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Our team in Northern Michigan, much like many other teams this year, has had an unusual number of school closings due to weather. I was just curious how this effected your teams' build season. Our team meets each evening from 630-830 and on Saturdays. For us, if school is canceled, Robotics is canceled and we don't meet. In total, we lost an entire week of building because of snow days including the final evening for bag and tag. Ouch! How do other teams handle things like this?
DjMaddius
21-02-2013, 19:49
We're just out side of Detroit, and if school is closed we still have robotics at 3 until around 9 every night during the robotics season. A few important mentors had a funeral in another state they had too attend sunday and monday before the bag and tag day, that seemed to set us back more than the weather this year!
MagiChau
21-02-2013, 19:55
For the first time of my years in FIRST we lost a week of build as well due to snow days. It was a huge blow to lose the last day as well but we will manage. We have to really utilize our 6 hours before Week 2 well.
We tried to make up time by making more and longer meetings. We did not end up making up for all the lost time but that is even more motivation to work harder in competition season.
CLandrum3081
21-02-2013, 20:04
Now I feel really bad about all the times I complained about not having a snow day. :o
There's been quite a few times in the past few years that literally every district and private school surrounding Bloomington, MN has had a snow day or late start and we haven't. In January we might have had a snow day - if the blizzard hadn't happened during the 4-day weekend. :p
This is a big point though. Losing time like that can really hurt. Most of where we lose time is from people being out sick - various illnesses can catch like wildfire, and if you miss school, you can't be in an activity, even if you feel better. Plus a lot of our kids take classes at local colleges, so even with our team of about 20, many nights and weekends we had numbers under 10.
Better luck next year, I guess! Minnesota weather is bipolar, so this is one of the snowiest winters we've had in recent years. Last year, it looked like soggy November most of the time. Really sucks when the weather affects robotics. :(
Maybe someday, one of the geniuses in FIRST will invent a weather machine so that it's always 65 degrees and mostly sunny with a cool breeze whenever anything having to do with robotics is going on. :D
Christopher149
21-02-2013, 20:52
We're in Houghton, MI, and if school is canceled but it is safe to drive, the meeting is optional but will still be held.
Though, I guess if a school disallowed meetings, that would be a different story.
Jeff Pahl
21-02-2013, 20:57
We just assume we are going to lose 3-5 days each build season due to snow and ice. Because of the number of elementary, middle, and high schools in the district, each with different start times, it's very difficult for the district to have a delayed start or early dismissal, as each school bus runs two or three different routes. So while all the surrounding districts may have a two hour delay, we just end up cancelled. Which means even if the roads are fine after lunch, all after school activities are also cancelled.
So we just plan for having less than the full time to build, and deal with it. Plus we lose almost a full week every year due to finals, as we do not work the weekend before finals or the Monday-Wednesday of that week. Finals end on Thursday and we resume working that night. So we effectively plan for a 5 week build season. The team tries to have parts that require outside fabrication designed before finals, so that we can get that done and have them back when we resume work.
What is this "snow" you refer to?
:cool:
2544HCRC
21-02-2013, 21:05
We only ended up with 1 snow day. We don't meet every day and I can honestly say that after doing build season differently, less is more. Having a couple of days off a week didn't change the amount of work that was done in total. It did change the amount of youtube watching and just sitting around chatting by the team. People came in and worked. I was very pleased. It also allowed for orders for parts to be placed and time for those parts to arrive. We spent almost every day working the last week, but doesn't everyone? A snow day then would have hurt.
Retired Starman
21-02-2013, 21:08
What is this "snow" you refer to?
:cool:
Something like very cold, wet volcanic ash.
Shelbers2486
21-02-2013, 21:53
Out here in Flagstaff, Arizona we ended up with only two snow days this year. We usually work, as long as conditions are not totally horrible. A few years ago we lost a whole week to snow because the weather was so bad.
Our title sponsor who supplies us with our build area, equipment and much of our materials is a Snowmobile and Powersports Repair shop www.jtsnowmobile.com (http://www.jtsnowmobile.com/contacts.html). Getting around in the snow is never an issue. A snow day for us means the team can build all day at the shop! Many of the kids have their own sleds (kids as young as 12 yrs old can get an operator's permit) that they ride to school every day which makes finding rides that much easier.
Go ahead nature - do your worst!
Alan Anderson
21-02-2013, 22:13
Until several years ago, a snow day at the high school meant bonus work time at the TechnoKats shop. Now, the rule about not having extracurricular activities if school is cancelled due to weather is strictly enforced.
Fortunately, that didn't cut into the team's work time this year.
jdunston94
21-02-2013, 22:41
We were fortunate to only have 2 snow days and enough parents and more experienced student drivers with big cars(benifits of Michigan is snow really doesn't bother a lot of people. I actually enjoy driving on and in it) but we made those optional meetings. Seemed to work well enough no accidents this year to my knowledge in transit to and from build space!
We lost some days due to weather as well. Add to that not being able to work late most of the time (working past 8PM is an almost impossibility in our school - security has to be around if the building is occupied, and we share space with 3 other schools, so the principal of our school really has no control over what happens in the building), and you have a really compressed build season.
Fortunately our team captain graduated early, so during most of build season he was able to come all day and work on stuff. Sort of a double-edged sword though - he's the only one that knows a lot of stuff (including the mentors - look at my rookie year :D), so I'm really scared for what happens to the program next year. He's said he'll come back when he can, but it's the "when he can" part that scares me :)
Grim Tuesday
21-02-2013, 23:11
Our title sponsor who supplies us with our build area, equipment and much of our materials is a Snowmobile and Powersports Repair shop www.jtsnowmobile.com (http://www.jtsnowmobile.com/contacts.html). Getting around in the snow is never an issue. A snow day for us means the team can build all day at the shop! Many of the kids have their own sleds (kids as young as 12 yrs old can get an operator's permit) that they ride to school every day which makes finding rides that much easier.
Go ahead nature - do your worst!
Alright everyone, welcome to Canda! This thread is officially closed. Done. I don't think anyone can top "our team is sponsored by a snowmobile company and most of our team rides them to school"
blackwood
21-02-2013, 23:48
In the past we had entire week lost to snow. This year we had an almost perfect snowday - It occurred today! A day to recoup, had it been on Wed. instead of Thursday it would have been perfect.
ctccromer
22-02-2013, 07:44
Y'all are lucky. I think I can count on one hand how many times its been below 40 this year in Louisiana. Only snow day I've ever had was in 8th grade, for half an inch of snow! Needless to say, a snowball fight was had.
EDIT: At the same time though, we had an entire week off last week for Mardi Gras, and that did mess with out schedule some.
...
Maybe someday, one of the geniuses in FIRST will invent a weather machine so that it's always 65 degrees and mostly sunny with a cool breeze whenever anything having to do with robotics is going on. :D
Make that "the geniuses from FIRST". It could be coming. Next year's FLL challenge is titled "Nature's Fury." We may change global warming to global control any decade now.
SarahBeth
22-02-2013, 08:44
Our title sponsor who supplies us with our build area, equipment and much of our materials is a Snowmobile and Powersports Repair shop www.jtsnowmobile.com (http://www.jtsnowmobile.com/contacts.html). Getting around in the snow is never an issue. A snow day for us means the team can build all day at the shop! Many of the kids have their own sleds (kids as young as 12 yrs old can get an operator's permit) that they ride to school every day which makes finding rides that much easier.
Go ahead nature - do your worst!
LOL, you win.
