Complaining About Snow Day Decisions Is A Proud NYC Tradition

March 4, 2019, 1:28 p.m.

People are angry when the mayor calls a snow day and also when he doesn't. It's "a no-win dynamic," as de Blasio's spokesman puts it.

It was so snowy that someone decided to wear shorts

It was so snowy that someone decided to wear shorts

At 6 p.m. on Sunday, the Department of Education announced that public schools would be closed on Monday, as weather forecasts suggested NYC might be hit with 10 inches of snow, with a big messy Monday commute.

It ended up being just slushy—with about two inches hitting Brooklyn and the Bronx, three inches in Staten Island, five inches in Central Park, and anywhere from two to seven inches in Queens (details)—but overall, pretty manageable. So the decision to close schools has raised the usual Monday morning (or Sunday evening) quarterbacking:

Of course, there were people demanding a snow day before one was called:

Of course, for every action, there's a corresponding reaction:

Deciding whether to call a snow day or not is an extremely fraught decision, one that has to take into consideration the students who may walk or take buses to school; school staffs who may live outside the city; and parents, all against the backdrop of weather forecasts and the abilities of road cleanup crews in the city as well in the suburbs. Having snow days have definitely become a more common practice under Mayor Bill de Blasio, especially since there were only five snow days between 1978 and 2004 (this does not include Hurricanes Gloria and Floyd or 1993's "Asbestos Week").

No snow day was called during the "micro-blizzard" last November, which resulted in an awful evening commute and saw children stranded in school buses for hours.

De Blasio's press secretary Eric Phillips told the Times this morning that the mayor "makes the call with as much time as possible for parents to plan. This is a no-win dynamic for any mayor.”

Well, at least this time de Blasio didn't incur the wrath of Al Roker.