WI school dist. cancels classes due to potential severe wx outbreak

Scott Weberpal

Scott Weberpal

EF5
Joined
Dec 11, 2004
Messages
1,084
Location
Janesville, WI
Announced on Wednesday, this is taken directly from the Stevens Point school district website...

There will be NO SCHOOL on Thursday, June 7, 2007. Due to potentially severe weather, the district has been advised by the Portage County Emergency Management Committee to cancel all classes at all schools on Thursday. ​


Interesting...

EDIT: I probably should have put this in B&G, mods feel free to move to proper forum​
 
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Per the IEMChat logs, the EM claims that two discrete supercells will move into their area at 1pm tomorrow.

Wow.
 
i would think schools would be safer structures...they do the same thing here in MS...i think that schools, churches, govt. buildings should be places people should go to...not be sent from...

i am low income...i grew up in trailer parks or projects...and i would rather be in a school or a church then in a trailor or the 2nd story of an apartment building...
 
Scott,

This is unbelivable to me. I know you presented the story without hype or prejudice, but this is still unbelivable. to me.

I wish I had such a progressive District Administrator when I was 15, 16, 17 years old and 4-8" of snow was forecast a day ahead of the actual event!! It would have been wonderful to know that simply the *threat* of bad weather was enough to have school called off.

Now watch... there will be truly significant severe wx in the heart of Central Wisconsin. Still... what a gross overreaction.
 
This is now a cultural difference, but as mobile homes are rather unknown here in Estonia, my opinion could be different. I say, be happy you have this, because Estonian schools won't close even if a strongest storm in history is hitting it. Same happens here during deep cold waves, high schools remain open even if it is -25°F outside. If it is 85 degrees outside, it is open(I know how it feels. Fortunately I just went for 1 class that day to do a test. Otherwise I would have certainly fainted because of dehydration). I am surprised that there have been no weather fatalities among school students.

Back to topic: if my house was a building, what could get relocated to another county by EF0 tornado, I would go to school though. If school was safer, I would go to school. However, my house is not a mobile home etc, and I feel actually safer at home(here I have perfect overview on current sky, in Tartu, where is the school, sky is obscured by city buildings).
 
Tarmo,

Like Scott, I live in the same state as Stevens Point. That would be Wisconsin, which is the state north of Illinois (Chicago). We are pretty far from Tornado Alley. We do experience severe weather and we are definitely under a moderate risk tomorrow. No doubt about that. However, I can assure you that I have gone to school (and stood outside for a bus) in everything from -20F to +90F. As have millions of school children in many parts of the USA. It's just something you prepare for and deal with. You should hear from some folks who grew up in Minnesota, or the Dakotas or Montana. They have mornings where it's minus 30-40F and life goes on. And their summers can easily surpass 100F. Fortunately, almost all Americans are off from school from June thru August.

At the same time, we do enjoy the occasional day where heavy snow makes the roads unsafe and we get to stay home. I'm 43 years old now, but I still enjoy a blizzard that keeps us all at home. It's just the way I am. :) Many folks here only enjoy thunderstorms and severe weather. I love blizzards and everything winter has to offer.

But Wisconsin is very far from Tornado Alley. And even in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, I have *NEVER* heard of any school district cancelling classes because of the possibility of severe weather. It's just unheard of. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

BTW, Tarmo.... I don't hang around Stormtrack 12 months of the year but I have read thru some of your threads. I'm not picking on you because you replied to this thread. I wish you the very best in your life. Take good care.
 
Hmm... I am starting to wonder if one's sensitivity to weather varies by latitude...

However, I am having that advantage that here, school ends in first week of June and begins on 1 September. I have an issue with the cold since school I go to is over 20 miles away(only school for children with special needs nearby and - there is no school district system in Estonia)
 
I've lived in Oklahoma my entire life and never have heard of any closings due to *potential severe weather* outbreaks...heck, if that was the case our spring break would've lasted from mid-March all the way to June. :)
 
I really hope folks realize that tornadoes are extremely low-probability events for any given locations, even during the most widespread of tornado outbreaks. Such events are NOT like winter storms, which can affect a very large area and can last for hours to days. Most tornadoes are short-lived and small, and the area in the "risk area" is often orders of magnitude larger than the area actually hit by the tornado(es). Oy!
 
Jeff Snyder said:
I really hope folks realize that tornadoes are extremely low-probability events for any given locations, even during the most widespread of tornado outbreaks. Such events are NOT like winter storms, which can affect a very large area and can last for hours to days. Most tornadoes are short-lived and small, and the area in the "risk area" is often orders of magnitude larger than the area actually hit by the tornado(es). Oy!
Click to expand...

I have to agree. As long as I remember, my home village has not had tornadoes. Maybe some gustnadoes out of my sight, but it is all. But winter storms are sometimes even a weekly nuisance, distracting traffic.
 
Kevin Scharfenberg and Don Burgess did some back of the envelope calculations and found for an average high risk area (probably like today's), the probability of a severe weather observation WITHIN 25 MILES is still ~10^-3!! Of course that increases greatly given a storm, but still...
 
Tennessee

Didn't schools in Tennessee cancel classes the day after the big outbreak in early Spring of 2006? I seem to remember another high risk day followed it.
 
They don't cancel schools because they don't want people to be in the schools, usually its because if something does happen they don't want to have parents and family rushing to the schools or having to organize some mass retreat of the school should something happen. I think that with this scenario it seems a little unprecedented but they can now guarantee that there will be several structures that people can use as shelters in the event of an emergency.
 
They cancel schools because they don't want the liability of having people in schools... Dying in their homes is preferred to death by school collapse. There's no reason to believe they want the schools as shelters from the storm.
 
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