We lost 2 days this year due to a blizzard we got a couple of weeks ago - lost all day Friday and all day Saturday - if school is closed then we can't have robotics at night (Even if the roads are ok) and if it's bad weather on the weekend, its our call if we want to have it. However, with Nemo (Also known as the Blizzard of 2013) the whole state was shut down with a driving ban so getting to the school was not an option, LOL.
What is this "snow" you refer to?
:cool:
Never been to the big island, Cynthia? Mauna Kea is up there in the snow-zone on top of the world's tallest mountain. ;)
MooreteP
22-02-2013, 09:23
Many teams in Southern New England lost four days to winter storm "Nemo".
This was in the next to last weekend before Bag and Tag, which is typically the most productive. Some teams build space is based in schools, which were shut down due to +2 feet of snow. Friday through Monday.
At the Suffield Shakedown, almost half of the teams did not even show up, including the always competent Aces High, who sponsor the event.
While we have had winter storms affect our build seasons in the past, this was one of the worst.
electroken
22-02-2013, 09:44
While we have had winter storms affect our build seasons in the past, this was one of the worst.
Exactly right, and the reason why the Gaelhawks were no-shows at Suffield.
So do you have surf days down there on the island?
We do occasionally get sent home for a tsunami warning.
If there were a hurricane we could miss the whole build season, but fortunately it's after hurricane season.
No active volcanoes on our island. Maybe the Big Island has to deal with that.
Basically, though, it's just sunny, mostly sunny or partly sunny, with the occasional shower. It has been cold this winter - down to the lower 60s at night!:eek:
What Team Paragon didn't know was that the Scrimmage originally had the 30 teams, plus a stand-by list of 16. So that means out of 46 teams, only 14 were able to show up & compete. So that was the impact of Blizzard Nemo here in the N/E. We did manage to complete the robot. I must say, it looks fantastic. If it performs anything like it looks, it should incredible. I hope other teams were able to finish their builds.
Obviously snow is a natural part of living in the northern states in winter. Here in Michigan we usually handle it pretty well. I was really just curious how other teams handle snow days. When we are not allowed to meet it gets frustrating. Usually we don't have very many snow days and it can be a relief to have one or two. This year just seemed especially icy and therefore, we lost more days. As far as hurricanes and tsunamis go.......I can plow snow......can't move a hurricane. :p
It's funny you saying that being from Michigan... I graduated from Western (Go Broncos!) back in the day ('02), moving to a school district in Maryland that will close if there is even the slightest hint of sno* in the air. I remember student teaching for several districts in Michigan (Mattawan and Vicksburg) and they wouldn't close for anything (I should have stayed in Michigan). Being the faculty member/coach/advisor for our team in Columbia, Maryland, any time I receive word from the district to not have a meeting after school, or open the building because of sno*, I have to follow district policy... despite if it actually does snow or ice. 95% of the time it does not. 100% of the time it bugs the mentors...
I have seen the liability take effect with other activities that required students to come in, where there were accidents causing blame on the school districts, so there is reason why a lot of the larger districts aim to be safe. Just hope for no snow... Do not allow for students to wear their PJ's inside out... and get as much work done per night as possible!
theawesome1730
26-02-2013, 01:45
For the most part we work all day on snow days. So for use snow days are a blessing of several more hours of build each day. We only got one during the season, but we're up to 4 with all the snow we've gotten the past few days
jvriezen
02-01-2014, 14:22
So, we already have a build season work session cancelled due to weather. Our local school district, based on a forecast for extreme cold on Monday (4 days from now) is cancelling school and all school activities for Monday.
At least we can plan for it, and are thinking of meeting on Sunday instead, (which is likely to be just as cold, but the district doesn't make rulings for weekend days, as far as I know)
And from what I'm told, if the cold doesn't arrive, they don't have a procedure to reverse their decision.
Zuelu562
02-01-2014, 14:32
As a team that operates out of a Boys and Girls Club, we have some distinct advantages (and some glaring disadvantages) over a team based out of a school when it comes to snow.
One of these advantages made itself apparent at last year's WPI Regional. It snowed from early Thursday morning clear through to extremely late Friday. Most school districts in the area had school cancelled by Wednesday afternoon. This left some other teams participating at WPI in the lurch, while we were able to manage a trip Thursday unimpeded by red tape.
One of our disadvantages, however, is that on snow days, the club closes, and means if we are to have a meeting, team members have to find a way to our club, and that's assuming we feel comfortable meeting on a day like that.
I've dealt with snow in the past with a school team; in high school, I remember one particularly bad season where we lost a day a week on average to snow.
Dealing with snow is a challenge to (FIRST) life in the northern parts of the US and many other countries and areas. Having a successful season is all about overcoming obstacles, and I've come across some harder obstacles than snow.
DonRotolo
02-01-2014, 14:51
Our local school district, based on a forecast for extreme cold on Monday (4 days from now) is cancelling school and all school activities for Monday. Just for my own curiousity, what constitutes "extreme cold" in Minnesota? I've been there for -40 temperatures (up in Bemidji) and things seemed to be running fine.
I remember back in 2009, Philadelphia schools were closed close to 3 weeks straight because of badly timed snow -> ice cycles. Myself and three other student ended up building the robot, from kitbot, in three days.
It was similar in 2010, but there were a few days in between the three weeks. It wasn't as bad.
Best think to do is to find a place offsite to work. It may be difficult logistically, but it's worth it to get stuff done, especially if there's supposed to be a lot of snow, and if it's back-to-back.
cadandcookies
02-01-2014, 15:07
Just for my own curiousity, what constitutes "extreme cold" in Minnesota? I've been there for -40 temperatures (up in Bemidji) and things seemed to be running fine.
Depends on the district. There are plenty of places in the state where the phrase "extreme temperatures" doesn't mean anything. Other places have thinner skin (or jackets :P).
Team 2220's school district basically doesn't believe in snow days. Only truly bizarre weather warrants snow days. Snow in January, no way, snow in May, maybe.
Samwaldo
02-01-2014, 15:16
Our snow days always seem to be the days we need most. We usually lose a week. (So jealous of the teams who have such nice weather they can even practice outside). If schools closed, were not allowed by the town. The best you can do on those is CAD.
Im a bit worried this season because we have had alot more snow days than usual at this point.
You guys are so lucky. At least you get snow :( Our winter is your summer!
Anyways, I'm pretty sure it is based off the rules of the school.
Options:
Work from home, maybe video chats
Day off
Move to Arizona
Find out if you can go to school
However, I don't know if it would even be easy to go to school. There will probably be snow everywhere.
We're likely to not have school on Monday either. -35 wind chill at 7AM is downright dangerous. I'll most likely be CADing up different robot ideas and making up quizzes on the game manual for my team.
DonRotolo
02-01-2014, 16:45
You guys are so lucky. At least you get snow :( Our winter is your summer!
There are advantages and disadvantages of both hot and cold weather. If it is cold, you can wear more clothing, or even burn some wood (hey, the stuff grows on trees!). But imagine getting several inches of snow, once a week, that you absolutely MUST move off any surfaces you might need (driveway, sidewalk, street). And if you do not move it, that surface cannot be used until March or so. Look up "Sisyphus".
Hot feels nice sometimes, but 120 in the shade is brutal, I don't care if there's no humidity. When your shoe soles start to melt, you are in trouble. When it is real hot, you can remove clothes only to a certain point, and then what?
(I wonder: Do they close schools because it is too hot?)
(I wonder: Do they close schools because it is too hot?)
