opinion

In Windsor, they call the polar vortex Wednesday

It's near the close of business on the third day of Michigan winter at its Michigan wintriest, and I am beginning to suspect that the mayor of Windsor is not going to return my phone call.

The past week has been like a Michigan winter greatest hits: Heavy snow, wintry mix, random rain, slushy roads, snowy roads, icy roads and a polar vortex. We're currently sitting tight at (checks phone) -5 degrees, and large swaths of metro Detroit have ground to a halt.

School's been closed all week. They are running out of snow days. State offices are closed. The U.S. Postal Service is not making deliveries. The Somerset Collection might close early. We're practically living in the end times.

Read more:

Consumers Energy, DTE ask customers to turn down thermostats

DDOT, SMART offering free bus rides because of cold weather today

All of which makes you wonder what's going on in Windsor. Where it is also -5 degrees.

Across the river, schools are open, businesses are open, the Windsor Star's home page features but one modest weather story and, one presumes, the Canada Post is chugging along like clockwork.

And, it seems, this is just how they do.

"The school has closed once in the 11 years my kids have been going," an expat friend told me when I texted Wednesday to ask why Canadians are impervious to ice and snow. "They shut the buses down for fog or snow, but the schools don't close.

"The buses were running today, though," she noted casually.

Half a mile away

Why is it different across the river? Isn't it just as dangerous to drive on icy Canadian roads? Don't Canadian winds bring the same amount of chill? Does it have to do with hockey? Are they just showing off?

I decided to call the most Windsory person I could think of: Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkins, who was not in the office, and for whom I left a message.

Forced to search for answers closer to home, I called Randy Liepa, superintendent of Wayne County RESA.

Read more:

An allergy to the cold weather is a real thing — and it can be deadly

Polar vortex 2019: Live weather, traffic updates around Michigan

Liepa's snow-day bona fides are legit: Before leading the countywide support organization, he spent 12 years as the superintendent of Livonia Public Schools. Before that, he was assistant superintendent for operations. All told, Liepa has been working on snow days for 25 years.

And really, it sounds awful.

Deciding whether or not to cancel school, Liepa says, is the worst part of a superintendent's job. Even when it's necessary to call school off, it's a hardship for working parents.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg: If school is cancelled and predicted snow doesn't materialize, no one is happy. Don't cancel school and there's tons of snow, no one is happy. Stay open when other districts are closed, no one is happy. Close when other districts are open, and ... you get the idea.

All weather is local

Deciding whether or not to close school involves a lot of logistics, Liepa says, but ultimately, "it all comes down to student safety."

"If it’s snow, it's not just the roads, but can you get people in and out of your parking lots? If can’t get buses and parents who are driving their children into your parking lots, you just can’t have school," he says. "You have communities that have rural backroads. Sidewalks are something you take a look at."

There's a chart, he says, that cross-references the dangers of wind chill and exposure.

That's all really reasonable sounding, I tell him. Prudent, even.

Then I tell him that Windsor schools are open.

"Are they?" Liepa says.

Of course, it's all what you're used to, he says. The U.P. has beaucoup snow and subzero days. Down south, one inch of snow brings a city like Mobile, Ala., my hometown, to a screeching halt.

But Windsor residents? Are they used to something different than what Detroiters are used to?

"It’s a great question," Liepa says. "It really would be a great conversation to have with them."

Nancy Kaffer is a Free Press columnist, and she is here to tell you that -5 is still better than an Alabama summer. Contact: nkaffer@freepress.com.

