Staying warm: Safety tips and resources in Michigan
Outlining practical tips to stay warm during winter, emphasizing safe heating methods, proper clothing layering, emergency kit preparation, and community support.
If there’s snow in the forecast, parents may find a spoon under their kids’ pillows or wonder why they’re wearing their pajamas inside out.
Those superstitions aren’t likely to impact whether school’s announce a snow day (or will they?), but several different websites promise to give you the inside scoop on whether they can plan to sleep in or need to get their homework done.
Dedicated online snow day forecasters include snowdaypredictor.com, perryweather.com, predictsnowday.com and snowdaycalculator.com. And you can find prediction apps at the Apple Store or Google Play, and numerous weather-related websites also provide predictions when winter weather threatens.
Here’s a look at some of the snow day prediction sites.
Will I have a snow day tomorrow?
Snowdaypredictor.com allows you to enter your ZIP or postal code for either the U.S. or Canada and then it spits out its snow day forecast.
Once you enter your location, it provides a percentage and even tells you how many other people are hoping for a snow day in the same area.
A rolling list shows the cities where the most people are looking for snow day information.
What are the chances of a snow day?
Snowdaycalculator.com works in a similar manner.
You enter a ZIP Code for a prediction. You also can specify which type of school you’re wondering about, including public, rural public, urban public, private/prep and boarding schools.
Clicking calculate offers chances for the current day, as well as tomorrow by percentage. Possibilities include “limited,” or no chance due to low precipitation, 0%-55% means little to no chance “of anything, but possible,” 55%-75% means delays are likely, 75%-87% means a possibility of no school while higher percentages suggest no school or early dismissals.
You also have options of signing up for notifications and more advanced “no school” alerts with a cell phone or email.
Will schools be closed?
Perryweather.com asks “will tomorrow be a snow day” for its Snow Day Probability Calculator.
You can enter a ZIP Code to “check conditions in your area.” Entering a location tells you how much snow to expect tomorrow, and adds whether a snow day is likely or not.
Can I sleep in tomorrow?
Predictsnowday.com asks you to enter a city name or ZIP Code to get a prediction, and adds: “Note: This tool gives an estimate only. Always confirm with your school for closures.”
You can check a single day or look ahead three days.
The site calls itself “a smart online tool” using “trusted” meteorological sources, local conditions, severity of incoming storms and past closure data for your district.
“It’s still a prediction the final decision lies with local school administrators,” the site notes.
Using data to ‘guess’ whether there will be school
Snow Day Calculator says it uses weather data to guess if snow might cause schools or colleges to close based on how cold it is, wind chill, storm warnings and daily snowfall.
Enter a city of ZIP Code and the site offers a prediction. After entering your location, you get a snowfall prediction, snow day chance, as well as current weather conditions.
Where else can I find snow day information.
The Apple app store offers multiple snow day predictor apps, some free and others that charge a fee.
Want a snow day? Try these superstitions
Reader’s Digest, Girl’s Life and LovetoKnow recently pointed out some of the weirdest ways kids try to ensure a snow day, including:
- Wear your PJs inside out and backward
- Put a spoon under your pillow
- Flush an ice cube down the toilet or throw some into the yard
- Keep a white crayon on the window, or put a white or blue crayon in the freezer
- Wear a plastic sock
- Sleep backward
- Yell “snow day” into the freezer
- Put a penny under your pillow, stack some on your windowsill or tape them to the window
- Run around your dining room 12 times
- Drink root beer the night before through a straw
- Where a colored sock on only your left foot
- Do a snow dance
- Have ice cream for dinner
