Snow Day Superstitions Kids Swear By (and the Real Science)
Every winter, kids all over North America try the same tricks to make a snow day happen. None of them change the weather. They are still a fun tradition. Here are the classics.
The famous rituals
- Wear your pajamas inside out (and sometimes backwards too).
- Flush ice cubes down the toilet. Some say one cube for each inch you want.
- Sleep with a spoon under your pillow.
- Put a white crayon in the freezer.
- Do a snow dance right before bed.
- Run around the kitchen table a few times.
Please skip the ice cubes if your home has old pipes or a septic system. Your parents will thank you.
What really makes a snow day
Real snow needs two things: cold air and moisture. When a storm pulls wet air over cold ground, the water turns into snow crystals high in the sky. If the air stays below freezing all the way down, those crystals land as snow.
For school to close, that snow usually has to land at the worst time. The big one is between 3 AM and 7 AM, right before buses leave. Wind that blows snow into drifts helps too. So does freezing rain that turns roads into ice.
A better ritual
Our favorite ritual is checking the Snow Day Calculator around 9 PM the night before. You get a real number based on the latest hour by hour forecast. Then you can decide if it is worth wearing those pajamas inside out.
Want a real number for tomorrow? Check your snow day chance with your ZIP or postal code.