APS VA Snow Day Projection

[Anonymous]

So are we sure APS won’t reverse course and close again tomorrow?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’d love my trash to get picked up, too, but that’s the nature of this storm.

Good news. Unlike schools, trash pickup back to regular schedule this week.

Not true. Arlington limited pick up to trash and recycling. Not green cans

This was an extraordinary weather event. Ice and terribly low temps. It isn’t snow removal but ice block removal.

Warm up starts Tuesday.

Ease up. No city could have handled this.

This is absurd. Many cities handle this all the time. People should be respectful when discussing this, but it's not "hysterical" to point out there are some lessons learned. In the era of climate change, we're going to get more extreme weather. Time to do some thinking on how to better manage these situations. There are so many things we could be doing better and planning for ahead of time. Stating that your government should do this type of review and asking questions and pointing out problems is normal.

Liar.

Some of you have clearly never lived anywhere with actual snow and ice and cold conditions. You think this type of event has never occurred in the history of the world or something? Totally laughable.

I grew up in upstate NY.

Many cities, especially those in the south, do not "handle" this type of icy, packed snow "all of the time". I've lived through several big blizzards and none were as challenging to remove as this. Snowblowers only would have helped for the initial snowfall. Temps were too low to salt roads in advance. It's tough to get heavy equipment into narrow, car-lined neighborhood streets.

The situation sucks. People being irrational dickheads about it aren't helping.

Up north they manage to clear the streets more quickly, before the precipitation has a chance to harden for days. It wasn't that hard to get this stuff off the roads on Sunday or even Monday. We did our cars and sidewalks and it wasn't terrible. But now it's hardened and is so so so much harder to remove.

APS literally had janitors with plastic snow shovels clearing schools. There's no way that's sufficient. Once the stuff is solid, you need heavy plows and bobcats.

We did ours as well. It took 2 of us multiple rounds just to do our sidewalk/driveway. And then more rounds after the plows came through.

Some schools have what 2-3 janitors? To clear the parking lots, sidewalks, etc.? Should each school have a snowblower? Many years, we don't even get snow. It is worth the expense and upkeep?

It was an oddball storm. We will get through it.

If you follow the thread, my comment was in response to some crazy suggestions that up north they use more potent salt or salt in greater quantity to clear streets. That's just wrong. They just remove the snow when it's fresh so it doesn't harden on roads.

But I do also think it's crazy that janitors are being asked to clear large areas of significant snow with a shovel. Arlington county has small plows and snow blowers for public sidewalks and bike lanes. There could be coordination. There are also options to sign up a private contractor to come and help with snow removal at schools. There are options.

It's not wrong that they use a lot more salt. Google "salt belt". It's terrible for cars and the environment. However, they do use more salt and salt with chemicals.

It's not used to clear a major snow storm when it's bitter cold out. That's crazy talk and what was being suggested.

In the snow country, they would and do absolutely lay down a layer of salt after the clearing snow to prevent icy refreeze. No it doesn't clear actual snow. It's a big part of the process though for sure.

This article also addresses alternatives they use in colder weather, which is common in these environments.

https://engineerfix.com/what-states-use-salt-on-roads-and-why/

There are trucks specially built to plow in the front and drop the ice out the back. Been behind many of them.

They don't use salt to clear the roads, as was being suggested. That's what plows are for. We aren't at the part where salt prevents black ice. Our issue is massive piles of snow and ice blocking lanes and sidewalks.

Exactly.

I don't know plenty of people complaining about their icy streets too. Plus there are a lot of sidewalks that are slippery due to half ass shoveling and no salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So are we sure APS won’t reverse course and close again tomorrow?

The one time I remember APS reversing course was 2022 when it was more a staffing issue than a weather issue. They couldn't get enough teachers to come in for the Friday at the end of the week.

Maybe other people remember other examples of them reversing course, but it's not super common.

[Anonymous]

And then what happens when it snows an inch on Tuesday night. No school all week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And then what happens when it snows an inch on Tuesday night. No school all week?

Just Wednesday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So are we sure APS won’t reverse course and close again tomorrow?

They said they plan to open 2 hours late on Tuesday. I don't think we should be sure of anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And then what happens when it snows an inch on Tuesday night. No school all week?

Current CWG forecast is flurries to coating.

In the past after a prolonged closure like this, historically they've been less likely to close for a very light snow in the near immediate aftermath.

Who knows though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are we sure APS won’t reverse course and close again tomorrow?

They said they plan to open 2 hours late on Tuesday. I don't think we should be sure of anything.

The APS website says the following:

Tue, Feb. 3, 2026: APS Schools Open Two Hours Late; 12-Month Staff Arrive on Time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are we sure APS won’t reverse course and close again tomorrow?

