Before this article was written, there was another article, fully finished and ready to go, about the lack of snow days this year. Students had been interviewed, and it was fully completed and ready for print. Then, on January 16, 2024, Loudoun County Public Schools had its first snow day of the year. Subsequently, on the morning of January 17, the status of school operations was changed from a two-hour delay to fully canceled.
Prior to the 16th, Students and teachers were largely disappointed with the lack of snow days. After all, it had been about 700 days since the last measurable snowfall of over one inch. “I’m a little disappointed to be honest…I would love a snow day here and there… It would be nice to wake up to a call in the morning,” Chemistry teacher Stacie Leonard said.
About three inches of snow fell during the night on January 15 into the 16th. The refreeze led to the 17th being canceled. This came nearly four hundred days after Loudoun County’s last snow day, in which nothing but rain fell for most of the county, came on December 15, 2022.
What was promised to be a cold, snowy winter by many meteorologists has finally started to live up to expectations. The average temperature in Loudoun County during November was 45.9 degrees, according to Weather Underground. December was 43.4 degrees, and the average temperature for January so far has been 35.7 degrees. The cold temperatures in mid-January this year were largely responsible for the snow days, since the snow did not melt, and anything that melted from sun or salt refroze overnight.
The average temperatures for November, December, and January in 2022-2023 were 49.5, 37.5, and 42.5, making December the only month that was colder than the 2023-2024 temperatures.
Students were generally happy with the day off. “Having snow days makes me feel motivated to do my schoolwork when I’m at home,’’ Junior Ben Griffin said.
Senior Evan Barnhart also enjoyed his time off. “I thought it was pretty cool…I called it at the beginning of the week. I said we’re going to have off on Tuesday because of the snow, and on Wednesday they’re going to call a two hour delay, then they’re going to call it, and I said Thursday they’d call a two hour delay, but I was wrong about that,” Barnhart said.
There is still plenty of opportunity for more snow days too. Friday, January 19 was called off due to another snowstorm that dropped around three inches across the county. “I would (be happy with more snow days), I need the break,” Junior Pierson Lee said.
