TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Twin Falls, with its concentrated population, traffic, and services, tends not to face some of the challenges that prompt rural school districts to cancel school due to weather.
- Several rural districts canceled school on Tuesday, and several others ended the day early on account of the threat of more bad weather to come.
- Snowfall to start the week was intermittent and didn't amount to a lot of accumulation in some places. But high winds ripped across the valley on Tuesday, forming drifts on many outlying rural roads.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
In the Twin Falls School District, staff watch weather forecasts and talk to the police and the highway departments, making sure the roads will be safe for kids to get to school.
And when weather is expected, the district staff will be up very early, checking the roads.
“In a lot of cases, it appears to be something that will really hit us hard they'll be out driving those roads early in the morning while the rest of us are still in bed,” District Communications Director Eva Craner told Idaho News 6.
But weather can be hit and miss, and what's forecasted doesn’t always follow through, or lands somewhere else. The district likes to wait until morning to make the call.
“Typically we don't like to make the call the night before because we all know Idaho weather is really unpredictable,” Craner said. “You might have a projection for something that sounds like it's going to be a really big snow event and by the time it gets to us it's kind of blown itself out and we get you know a couple of inches and the roads are a little slushy."
Districts in more rural areas have different calls to make. On Tuesday, the Hagerman School District called a snow day in the morning. Wendell, Jerome, Gooding, and Valley school districts all called for early end, due to weather.
But in Twin Falls, so far, class has been in session.
"If our buses can get through it typically we're going to say we want to provide our students an opportunity to be in school today," Craner said.
