Snow day

It is snowing once again. The weather people say we could get anywhere from 3-5 inches, but because I am by the lake, it sounds like I can look forward to about 6 inches of snow minimal. Rat bastards!

Such is life in Wisconsin.

I brought this question up in the bar last night. When I was shoveling snow the other day, I was thinking about all the kids that got a snow day and thus got to play in the snow instead of going to school.

Growing up, the snow day was like Christmas. The night before, you knew there might be a major storm and that a snow day was possible. School gets cancelled, you get to sleep in, and then go outside and play with your friends in the snow.

When I was a kid, it usually meant either making snow forts on the hill across the street or football. The hill wasn't that big, maybe as high as a one story house. But on the other side was open field. That meant the wind could blow big hanging drifts over the top of the hill. When conditions were right, you could dig a couple feet into the snow. Whether you carved out a room from the side or a big trench from the top, it was always a blast to do. Or we would create slide runs down the side.

When I was older and attending UW-Oshkosh, a snow day was different. It meant you could drink more the night before. But you didn't necessarily need for the university to declare it a snow day and cancel classes. If there was a lot of snow, you simply decided not to go to class.

And then wait for the snow ball fight.

It happened like clockwork every year and I suppose it still does. The dorms empty out and soon Scott Hall and Gruenhagen Hall are having a huge snowball fight. A street separates the two dorms and the number of students in Scott Hall is at least 3xs those in Gruenhagen. Cars that attempted to drive by would be pelted. It was a suicide run. And if the driver got stupid and rolled down his window or got out of his car to yell at people, he got nailed. Plus, there was the occasional charge across the street. Having a couple hundred people charging the outnumbered foe was great and they usually had to retreat back into the dorm or become snowmen themselves.

That snowball fight would rage for a couple of hours and then die. People would then head back into to study or drink. Life would then return to normal.

Ah, good times.

So, back to the original thought. If kids here get snow days, what do kids get in parts of the country where it doesn't snow on a regular basis? Like in Texas or California*? Or Florida or Arizona? Please let me know. Are there such things as rain days? Or wind days?

* Yeah I understand that it does snow once in a while in parts of Texas or northern California. I am curious about the warm areas.