Winter weather has been hitting the Empire State hard over the last couple of months. Cities all over New York state have had to brace and deal with some extremely cold temperatures over the last few weeks as multiple polar vortices have pummeled the region with frigid air from the Arctic Circle. Buffalo and Western New York are one of several regions that saw temperatures that were well below freezing along with below-zero wind chills.

Those weather conditions can create extremely dangerous conditions for people who find themselves outside, whether it be those working, little ones waiting for the school bus, or the homeless. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in after just a few minutes of exposure, and it's very difficult to recover once you start losing body heat.

To help combat this and to keep people safe, schools and businesses all over the Empire State have shut their doors multiple times this winter season. The idea is if you can keep people indoors, then the potential for them to remain safe and warm can increase. However, for some school districts, like the Buffalo Public Schools, which is New York State's second-largest district, doing this has had an unintended consequence.

After shutting down schools for several days this year, the Buffalo Public Schools have run out of 'snow days.'

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Now, this doesn't mean that if the weather is bad kids will be forced to go out in dangerous conditions. What it does mean is that students will switch to remote learning from home if school buildings have to close.

Section 3604 of the New York State Education Law requires schools to have 180 days of class instruction. Given this fact, Buffalo Schools could continue to have 'snow days,' but district officials would have to look at adjusting the school vacation schedule in order to ensure that kids are able to meet the full instructional requirement.

For now, officials plan to use remote learning to ensure kids get the time they need to learn. However, based on how the weather has been this year, this may need to change.

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Gallery Credit: NWS/Megan Carter/Canva

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