Many students in the winter hope for snow days. Spring Lake Schools got its first snow day of the school year on Thursday, Dec. 5, along with many other schools in West Michigan. Students were informed of the snow day Wednesday night around 8 p.m.
A popular website used in the winter is the “snow day calculator.” Students type in their zip code, the type of school they attend, and how many snow days they have had that year already. After typing in this information, the website will generate the chances of your school having a snow day. On Wednesday, many students calculated the chances of having a snow day for Thursday, and the percentage came out to be over 50% likely.
Spring Lake students find many things to do on their snow days.
“I made slime and cinnamon rolls on my snow day,” said Ava Mykols on Friday, when students returned to finish the school week.
“I watched a Christmas movie and lay in my bed,” said Keegan Ryan.
Lake effect snow was the main reason for school closings, which caused snow to reach up to eight inches to fall in the area, according to local news reports and the National Weather Service. Lake effect snow is caused because colder air travels over Lake Michigan, picking up moisture which turns to snow.
Around the lakeshore area, it was reported that wind gusts reached up to 40-60 mph. Wind is caused by pressure differences between air masses. This is when air moves from higher pressure to areas of lower pressure. This is primarily caused by a change in temperature.
Most interestingly, on Wednesday night, “thundersnow” was reported over Lake Michigan. Thundersnow is basically a winter thunderstorm, caused when the precipitation is snow instead of rain. Thundersnow is a very rare occurrence that only happens in intense snow storms. The unstable weather conditions were high, which caused the thunder to be followed by a few flashes of lightning.
