It's cloudy outside and the temperature is dropping. Could snow be in your future? You check the weather report and soon get excited. Snow is indeed on the way!

As you finish your homework, eat dinner, and then read on the couch, you keep checking the window for the first sign of snowflakes. Nothing yet. Before you know it, it's time for bed. After you brush your teeth, you look one last time, but the ground is still dry.

You fall asleep with visions of blizzards in your head. Will you wake up to a snowy scene outside your window? Will school be called off for the day?

When you awake, your thoughts immediately turn to the weather. You rush to the window to look outside. Yes! The ground is covered in a thick blanket of fresh, white snow. Woo hoo!

Now the only question is: will you have school today or not? You rush to the television (or radio or Internet) to check for school closings. After waiting for what seems like forever, you finally see your school on the list of closings. Snow day!

Snow days occur because weather conditions make getting you and your fellow students to school too dangerous. Snow isn't the only thing that causes school to get canceled, though. Any type of bad weather, from floods to tornadoes to hurricanes, can result in canceling school in the interest of the safety of students and teachers.

Some areas of the United States get more snow than others. In Florida, for example, snow days aren't very common. In Northern states, though, snow days might occur frequently.

Just because an area gets a lot of snow, though, doesn't necessarily mean snow days will be frequent. If people in an area that gets a lot of snow are used to traveling in snow, then getting to and from school might not be a big deal. On the other hand, when it snows in an area that rarely sees snow, even a little bit of snow might cause major traffic issues!

Most kids tend to love snow days, and that's understandable. Who doesn't love a surprise vacation? However, snow days can come back to haunt you at the end of the year.

Most states require students to attend class for a certain number of days. If you have too many snow days, you may find yourself still in school at the beginning of what was supposed to be summer break.

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Tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day will give you the knowledge to know how to pronounce words like knife, knee, and gnaw!