Yep. We've had both heat (is that what it's called?) days and snow days.
jvriezen
02-01-2014, 16:54
I believe we've had school closings due to heat. (not during build season though!)
And meeting offsite on a snow day is not allowed. The point is, it is too 'dangerous' to expect kids to travel. I'd not be surprised if technically, meeting 'online' via Skype or Google hangout is not allowed, given that the district rules were probably written assuming meetings meant travel.
That's why we are meeting on Sunday.
Tem1514 Mentor
02-01-2014, 17:16
Yep we have snow days and that's one thing but a whole of exam days.
I would take a snow day now and then but a whole week, oh well we just work around it.
Alan Anderson
02-01-2014, 17:18
The TechnoKats have a workshop that isn't part of the school. Years ago, a snow day during build season meant a chance to spend many hours working on the robot. Now, we're kept from doing that by the strictly enforced policy of cancelling all extracurricular activites, on-site and off-site, when school is closed for weather. We will sometimes consider opening up the shop for an unofficial evening work session if the weather improves during the day, but we don't want to put our supportive school in a bad situation in case there's an "incident".
Steven Donow
02-01-2014, 17:26
There are advantages and disadvantages of both hot and cold weather. If it is cold, you can wear more clothing, or even burn some wood (hey, the stuff grows on trees!). But imagine getting several inches of snow, once a week, that you absolutely MUST move off any surfaces you might need (driveway, sidewalk, street). And if you do not move it, that surface cannot be used until March or so. Look up "Sisyphus".
Hot feels nice sometimes, but 120 in the shade is brutal, I don't care if there's no humidity. When your shoe soles start to melt, you are in trouble. When it is real hot, you can remove clothes only to a certain point, and then what?
(I wonder: Do they close schools because it is too hot?)
This happened in your very own state ~2 years ago, Don (and yes, our school's website did say it was due to 'extreme heat'):D
Snow days are always a major inconvenience, but it's an obstacle that you just need to always have a plan for/expect to happen eventually.
I just hope that the snow won't stop FIRST from releasing an encrypted manual tomorrow..
DonRotolo
02-01-2014, 19:10
This happened in your very own state ~2 years ago, Don (and yes, our school's website did say it was due to 'extreme heat'):D In New Jersey? OMG.
And nice, getting the school board to bring up the team name like that....:p
annabananapi
02-01-2014, 21:20
For the most part we work all day on snow days. So for use snow days are a blessing of several more hours of build each day. We only got one during the season, but we're up to 4 with all the snow we've gotten the past few days
Our team does this as well. Since we don't work at our school, we meet at the shop like it's a Saturday!
Anthony4004
02-01-2014, 23:43
For 4004, we will see how the road are in the afternoon. If the road are decint then we will have an extra long meeting for those who can make it. Mainly it depends on the student's decision.
For 306 it is rare that Corry schools will close, being in the snow belt of Northwestern Pa we are used to a ton of snow. When they do close, we lose out on a build day because we are not allowed in the school. Then the make up days are days we originally had off which were full build days, so we lose them too. What hurts us the most is when they cancel all after school activities. Every one has to leave the school, thankfully they know we have a tight schedule and they will work around the team and if it isn't to bad leave it up to the activities discretion.
Over they years we have lost up to 2 weeks of build because of it, but it hasn't been that bad in years.
3314 (Clifton, NJ) has school cancelled on Friday, which makes sense, but they are playing it safe and cancelled all activities for Saturday already. No bus, No kickoff. Kids are going to watch from home and read the rules on Saturday. Adults are still going to NJIT to run kickoff. Oh well. It gives them time to read the rules for Sunday morning.
WHEA on the big island (3881 I think) has wind days because they are outside by the ocean. An amazing school.
BBray_T1296
03-01-2014, 01:21
Y'all are lucky. I think I can count on one hand how many times its been below 40 this year in Louisiana. Only snow day I've ever had was in 8th grade, for half an inch of snow! Needless to say, a snowball fight was had.
EDIT: At the same time though, we had an entire week off last week for Mardi Gras, and that did mess with out schedule some.
I can count to 31 (32 including zero) on one hand (1023 on 2 hands!)
Thank you binary
Brandon Ha
03-01-2014, 10:18
Once we had a snow "week" that was set on the last week of the build season. We ,as many are, were no wear near complete. Our team has a shaky relationship with our school who provides us with our space and we have a set of keys that our mentors carry that allows us to enter into our section which used to be a classroom/shop/cad room (we had 2 rooms separated). So we did the smart thing. We sneaked into the school and worked on the robot. Afterwards our head talked to the principal and told him what we did. Our team-school relationship has been getting better since.
techhelpbb
03-01-2014, 10:34
Once we had a snow "week" that was set on the last week of the build season. We ,as many are, were no wear near complete. Our team has a shaky relationship with our school who provides us with our space and we have a set of keys that our mentors carry that allows us to enter into our section which used to be a classroom/shop/cad room (we had 2 rooms separated). So we did the smart thing. We sneaked into the school and worked on the robot. Afterwards our head talked to the principal and told him what we did. Our team-school relationship has been getting better since.
I applaud your honesty but realistically the schools have very good reason to discourage this. It's a security problem and it does come with actual risk.
It would be better to remove the robot from the school and work on it where the property owner knows what is going on.
I will fully admit that in the distant past I've worked around some issues like this but unlike the situation with the snow it was a political problem. I still feel the goal was to manufacture a failure by shortening the work time arbitrarily or to weaken team members by exhausting our much more limited resources at the time. Whether or not that level of intention and foresight was really involved is subject to interpretation.
These days there is much less risk for this. Several mentors and myself are more than adequately equipped to safely transport the robot and most of the tools offsite. The school has been a great help and if push comes to shove we could load up and roll out. We actually do this for good reason when we transport the robots offsite to our mock field.
I think it's important to recognize that sometimes extraordinary circumstances create extraordinary situations. However I don't want people to think that these deadlines are an excuse to simply ignore the very real concerns of others especially where safety is involved. Then again I should hope that in return for respecting other people's concerns they should respect the often extremely hard work so many people put into FIRST.
Back in 2010, 449 had to deal with the fabled "Snowmageddon," which dropped about 50 inches of snow in ~4 days on an area that generally averages under 10 inches per year.
We correctly predicted that stuff would be closed for about a week, and hastily put together some contingency plans beforehand. Ultimately, we basically packed up all of our projects and tools, brought them to mentors' houses, and got snowed in there. It was reasonably workable. We kept in skype contact between the various locations.
Ginger Power
03-01-2014, 11:48
It's expected to hit -30° F with -60° F windchill in central Minnesota this Monday. . . I feel like this might affect some build sessions including ours.
jvriezen
03-01-2014, 12:28
It's expected to hit -30° F with -60° F windchill in central Minnesota this Monday. . . I feel like this might affect some build sessions including ours.
MN Governor has closed all MN public schools on Monday:
http://www.kttc.com/story/24355963/2014/01/03/gov-dayton-closes-
public-schools-statewide-on-monday
Once we had a snow "week" that was set on the last week of the build season. We ,as many are, were no wear near complete. Our team has a shaky relationship with our school who provides us with our space and we have a set of keys that our mentors carry that allows us to enter into our section which used to be a classroom/shop/cad room (we had 2 rooms separated). So we did the smart thing. We sneaked into the school and worked on the robot. Afterwards our head talked to the principal and told him what we did. Our team-school relationship has been getting better since.You're very lucky that situation worked out as well as it did, as opposed to, say, your principal removing your team from the school for breaking into it while it was closed. Not what I would call the "smart thing"...
