonMike7]

The reason everything shuts down in the South is because they just don't have enough of the proper equipment to deal with a little bit of snow/ice. If the roads glaze over, there's nothing they can really do until it warms up a tad.


Get a little sleet/ice that coats the road here and they send out the salt trucks to take care of it and life goes on. Plus pretty much every contractor/landscaper in the area has a plow on their truck.


Takes a bit more to shut down school completely, but usually within 12-24 hours of a major (12"+) storm, the area is pretty well cleaned up and people are out and about. A lot of people here also have 4WD/AWD and winter tires and driving around in 1-3" of snow is no big deal.

[jayrandom]

This seems relevant:

https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-map-of-how...ros-1512324082

[missionhill]

Used to be rare but in this era of mild weather and intermittent mega snowstorms and massive media-fueled weather hysteria it has become much more common to close schools preemptively. It all started back in the winter of ‘78...