Back when I was a child, in Ohio in the early 1960s, I can remember times when temperatures dropped into the teens, or even significantly below zero. There would sometimes be thick frost on the windows. (Does that still happen in Ohio now? I wonder how cold it must get for that to happen.) No one used the language “polar vortex” or “arctic vortex” back then. Maybe — 50 years ago — such language did not yet exist.
The temperatures today, and the forecast for the next few days here in Baltimore, recall to me an idea I’ve had for a long time: Schools should not only have “snow days;” they should also have “cold days” or “extreme weather days.” When it gets brutally cold — and I’m not sure it’s yet reached that point here — close the schools; let the children stay warm at home; and save lots of money.
And CO2.
Especially on Fridays and Mondays, when we can take advantage of the thermal inertia from the weekends.
Every degree of heating becomes more expensive, the colder it is outside.
I just think it’s a good idea.
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