Now that the entire country is on the bag and tag system, am I the only one that thinks FIRST should be a little more flexible with waivers for snow days? This can be a safety issue, and it's not like the whole build process isn't pretty much on the honor system anyway...
techhelpbb
03-01-2014, 12:53
Now that the entire country is on the bag and tag system, am I the only one that thinks FIRST should be a little more flexible with waivers for snow days? This can be a safety issue, and it's not like the whole build process isn't pretty much on the honor system anyway...
To a certain point I agree. However I think there should be a cut off. If the total number of days exceeds a certain amount then I think whatever climate related issue caused it is safely a disaster and at that point the people involved might be better off focusing resources on that.
For example if a hurricane blows through and levels the school. I doubt it makes sense to focus on FIRST when everyone's education is laying in the rubble.
gabrielau23
03-01-2014, 13:06
As a HoCo student, snow days really hurt. We already lose a week to midterms, so every year we have to work with a 5 week build season. I know for the 2010 game, RAID lost a week to Snowmageddon much like Blair Robotics did (loved your eat, shooting, and leaving, btw ;) ) in addition to the midterm week we lose. So we had to work with a 4 week build season. That was painful.
Pretty sure most schools have midterms or first semester final exams in the middle of build season. Most teams in my experience actually work MORE that week, not less, as the students have more time off from classes than usual.
rzoeller
03-01-2014, 13:19
Minnesota public schools were just shut down for Monday due to the cold. Our team has changed our plans to use the entire day as a work day. Any other Minnesota teams taking advantage of this?
To a certain point I agree. However I think there should be a cut off. If the total number of days exceeds a certain amount then I think whatever climate related issue caused it is safely a disaster and at that point the people involved might be better off focusing resources on that.
For example if a hurricane blows through and levels the school. I doubt it makes sense to focus on FIRST when everyone's education is laying in the rubble.
If that were to happen, then the team should be smart enough to realize this. I don't see why FIRST would have to enforce this, especially by choosing some number of days off from school as a benchmark.
I wouldn't mind this happening (I might be biased), but FIRST would need to make it clear that it only counts as a snow/other day if:
A) School/Extracuriculars are closed on that day in the town where your team meets.
B) The team does not work on any physical part of the robot. Not even one person in his/her garage.
Unfortunately, it would be nearly impossible to stop the team from working on CAD/code, so I would say that you don't get to make up the first 3 snow days to even things out.
cadandcookies
03-01-2014, 13:30
Minnesota public schools were just shut down for Monday due to the cold. Our team has changed our plans to use the entire day as a work day. Any other Minnesota teams taking advantage of this?
Provided it's safe to travel, we may meet later in the day. If it's -60, we'll probably all just stay home and CAD :P
Ginger Power
03-01-2014, 14:02
rzoeller Minnesota public schools were just shut down for Monday due to the cold. Our team has changed our plans to use the entire day as a work day. Any other Minnesota teams taking advantage of this?
4607 plans to unofficially meet. Just a couple members from the design and strategy teams plan on brainstorming ideas.
gabrielau23
03-01-2014, 14:02
Pretty sure most schools have midterms or first semester final exams in the middle of build season. Most teams in my experience actually work MORE that week, not less, as the students have more time off from classes than usual.
The problem is that HoCo doesn't allow any after school activities during that week, or else we'd get extra work in as well... :/
To go back to the original topic of the thread, our team usually meets on a snow day. Being from southeastern Michigan (= no lake effect snow), what snow we have typically melts by midday/end of school. Unless it's very icy or the roads are unplowed, we meet. Of course, some student absences are understood, but we always have enough people to keep working.
(I wonder: Do they close schools because it is too hot?)
We have had a "hot day". A few years ago, our air conditioning stopped working and we got sent home. Like most people here are saying, Monday is a different story. We're banking on a "cold day" :rolleyes:
If it's -60, we'll probably all just stay home and CAD :P
That's what I plan on doing. -60 degrees is not to be messed with. There's a reason why there isn't school.
rzoeller
03-01-2014, 20:55
Our superintendent ended up cancelling all activities on Monday... Including robotics. I guess that means we have to prototype at home!
Michigan will be like MN this weekend with some parts expecting about 12" - 16" snow and 9 below zeroo!
For those of you who are planning on getting together in MN I would take caution when you plan where to meet.
Temperatures of -30 will be hard on vehicles, lowering battery cranking current as well as making your car stiff and your fluids thicker.
If you venture out with a car on Monday, I would be sure to have a plan ahead of time in case it does not restart after sitting outside in the cold.
Also, be cautious of the potential red tape associated with having a school activity meeting on a day where the governor has ordered no school, even if it is off-campus.
I would be much more inclined to advise teleconferencing via something such as google+ hangouts.
redneckrobot
05-01-2014, 23:12
mine is not a school. and if rode's are that bad I can pick up the team on my sled. small town only 4 team members
runneals
06-01-2014, 02:25
I don't know how many other teams are in situations such as ours, but our team doesn't start physically meeting until next weekendish/Monday, as school (academy) starts back with college.
I say build it into your schedule. Add a day or 2 of padding for hard stop days to accommodate it.
jordansch
06-01-2014, 12:11
I think that our team hopes for snow days during build season. About half of our team is within easy walking distance if conditions are terrible for driving, and that gives us a 12 hour workday rather than 5. Kansas weather now is notorious for ice, meaning that the school is forced to cancel school, since about a third of the students live out in the country. Last year, we had a week straight of snow days. There was a lot of work done in that time.:D
Bryan Herbst
06-01-2014, 12:25
rzoeller Minnesota public schools were just shut down for Monday due to the cold. Our team has changed our plans to use the entire day as a work day. Any other Minnesota teams taking advantage of this?
4607 plans to unofficially meet. Just a couple members from the design and strategy teams plan on brainstorming ideas.
Our school does not allow the mentors to schedule meetings when school has been canceled. Though the students are free to get together on their own, the mentors cannot tell them to show up anywhere.
Usually, if school is closed then we cannot meet at the school. Today, for instance, we had a snow day and our 6:00-9:00 meeting was canceled. Tomorrow will probably be canceled as well. This is not the way I wanted to start the build season.::ouch::
MechEng83
06-01-2014, 13:18
Usually, if school is closed then we cannot meet at the school. Today, for instance, we had a snow day and our 6:00-9:00 meeting was canceled. Tomorrow will probably be canceled as well. This is not the way I wanted to start the build season.::ouch::
Better in week 1 than in week 6.
Better in week 1 than in week 6.
This is very true.
Qbot2640
06-01-2014, 13:21
Our county just announced the next two days will be 2 hour delay days, because of very cold morning temperatures. How awesome is that? Prototyping later in the evening, 'cause the kids now get to sleep in for two more hours!
Our county just announced the next two days will be 2 hour delay days, because of very cold morning temperatures. How awesome is that? Prototyping later in the evening, 'cause the kids now get to sleep in for two more hours!
I wish my school district would only delay school instead of canceling it. Like another said, at least this is only week 1 and not the end of week 6. ;)
Ginger Power
06-01-2014, 19:53
Our school does not allow the mentors to schedule meetings when school has been canceled. Though the students are free to get together on their own, the mentors cannot tell them to show up anywhere.
This system works well for us considering we live in Minnesota and there are sure to be more snow days on the way.
Ed Sparks
06-01-2014, 20:04
Even in the deep south (Alabama), we were shut down due to the weather.
Even in the deep south (Alabama), we were shut down due to the weather.
