Recently this week there was a huge snowstorm on the eastern coast. Dear RU got classes canceled for one day and most classes were canceled the subsequent day. All Jersey schools, Pre-K and upwards, followed suit, some canceling classes for more than one day. Kids made giant snowmen, huge phallic structures, had legendary snowball fights, and an all around great time being in college on a snow day.
I was sitting in class thinking, damn I shouldn't have transferred.
Ithaca had gotten some snow, but (a) Ithaca has a higher standard for what constitutes "a lot of snow," and (b) Cornell kids have been toughing it out climbing slopes, so what's a little loss of friction going to do? Binghamton was close by and had not canceled any classes, so it felt fair.
Until Bing canceled their afternoon classes. Cue the melodramatic "life isn't fair" exaltation.
But it makes sense doesn't it? The distribution of possible snowfall levels is skew right (I am never sure which is which, but there is a larger concentration on the left side). So we are more likely to get a little bit of snow than enough snow to make ten-foot tall gargantuan snowmen.
Then there are the infrastructural resources of the municipality to deal with snow. For areas which see a higher average snowfall, they have more resources such as snowplows. Having more resources increases the ability to cope with higher levels of snow, which means there is a higher threshold for snow to reach the heavily desired "canceled classes." (And it doesn't help Ithaca got less snow than NJ did.)
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