Pattonville was one of the earliest to announce their district’s closing, based purely on the official weather forecasts. They posted this on TV last night, around 8:00 p.m.

Watch and learn before casting thy stones………..

Have you seen the size of the plows in,say,Waupaca County, Wisconsin? We ain’t got nuthin’ anywhere near that size ’round here!! We just don’t get enough snow here to justify buying that kind of gear. We just plod along as best we can.

Mike, “darlin’”, if anyone is rude, it’s you!!

Good for you and your joyless, self-righteous work ethic, Rachel, but I see nothing wrong with a snow day or two (or three) every year for kids. And occasionally for their parents too. My kids’ safety is far more important than some rigid and uncompromising view of what constitutes good work habits. Besides, there’s nothing better than being a kid and waking up at 5:30AM to learn that school is cancelled.

The biggest downside is that it can be a hardship for working parents, and I feel for people with inflexible and unsympathetic employers who can’t fathom that on rare but unavoidable occasions life gets in the way of the job. Work and school are obviously vitally important, but anyone who puts those things above all else is rigid and unreasonable. Take a vacation day and have a little fun.

You can’t make everybody happen! Being from the north I laugh too at the reaction here to the snow! But do you want your kids on the roads with people that don’t know how to drive in it??? It doesn’t snow often enough here for people to know what they are doing. Better safe than sorry!

I’ve lived in St. Louis for 10 years now, after spending the previous 30 up north. I tell you, I’m just as nervous about driving in St. Louis with this kind of snow (or any snow for that matter) and I’m glad that the schools are closed. But, I’ll never get used to the fact that St. Louisans don’t seem to think that anything can be done about the snow (just like there is nothing that can be done about a thunderstorm). Up north, the plows run all night if they have to, and even the backroads are cleared pretty quickly. Here, even the Interstates are not plowed immediately! It’s criminally stupid! St. Louisans need to recognize that yes, we do get plenty of snow, and that we need to pay to clear the roads. Crippling our economy for a day or two, and failing to prevent dozens of accidents, just because we don’t bother (or can’t even imagine) clearing the roads is just plain dumb.

Just to add to that: snowtires are another effective way of getting about in the snow and ice. I don’t know how often other St. Louisans use these, but based on casual conversations with coworkers, I’d have to say it’s pretty low. Snowtires alone would prevent many accidents, even on our perennially unplowed roads.

I’m in O’Fallon, MO - north of 70 - and we’ve had periodic heavy snowfall. The snow is JUST covering the grass, but the streets are still clear. Heck, I even delivered Meals on Wheels today with no problems. Just a little snow falling at the moment.

I’m in Manchester, and there is at least 8 inches here.

Sorry, Jimbo, but the St. Louis area does not get anything near the amount of snow to justify huge, all-night-running cadres of snow plows. We do the best we can under the normally mild conditions we anticipate. We have averaged around 10 inches of snow or less for the entire winter over the past two winters. And even this year we have yet had only a week or so with over 6 inches on the ground at once. Day after tomorrow, this snowfall will be gone or nearly gone, and by tomorrow morning all major roads will be open and fine to drive on. Four or five days from now, the snow will be gone and we’ll be anticipating spring.

It is categorically absurd to expect St. Louis to martial the kind of resources for snow and ice that are necessary in Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or other such northern climes. Today’s weather is an extreme aberration; our climate is normally much milder. We’ll live with it — and will, as some who are writing here need to — get over it.