We were too :(
Even in the deep south (Alabama), we were shut down due to the weather.
It's going to be a balmy 30ish degrees here in west Texas tomorrow, so school will proceed as normal.
Walter Deitzler
06-01-2014, 20:14
We wanted to have an 8+ hour meeting today, but the huge amounts of snow made it so that not eve the janitors could get into the building. We do have approval though, that as long as there are janitors, we can be at the school building. Tomorrow we are hoping they can make it in (they are usually told to come in on snow days, unless the weather is REALLY bad), so that we can have a long meeting.
On the plus side, it gave me time to finish chassis and electronic board CAD :D .
Darth Drew
06-01-2014, 20:15
On snow days, our mentor has to contact the administrators to see if we're allowed to meet later in the day, unfortunately we weren't today, fingers crossed for tomorrow.
AndyBare
06-01-2014, 20:24
Yep. Here in Georgia, school is closed tomorrow. "Too cold" crap. No robotics.
Ryan Dognaux
06-01-2014, 20:52
No meetings for us today or tomorrow due to the snow & -23 degree wind chill here in the St. Louis area. Better to happen now than week 5 or 6 though I suppose.
Riverdance
06-01-2014, 20:56
My team is from Connecticut. We have this very unfortunate situation this evening involving the fact that all day today it's been over 50 degrees and raining steadily... and tomorrow the absolute high temperature is 15 degrees. The temperature drop and flash freezing starts tonight.
The snow days and mass cancellations of after-school activities have already cut out tonight's 6:30-9:00 meeting, and if we lose tomorrow's school day, which it's likely that we will, that's another one out the window.
Our team likes to treat snow days as "No school? Let's treat it like a Saturday!" (on Saturdays during build we meet from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm), but it's a little different when the roads are coated in ice. :(
techhelpbb
06-01-2014, 22:13
Just something to think about:
With bad weather, closed schools and limited resources...
FIRST teams might want to consider ways to communicate that reduce travel and team practices that are practical in the event we have more bad weather like this as an example.
In the grander scheme if for no other reason then perhaps to tap mentoring and knowledge from more remote people that might be just too far away.
More and more businesses in the professional world are working remotely.
People make stuff in China all the time and clearly they all don't go to China to do it.
MechEng83
06-01-2014, 22:20
Just something to think about:
With bad weather, closed schools and limited resources...
FIRST teams might want to consider ways to communicate that reduce travel and team practices that are practical in the event we have more bad weather like this as an example.
In the grander scheme if for no other reason then perhaps to tap mentoring and knowledge from more remote people that might be just too far away.
We're losing at least 3 days at the beginning of build season (yesterday, today, and tomorrow) so far, plus the makeup days where we usually meet all day, including the day before bag day.
On the communication front, I had a nice long meeting with my engineering captain this afternoon by Skype. We got a lot accomplished, though certainly not as much as if we were able to meet in person.
sarah_storer
06-01-2014, 22:26
Since people usually overreact to "cold weather" in Louisiana [its 34 here]...schools have been delayed and even cancelled around Baton Rouge. Thankfully, our school is smarter and instead of delaying, they're letting us wear jeans instead of the uniform shorts/skirts.
You all are more than welcome to come to Israel. It's going to be a cozy high of 68 degrees, with lows in the lower 50's....
Seriously though, stay safe everyone :) The weather sounds horrible
Jay O'Donnell
06-01-2014, 23:13
Our school cancelled after school activities today due to bad roads, so myself and a few other team members had a google hangout to discuss designs and the game itself. It was much more helpful than not communicating with each other at all.
This type of build season with lots of cancellations is nothing new for us New Englanders.
MechEng83
08-01-2014, 13:32
Day 4 of cancelled meetings. The team leaders are having skype discussions and working on CAD, essays, and scouting from home. It's a good thing these technologies exist.
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise in that it forces the team to do CAD before building anything...
Austin1018
08-01-2014, 17:20
Day 4 of cancelled meetings. The team leaders are having skype discussions and working on CAD, essays, and scouting from home. It's a good thing these technologies exist.
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise in that it forces the team to do CAD before building anything...
Being one of Indiana, we have had to do the same thing. We have a robot plan... now we just need to get to building. School is out for tomorrow... hopefully we get some work in on Friday?
At this point we just have to hope that they don't keep us from out work during the weekend. That's all that the school board, and the snow, can't touch.
mklinker
08-01-2014, 17:42
For folks in Indiana and surrounding states.....a few suggestions.
We have had great success this week with discussion using Google Docs. We have been able to discuss strategy, sub-system specs, and other topics.
We have also viewed Inventor images using join.me which allows a user to display their computer screen to others with an additional chat window available for discussion. This requires a free download for the host all others just use a code to access the meeting.
*Rachelle*
08-01-2014, 21:53
We haven't had any snow days this season, but we are still affected by all this, we have not yet received our kit of parts... Are there a lot of other teams that don't have their's yet?
cadandcookies
09-01-2014, 01:04
We've been fortunate enough to avoid an outright ban on school meetings on every day except Monday, given that windchill was -50 earlier this week in our area.
As always, "the show must go on." Snow days are just another challenge of build season. Personally, I've been happy that it's encouraged a lot of healthy discussion and meetings outside of scheduled times more common. There's no way to get people to work on the robot than telling them that they can't work on the robot.
MechEng83
09-01-2014, 02:25
I have students WISHING they had school, so we could meet. :confused: How awesome is FRC that it makes students wish there was school? ;)
Solution: Move to the sunny California Bay Area or Central Valley! Solano County and surrounding counties have been in quite an anomalous drought this year. I can only remember having two rain days since September 2013, and usually it rains almost every day here once October comes around, and then is on and off between March and June. The hills here in Vacaville are still brown from the summer. They're usually green this time of year.
It would be cool to have snow here, but I understand how difficult it is to try to have a consistent build season in snowy conditions, and I am not wishing for that. I feel at an unfair advantage being in an area with no snow (and no rain for the moment). It might be more fair to have build season in the spring but that may not happen in the near future. Props to all the teams who have to deal with snow and all other forms of frozen water from the sky!
4404 PCH Colts
09-01-2014, 08:28
Is there any chance that FIRST would postpone the deadline for teams that have experienced these snowdays? Our winter break has essentially been extended by 4 days with these snowdays, which while restful, has KILLED our build season.
DominickC
09-01-2014, 08:31
Is there any chance that FIRST would postpone the deadline for teams that have experienced these snowdays?
Not a chance. Such is FIRST (life, too?).
MechEng83
09-01-2014, 08:44
Is there any chance that FIRST would postpone the deadline for teams that have experienced these snowdays? Our winter break has essentially been extended by 4 days with these snowdays, which while restful, has KILLED our build season.
Not likely. And as one of the affected teams, I wouldn't expect them to. This is one of those things that teams should plan around. This is why having a business plan with contingencies comes in handy.
1018sophmore
09-01-2014, 13:47
Having lost 4 days of build season will be a challenge. The team leads and mentors have been trying to stay in touch to get overall designs and concepts for our robot and what we want it to do. Still not being in our workspace for almost an entire week will certainly make for an interesting beginning to build season.:rolleyes: Still have never been more excited for school to start!
Austin1018
09-01-2014, 16:20
Having lost 4 days of build season will be a challenge. The team leads and mentors have been trying to stay in touch to get overall designs and concepts for our robot and what we want it to do. Still not being in our workspace for almost an entire week will certainly make for an interesting beginning to build season.:rolleyes: Still have never been more excited for school to start!
