Saying No To The Snow God

The ELA Regents exam is next Monday.

We have four class days left before the exam.

We have three days of after school tutoring, since Friday tutoring is always a no-go.

Ever since they had to cancel school a day after we gave the ELA Regents back during the 2000's, I start scouting the weather reports a few weeks in advance before the actual test date.

See, the last thing we want to do is spend all this time getting students ready for the ELA Regents, then have snow cancel the exam in NYC or hold down attendance if it's a light snow event and school is still in session.

Now the Regents exam isn't until next week, but this is our final big push to get students ready, so I am not at all that happy snow is now forecast for tomorrow afternoon into tomorrow night.

When I first saw the forecast, it was for a clipper to do a light hit-and-run on the area and drop anywhere from a dusting to 3 inches, depending upon where you are.

That sort of storm wouldn't do too much damage to our attendance or cancel or after school tutoring, so I can live with that.

But now I see this is the latest forecast:

 . WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE TUESDAY NIGHT...
* LOCATIONS... NEW YORK CITY... METROPOLITAN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY... SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER... LONG ISLAND AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT.
* HAZARD TYPES... SNOW.
* ACCUMULATIONS... SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 4 TO 8 INCHES... LOCALLY HIGHER OVER EASTERN LONG ISLAND AND SOUTHEAST CONNECTICUT.
* WINDS... NORTH 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH.
* TEMPERATURES... IN THE TEENS TO LOWER 20S DURING THE DAY... AND SINGLE DIGITS TO TEENS AT NIGHT.
* VISIBILITIES... ONE QUARTER TO ONE HALF MILE AT TIMES.
* TIMING... SNOWFALL WILL BEGIN LATE TUESDAY MORNING AND CONTINUE INTO TUESDAY NIGHT WITH HEAVIEST SNOWFALL EXPECTED TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
* IMPACTS... FALLING BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL CAUSE HAZARDOUS TRAVEL AND WALKING CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA... POSSIBLY IMPACTING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING COMMUTE. EXTREME COLD AND LOW WIND CHILLS COULD CAUSE FROST BITE. DRESS APPROPRIATELY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW... SLEET... OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

Accuweather has forecast between 6 to 12 inches for the area.

This will have a significant impact on attendance at school.

Attendance will probably be down for tomorrow and after school activities will almost certainly be cancelled.

Depending upon how late the storm ends, there is a possibility of school closures on Wednesday, but the likelihood is we will have school on Wednesday but attendance will be impacted (and after school tutoring attendance greatly impacted.)

This is not what I was hoping for this last week before Regents exams.

In short, if you are a teacher with a few Regents classes taking an exam next week, you are praying to the snow god to come and go with a quick clipper hit and come back in February when all the Regents prep, exam taking and grading is down.

Alas, we'll just have to see how this plays out.

I am hoping for a dusting and it's out of here.