CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Most kids won’t be standing out at the bus stop Tuesday morning. Each county school system makes the determination how much snow and how cold it can get before classes are delayed or canceled all together.
Forty-eight of the state’s 55 counties canceled class Monday due to snow and black ice. But on Tuesday morning, temperatures are predicted to be anywhere from zero in the lowlands to 21 below zero in the mountains.
Tucker County School Superintendent Ed Campbell said the school board has a policy when it comes to calling school due to cold weather.
“If we hit that air temperature we’re not permitted to have school and that’s minus-10,” explained Campbell.
Tucker County could easily meet that mark Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service out of Charleston the temperature for early Tuesday morning is predicted to be 21 below zero in Davis. Campbell stressed it doesn’t even have to reach 10 below in order to cancel class. He said they take other factors into consideration.
“If the wind chill is well below minus 10, then we’re typically not going to have school,” according to Campbell.
In Fayette County where the overnight temperature is expected to drop to 8 below, Superintendent Keith Butcher said they made the call first thing Monday morning.
“Fayette County schools are canceled for Tuesday, January 7,” explained Butcher. “We’ve gone one step further. We’ve also called a two-hour delay for Wednesday, January 8 to give us time to make sure our equipment is not frozen and operating properly to get us back on the road.”
The superintendent said they just can’t have students waiting at the bus stop in those types of temperatures if there’s even a chance a school bus might not make it.
Butcher said before they call it a day, for any reason, they carefully consider the conditions.
“It’s a combination of factors every time,” he said. “You’re considering how much ice or snowfall you’ve had, in combination with the temperature. It also makes a difference how low the temperatures are.”
The good news is by Wednesday temperatures are expected to climb to near freezing. And on Thursday morning the mercury should be in the upper teens to lower 20s. That’s not cold enough to cancel school in most counties.