It seems as though we are going to have another snow day....
*sigh*
This is going to be a rough weekend...
Alan Anderson
09-01-2014, 16:39
We will have lost an entire school week of build season by the time we are allowed to meet this weekend. I suspect we'll be putting in "crunch time" hours for a while, and perhaps adding shop time on our usual days off.
Austin1018
09-01-2014, 16:56
We will have lost an entire school week of build season by the time we are allowed to meet this weekend. I suspect we'll be putting in "crunch time" hours for a while, and perhaps adding shop time on our usual days off.
Same here. We are meeting at Panera to try to get some actual meeting time in. Web meetings and Skype calls just don't do it when you have a FIRST game at hand.
Kyle Love
09-01-2014, 17:32
We have lost 5 days of school now due to snow. We had to go directly from the kickoff site in Indy to our homes (could not stick around to brainstorm or read rules) and could not meet again until today. It was very inconvenient, but we finally got to meet from 12-4 today and seem to have 5 days worth of brainstorming slammed into one day. We are cancelled tomorrow, but will be able to have an open shop for kids to come in and work on designs and CAD. We will find a way to get stuff done, one way or another, the snow days just make things more interesting :rolleyes:.
Walter Deitzler
09-01-2014, 17:35
We got back into school today, but were not allowed to have a robotics meeting due to afterschool activities being cancelled because of the weather. We have met twice: once on kickoff, and once yesterday.
So, perhaps the weather problems are part of "Getting It"?
Localized weather problems, even as large as half the USA freezing up for a week, do not generally affect market pressures on product development. In a 35 year career, I lost work days in Hartford CT, Dallas TX, Colorado Springs CO and Atlanta GA over the years (plus college days in Golden CO and Stony Brook NY). Nearly half of my career has been in Chandler AZ, where I have never lost a day to weather.
It's part of the lesson. If your fabs don't shake because you built them somewhere that is geologically stable, your yields are higher and you make more money. If people can either get to work no matter what, or tele-cooperate with desktop sharing over reliable communications networks, you will make more money.
TJ
waialua359
09-01-2014, 23:33
We got back into school today, but were not allowed to have a robotics meeting due to afterschool activities being cancelled because of the weather. We have met twice: once on kickoff, and once yesterday.
Ok, Ill admit, its the one advantage us Hawaii people have.
Cant imagine how frustrating it is not being able to meet when you want to.
Walter Deitzler
10-01-2014, 10:47
To top it all off, today, some of our school's pipes broke, so we no longer have heating in the building for an indefinite amount of time. If the whole thing freezes due to the cold weather outside, that amount of time will lengthen. We cannot get into the building until it is fixed.
I can admit that my frustration is slowly growing :mad: .
Well, thank goodness I put Autodesk Inventor on my laptop.
Mr.Paulson
26-01-2014, 18:28
Looks like another lost work day for our team and many others in Minnesota tomorrow...
Temps down to -25 degrees up here and windchills to -50 degrees.
...and we choose to live here.
geomapguy
26-01-2014, 18:29
Wow we had our first snow Friday and we only got 3 inches.....can't imagine what it's like up North
We have had our 4th snow day last week for this 2014 season in western Michigan, and the weather looks like Monday and Tuesday will be canceled as well. 6 days lost in a 6 week build season is hard to make up. Last year we lost 5 days and we didn't get our robot tweaked in until the third competition and lost our chances to qualify for state. It is definitely an obstacle to get around.
I don't like excuses, but I will whine about it :)
We have had our 4th snow day last week for this 2014 season in western Michigan, and the weather looks like Monday and Tuesday will be canceled as well. 6 days lost in a 6 week build season is hard to make up. Last year we lost 5 days and we didn't get our robot tweaked in until the third competition and lost our chances to qualify for state. It is definitely an obstacle to get around.
I don't like excuses, but I will whine about it :)
Zeeland and Holland get a little more snow than Muskegon, but we are in the same boat. I can't think of the last time we had four snow days at this point in the year. If it gets really bad, and we miss much more, we plan to pack as much as we can and get some work done in a heated garage if needed... I'm still trying my best to not work weekends if we can.
gxlden_queen
26-01-2014, 20:00
i know we are trying to increase are working days. last week we had three days of snow and missed all three because robotics is a school activity,and guess what we are about to have a snow storm :yikes:
Christopher149
26-01-2014, 20:44
Yeah, tomorrow is the fourth snow day this build season. Skipped meeting the first two (polar vortex, was right after kickoff anyway). Third, the weather wasn't that bad, so meeting was non-mandatory. Waiting to see what tomorrow is like.
Wish Michigan Tech would close...
At my school the the robotics team is trusted and we can pretty much do whatever we want so we come in all day :p . So during snow days we keep to the lab and work through the whole day gotta love it :) .
Al Skierkiewicz
26-01-2014, 22:02
Well, Schools are closing throughout the Midwest due to the Polar Vortex riding in for another blast. Windchills to -30 coming in the next few days. School in the suburbs has been called off including all activities for tomorrow and Tuesday's status will be determined tomorrow. Snow is due overnight, on top of the 4-6 we have received since Friday. It looks like Chicago Public Schools will also be closed. Tueday temps well below zero with winds over 20 MPH.
Sunshine
27-01-2014, 07:38
They cancelled school fir today and tomorrow. Up to 5 lost days now. Between school closings and back orders from VexPro, this is turning into the build season from hell.
Al Skierkiewicz
27-01-2014, 07:39
-2 at my house this morning, with wind chill at -20. This may be the high for today with real temps headed to -19 overnight.
Jon Stratis
27-01-2014, 07:55
School was cancelled for us today as well (fourth time this season!). However, one of our captains wrote an empassioned plea to the school board and got permission for the team to meet anyway, mostly using the logic that students won't be standing out for a bus - they'll be driven in by their parents. Usually we meet for 2 hours on week days... Today it's closer to 6!
Chadfrom308
27-01-2014, 08:33
When school is canceled, we normally still have robotics, unless it's like, snowpocolypse or something. We haven't had many snow days because of snow, we had most due to wind chill. Most of us just brave it out and go to robotics even if school is closed. I mean, its not like we meet outside or anything...
Tom Line
27-01-2014, 08:37
When school is canceled, we normally still have robotics, unless it's like, snowpocolypse or something. We haven't had many snow days because of snow, we had most due to wind chill. Most of us just brave it out and go to robotics even if school is closed. I mean, its not like we meet outside or anything...
You're lucky. Most schools have a policy of not allowing after-school activities on the days that are cancelled. We're cancelled again today, and likely tomorrow. It's put us back probably a week or so in our schedule and we've got a week one event. We'll just have to work that much harder!
Our side-roads are impassable in places because of the drifting.
Chris Hibner
27-01-2014, 08:48
You're lucky. Most schools have a policy of not allowing after-school activities on the days that are cancelled. We're cancelled again today, and likely tomorrow. It's put us back probably a week or so in our schedule and we've got a week one event. We'll just have to work that much harder!
Our side-roads are impassable in places because of the drifting.
Yeah - us too. We lost the entire first week. The school was closed for snow the first 2 days of week 1, then the negative temperatures caused a pipe to burst which shut the school down for the rest of the week. Between weather and supplier issues we're at least 1.5 weeks behind.
