Well, here in snowy Northern Indiana, we don't close schools too easily.
Occasionally when the wind chill is severe, like -20 Farenheit, they close down, mostly because if cars or school buses break down, people would freeze and die before they could get help! (Seriously.)
Canadians might laugh at that, but remember we only have a few weeks of that weather each year - and most people don't have the type of vehicle that can stand up to the bitter cold for days and days on end. Eventually, the car just won't start.
As for snow shut downs, it varies. Today the roads were pretty bad, and still they went. We've had several inches of snow each day for about a week, with about 12 inches on the ground right now, and a big storm going through tomorrow. We live in "Lake Effect Snow" region, so thenwe also get a few extra inches, as a bonus,a day or two after each storm.
If the wind causes problems with drifting, we might have a shut down. (Again, Canadians, be merciful! Most of us don't drive 4 wheel drive trucks/snow mobiles etc. ) The snow drifts can be several feet high out on the country roads if the wind is blowing the snow around.
If we get like 6 inches or more dumped on us in a 24 hour period school closes because the plows can't keep up. That happens about once or twice a winter, unless we are having a hard year. (As a kid, we once had 30 total days of shutdown...not all in a row, but all for SEVERE storms. We got like75 total feet of snow over a few weeks. So it does happen...but thankfully not every year!)
Fog can cause major problems, usually in the late winter when a slightly warmer wind blows across the cold snow. With our usual cloud cover, there's no sun to burn it off, and we haveschool delays, and occasionally a total shutdown.
Heat....yuck. As a kid, NONE of the elementary schools had A/C. We do have 90 - 100 degree weather during the worst of summer...which includes some of the school year. School has never shut down for heat here. Honestly I can't imagine being in the Texas heat for monthsin that type of weather...I just don't function in the sweltering heat. The teachers wouldn't get any work out of me anyway, so they might just as well send me home, lol!