They said they plan to open 2 hours late on Tuesday. I don't think we should be sure of anything.

The APS website says the following:

Tue, Feb. 3, 2026: APS Schools Open Two Hours Late; 12-Month Staff Arrive on Time.

Yep, got the text right after I responded.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:One thing that would help considerably is much more aggressive salting before during and after the event. This area doesn’t do that.

Because 80% of the time we have rain which washes it all to the Bay.

Yes, I understand the reason we don't use the salt. This stuff is a tradeoff. Possibly when the severity of the event is known and predicted well ahead of time (as this was) and the tricky conditions are known well ahead of time in terms of removal (as this was) well maybe they make a different calculation. Or maybe not.

My thought is only I don't think discussion should be shouted down and nobody is supposed to ask questions or have any critical thought.

Salting the roads in advance only works in certain circumstances.

More aggressive salting would have helped overall in this situation. But they also have to have the salt, somewhere to store the salt, and the proper vehicles to dump the salt.

Temps were too low.

There are products beyond rock salt that can push effectiveness into colder temps. It's silly to debate this just google the topic if interested. You really think some of these colder areas in the US do not face this issue and have solutions? Of course they do.

The other areas of US buy a fleet of heavy snow moving equipment, dump trucks, bobcat plows, to manage the snow. We aren’t going to make that investment for snow every 5 years.

Exactly. Do we want to equip the county/schools just like Buffalo does?

We got 0.4" of snow in 22-23.
0.6" in 19-20.

I think there are inexpensive things that could be done that would help. Consolidated bus stops on priority routes with waiting areas is pretty obvious. Could all be mapped out ahead of time and work with County partners to prioritize. The issue that is always the straggling issue keeping kids out is buses and bus routes. The sidewalks at the end of the day won't be clear and they'll go back.

So walk even further to a bus stop with icy sidewalks?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:One thing that would help considerably is much more aggressive salting before during and after the event. This area doesn’t do that.

Because 80% of the time we have rain which washes it all to the Bay.

Yes, I understand the reason we don't use the salt. This stuff is a tradeoff. Possibly when the severity of the event is known and predicted well ahead of time (as this was) and the tricky conditions are known well ahead of time in terms of removal (as this was) well maybe they make a different calculation. Or maybe not.

My thought is only I don't think discussion should be shouted down and nobody is supposed to ask questions or have any critical thought.

Salting the roads in advance only works in certain circumstances.

More aggressive salting would have helped overall in this situation. But they also have to have the salt, somewhere to store the salt, and the proper vehicles to dump the salt.

Temps were too low.

There are products beyond rock salt that can push effectiveness into colder temps. It's silly to debate this just google the topic if interested. You really think some of these colder areas in the US do not face this issue and have solutions? Of course they do.

The other areas of US buy a fleet of heavy snow moving equipment, dump trucks, bobcat plows, to manage the snow. We aren’t going to make that investment for snow every 5 years.

Exactly. Do we want to equip the county/schools just like Buffalo does?

We got 0.4" of snow in 22-23.
0.6" in 19-20.

I think there are inexpensive things that could be done that would help. Consolidated bus stops on priority routes with waiting areas is pretty obvious. Could all be mapped out ahead of time and work with County partners to prioritize. The issue that is always the straggling issue keeping kids out is buses and bus routes. The sidewalks at the end of the day won't be clear and they'll go back.

So walk even further to a bus stop with icy sidewalks?

No not you and your child. You will stay home until spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are we sure APS won’t reverse course and close again tomorrow?

The one time I remember APS reversing course was 2022 when it was more a staffing issue than a weather issue. They couldn't get enough teachers to come in for the Friday at the end of the week.

Maybe other people remember other examples of them reversing course, but it's not super common.

they could have issues with staff not finding parking

[Anonymous]

I’m in favor of the kids going back, but I will say that if we’re going to have more parent drop offs than usual due to limited parking, I wish Yorktown High would do something to make the intersection of 28th and Yorktown Blvd safer. As it stands, it’s a primary access point for parent/student vehicles, but can’t quite accommodate 2-way traffic with the snow. There will either be an accident with a turning vehicle or a line of 100 cars waiting to drop students. I assume other schools are facing similar problems.

[Anonymous]

Are we thinking delayed opening the rest of the week ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are we sure APS won’t reverse course and close again tomorrow?

The one time I remember APS reversing course was 2022 when it was more a staffing issue than a weather issue. They couldn't get enough teachers to come in for the Friday at the end of the week.

Maybe other people remember other examples of them reversing course, but it's not super common.

they could have issues with staff not finding parking

Yeah, I think they're going to have school tomorrow, but they could definitely still close even on a building by building basis at the last minute. There is precedent for that for power outages and other maintenance issues.