MrRiedemanJACC
27-01-2014, 09:00
Same boat here as Chris and Tom. I was hoping we'd have school today here in Jackson county, but at midnight last night we had quite a bit of new snow (guessing 3-4 inches), but lots of wind causing it to drift. Tomorrow doesn't look any better at all for being open. I'm guessing we are a week behind where we should be, but at this time of the season I always say that.... :)
It is frigid out there though. I was up at 5:00 am to snow blow my driveway and the 1/2 mile loop in our neighborhood so my wife could get out to the main road and to work in A^2 (hospitals don't shut down). After being out in that for 2.5 hours, even if I had the opportunity, not sure I would want to ask students or parents to go out into this stuff.
We are on our 4th day today. This does not count this last Saturday. When the schools are closed here we are not allowed to have meetings. Saturday is when we get the most work done. Three of our other mentors could not make it to a main road. I made it to the school but could not get in the driveway. There was a good 3ft of snow plus drifts. Needless to say we had to cancel Saturday making 5 missed days so far. I suspect schools will also close here on Tuesday due to temps.
MechEng83
27-01-2014, 09:12
I feel your pain. School isn't cancelled for our team, but the school district cancelled all extracurricular activities due to temperature/wind chill -- despite the fact that we meet indoors. 7 lost days, plus the 2 all-day sessions we would have had on the snow make-up days.
Mr.Paulson
27-01-2014, 09:36
-20 this morning with windchills -45. We have a 7 foot drift in our front yard from the wind yesterday. Tomorrow morning it is supposed to be -25 or colder for actual temps. Hope we have school...never thought I would say that when it is this cold...
MrRiedemanJACC
27-01-2014, 09:38
MechEng83,
(thread hijack ahead)
How are the roads around Indy today? My nephew had his baptism over in Speedway on Sunday, so I drove my family down from Michigan on Saturday and then back on Sunday. I-69 on the Northeast side was bad and so we took 37 into Indy from just south of Marion (we got off the highway to avoid the backups Saturday on I-69) and everything was a pretty good mess on Saturday - lots of hardpack snow that turned to Ice. Not as bad on Sunday, but still pretty bad though.
MechEng83
27-01-2014, 09:51
MechEng83,
(thread hijack ahead)
How are the roads around Indy today? My nephew had his baptism over in Speedway on Sunday, so I drove my family down from Michigan on Saturday and then back on Sunday. I-69 on the Northeast side was bad and so we took 37 into Indy from just south of Marion (we got off the highway to avoid the backups Saturday on I-69) and everything was a pretty good mess on Saturday - lots of hardpack snow that turned to Ice. Not as bad on Sunday, but still pretty bad though.
Roads where we are (southern Indy) are generally ok. I keep hearing reports it's worse the further north/west you go. Friday night was not fun due to drifts that had accumulated on the roads, but today was clear on my drive to work. To un-hijack the thread, I'll continue to rant how it's not (in my opinion) unsafe to travel, and we should be allowed to meet since it's indoors.
Abhishek R
27-01-2014, 10:32
Last Friday we had a Houston-wide school closing because of extremely low temperatures and a possibility of ice and snow (very rare for Houston). Most schools were closed, and it probably affected a lot of teams. I know our district still held some after-school activities, but because we don't build at the school we ended up being okay.
The downside is that the scheduled make up day replaces a holiday which used to be the day before stop build.
Last Friday we had a Houston-wide school closing because of extremely low temperatures and a possibility of ice and snow (very rare for Houston).
I always wonder what extremely low temperatures are in a place like Houston.
pribusin
27-01-2014, 10:55
Andy, you and your team are welcome to come over to our work shop and bring whatever you need to keep working. We try to meet even when school is closed as long as the parents are comfortable driving the kids. We'll be here until 8 tonight.
Andy, you and your team are welcome to come over to our work shop and bring whatever you need to keep working. We try to meet even when school is closed as long as the parents are comfortable driving the kids. We'll be here until 8 tonight.
Thanks for the offer. We might take you up on that but I'm hoping we won't need it. School policy lets us meet 1-5 if weather is better, roads are clearer, and the world hasn't ended yet...
pribusin
27-01-2014, 11:10
Ok. If you want to go later than 5, come on over. We'll be here until 8.
Freezing cold here as well, school cancelled so no robotics :(
I guess the only upside to this is that we would have probably spent most of today sitting around waiting for parts anyways.
Abhishek R
27-01-2014, 12:15
I always wonder what extremely low temperatures are in a place like Houston.
About 20 degrees. Very bipolar, 20 one day then 60-70 the next.
Wayne Doenges
27-01-2014, 12:19
Not to rub it in but since we are associated with 4H and not much with the local high school we can still meet on snow days.
Even though the high school was closed all last week, we were still able to build.
Stay warm and stay safe.
On a differnt note. I was stationed at Kelly AFB in San Antonio for 10 months in 1976. One day it snowed 1 inch and the highway patrol closed the interstates around San Antonio. Since I'm from Indiana and 1 inch of snow is a dusting, I went around the barricades and had the whole interstate to myself :D
rsegrest
27-01-2014, 12:21
I always wonder what extremely low temperatures are in a place like Houston.
Well, we are 90 miles north of Houston. I lived in PA for 4 years and learned that and cold is a relative term :D
For Houston and counties north our cold was...brace yourselves and don't laugh...@18...yes it is a positive number which is why I said don't laugh. We did get 2in of snow but the problem down here is that people do not know how to drive in it safely and salt? No they use sand down here.
Unfortunately we lost last Friday as well and are looking at maybe losing tomorrow if the current forecast holds up (predicting rain this evening with drastically falling temps and then 2+ inches snow starting around mid-night). So we will see, will this be a first for our east Texas team and lose not just one but two days to SNOW? We will keep you posted!
High 50s low 60s here in sunny Ga. Probably the warmest day of the year. The weather service has actually suggested that we go buy milk for tomorrow's snow storm. It is fun to watch our northern transplants demonstrating how not to drive on wet snow & ice. :ahh: :)
We have a huge fusion powered snow remover down here. It can take a couple of days to work sometimes, but is cheaper than snow plows for a once in 5 year event.
We had a 2 hour delay here in Corry PA today. So it started out looking like we were good, but just got a phone call that all after school activities have been canceled. :( Also if tomorrow goes as forecast, it looks like we will be out 2 or 3 days this week. Saturday we ended up putting in more hours than usual because we expected this to happen.
DBortnick
27-01-2014, 13:43
CPS (Chicago Public Schools) will be closed tomorrow for now the 4th "extreme weather" day this month.
Honestly, this is more days off this month than I had in 12 years as a student going through CPS.
My team meets and builds at the school, considering the school is closed for safety reasons with student traveling to and from in extremely frigid conditions, I'm not sure how our team is going to recover the lost time.
Its amusing. Generally we only miss days for school due to hurricanes in Baton Rouge, LA. Of course, during Katrina we missed almost two weeks of school so they can make up for snow days. Still, that is only during the fall.
This year, I am looking at having two more snow days between tomorrow and Wednesday. This is beyond the one we had on Friday. Unfortunately, we are in a relatively suburban area and there are a lot of bridges around here that tend to freeze. This will keep us closed.
Just to give an example - there were over 200 traffic accidents on Friday alone with the ice that was on the roads. No salt, only sand. Still my own children (7 and 9yrs) are looking forward to playing in the snow for once in their lives.
Best -
Daniel
Wayne Doenges
27-01-2014, 14:33
Still my own children (7 and 9yrs) are looking forward to playing in the snow for once in their lives.
If you don't get enough snow, for your kids, I can ship you some of our snow :D
sarah_storer
27-01-2014, 14:34
Panthrobotics is about 5 miles away from us so the conditions are the same for the BulahBots, no school Tuesday and most likely Wednesday too.
