Fall arrived and subsequently barrelled into winter in a very short period of time. As the temperature drops, there are some students that still have to walk in the cold. That leads to the question; how cold is too cold for students to be out?

School districts have guidelines on whether or not to cancel in dropping or rising temperatures, but this depends on different factors. Location is a big one, for example; smaller districts out in the country tend to delay or cancel more frequently than city districts.

Schools closer to bodies of water usually have more snowfall and longer, harsher cold fronts. These frozen and icy conditions can make walking hazardous for anyone not equipped to go outside for an extended period of time, especially children and elders.

“I know some people that have to walk year-round,” sophomore Elaena Smith said, “They’re sick pretty much all the time this part of the year.”

Delays and cancellations depend a lot on bus schedules. Since buses are normally out early in the morning, they are the leading reason schools delay or cancel in the first place, as most delays are because of ice on the main roads buses take for their routes.

Ice is very dangerous to be driving on, for obvious reasons, so most ice delays are utilized to take time to salt the roads. If this isn’t possible for whatever reason, that is when it is decided to close school for the day.

In rare cases, schools will skip the delay and decide to cancel school immediately on grounds of extreme weather. It is not uncommon that temperatures drop below zero in Ohio, but crazy low temperatures also occur more than one might think. The most recent low temperature record in Ohio was set by Youngstown in January of 2022, where it dropped to -9 degrees Fahrenheit.