Our coach has communicated to us that we will not meet Tuesday because of weather and driving conditions and that we'll see what happens on Wednesday.
So we'll loose about two days of build at the end of build season:ahh:
....and the pressure sets in.
waialua359
27-01-2014, 15:15
-20 this morning with windchills -45. We have a 7 foot drift in our front yard from the wind yesterday. Tomorrow morning it is supposed to be -25 or colder for actual temps. Hope we have school...never thought I would say that when it is this cold...
I'm going to assume that by the time we get there on March 4, we won't have to worry about being frozen to death. :)
Al Skierkiewicz
27-01-2014, 15:24
School and all activities including robotics have just been cancelled for Tuesday as well. Students are to stay home. Even work is telling people to use their judgement and stay home if they can. However, as a broadcast engineer, if I don't come to work, no one can watch TV (Sesame Stree, Clifford and other PBS children's programming.) tomorrow. Leaving the cabinets open tonight so pipes don't freeze.
The county just cancelled school for our school, so we lost a day of build that we need - and we're so close to stop build, too.
Mother Nature needs to calm down until Feb. 18.
cadandcookies
27-01-2014, 17:53
I'm going to assume that by the time we get there on March 4, we won't have to worry about being frozen to death. :)
I wouldn't count on it... It probably won't be -50 windchill, but subzero temperatures at this point I would say are quite likely. Fortunately, if you're staying in any of the downtown hotels in Duluth, you probably won't even have to go outside to get to the venue-- Duluth has a great skyway system.
EDIT:
Also, my school district (ISD 196) has had five cold days this January. I'm pretty sure that that's more days off that we've had over the last three years combined. Ridiculous. Fortunately we're still on schedule...
waialua359
27-01-2014, 17:58
I wouldn't count on it... It probably won't be -50 windchill, but subzero temperatures at this point I would say are quite likely. Fortunately, if you're staying in any of the downtown hotels in Duluth, you probably won't even have to go outside to get to the venue-- Duluth has a great skyway system.
EDIT:
Also, my school district (ISD 196) has had five cold days this January. I'm pretty sure that that's more days off that we've had over the last three years combined. Ridiculous. Fortunately we're still on schedule...
We are staying at Spirit Mountain and had planned to spend a day at the Park snow tubing, skiing and zip lining.
Well, maybe not?:ahh:
Christopher149
27-01-2014, 17:58
Even though we could have met today (we can meet snow days), we cancelled because the weather is in fact bad. It was a good idea, since at ~3pm, I couldn't start my car without jumpstarting. I was out today, since MTU was basically the only UP school open.
Here's what my deck looks like, with snow pressing against the windows. You can have some if you want :p
About 20 degrees. Very bipolar, 20 one day then 60-70 the next.
We're the same here in Michigan. It was -12 one day and then it was 50 degrees and raining. Now we are back to -4, I miss 20 degrees a little.
Muskegon stopped using salt a while back. The mix we have is only good to 17 degrees. We've been below 17 for so long that they have been doing sand from Lake Michigan beaches to at least give us some grip. I need school to open again. We're not just behind for robotics, I'm going to have a hard time meeting all of my standards for my classes.
We are staying at Spirit Mountain and had planned to spend a day at the Park snow tubing, skiing and zip lining.
Well, maybe not?:ahh:
Duluth will definitely still be cold come march, i wouldnt be surprised if its sub zero with windchill, especially if your down by the lake (like where the DECC is) , and not up on the hill (which im assuming where your tubing place is). Just dress in layers and everyone will be fine, will probably be a shock though for a few people how cold it is :P , but the DECC is a great venue so its worth it.
Mr.Paulson
27-01-2014, 19:12
I'm going to assume that by the time we get there on March 4, we won't have to worry about being frozen to death. :)
No...it will probably be at least 30 or 40... Last year we had to stay an extra day in Duluth because of the snow. March isn't our coldest month but it is our snowiest month!
Abhishek R
27-01-2014, 22:46
So Houston gets another citywide school closure tomorrow. Gonna have to see if the districts cancel before or after school activities. KISD didn't last time, but you never know...
PayneTrain
28-01-2014, 01:38
Week 1 events seem like great ideas until you get 4 days locked out during build season like last week. I fear we may lose a couple more. Not cool, weather.
BBray_T1296
28-01-2014, 01:57
I always wonder what extremely low temperatures are in a place like Houston.
Well in Dallas it is a 45 degree temperature drop (from 75 sunday afternoon (I wore a t-shirt and shorts yesterday!) to 30 late sunday night.
It rarely gets below 20 degrees (F) here.
geomapguy
28-01-2014, 03:14
Well in Dallas it is a 45 degree temperature drop (from 75 sunday afternoon (I wore a t-shirt and shorts yesterday!) to 30 late sunday night.
It rarely gets below 20 degrees (F) here.
yep same here in Louisiana
Billfred
28-01-2014, 07:23
60s yesterday in Columbia, barely out of freezing today with tons of snow expected. Since USC closed today, 4901's out for at least one day.
Zebra_Fact_Man
28-01-2014, 08:52
Today is the 5th or 6th time my HS district closed schools (been so many times now that I've lost count). Wasn't so bad Days 1-3 of Week 1 because we could just meet at one of the mentor's house and talk strategy/rules/design. But now, all our parts/tools/machines are locked up in the school building.
Not fun when 1/6 of your build season is taken from you.
It's gunna be a tough year for Midwest teams.
It's gotten so bad here that the University of Michigan cancelled classes due to weather for the first time since 1978.
Duluth will definitely still be cold come march, i wouldnt be surprised if its sub zero with windchill, especially if your down by the lake (like where the DECC is) , and not up on the hill (which im assuming where your tubing place is). Just dress in layers and everyone will be fine, will probably be a shock though for a few people how cold it is :P , but the DECC is a great venue so its worth it.
I swear that we from chicago bring the warm(er) weather with us. The last two years at duluth it's been mid 30s :D
Loralyn P
28-01-2014, 16:21
It's been ridiculous in Michigan with the school closures. Rumor is that the governor is actually going to pardon several of the days because they were statewide closings. That would be great, since I don't want to have our days extended / have to make up the days in the summer.
-2 at my house this morning, with wind chill at -20. This may be the high for today with real temps headed to -19 overnight.
I just want to let you know Al, that I convinced people to show up today because Wildstang is probably meeting anyways.
Al Skierkiewicz
28-01-2014, 23:43
We were prevented from meeting yesterday and today by school edict. Electrical did a phone conference but everyone stayed at home.
JohnFogarty
29-01-2014, 01:07
The snow finally came down and it's about 3 inches with some solid ice underneath. I know the state doesn't have the salt ready for everything that's about to happen. So 4901 might be out several days down here.
orangemoore
29-01-2014, 02:41
This past week has been the second time we have missed school on Monday and Tuesday. because of that we were not able to meet. To my knowledge this have been the most snow days (4) that my school has missed in a year in our schools 113 year history. Hopefully we won't miss many more because it will really impact our build.
MechEng83
29-01-2014, 10:26
I think we're going to be allowed to meet today!
So far we've lost 6 days due to school closure, 1 additional day because of extracurricular activity cancellation, and 1 Sunday because I actually made the call that it was unsafe to go out (foot of snow the day after kickoff).
With the amount of school closures, it'll be interesting to see how all the teams fare at our regionals. We're attending week 4 and week 6 events, so I suspect it will have less impact on those competitions compared to week 1 and 2 events.
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