Richmond schools closed for a storm that never really hit
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Richmond dodged the worst of Monday's severe weather, which the National Weather Service said could bring tornadoes, damaging wind and hail to the region.
Why it matters: Every local school district closed for the day and many businesses and government offices closed early for what turned out to be a mildly windy day with patches of rain.
The big picture: A powerful cold front from the west converging with the warmer Southeast put much of the Mid-Atlantic from North Carolina to D.C. under a "substantial risk of severe weather," per the NWS.
- Richmond, along with Raleigh and D.C., were under a tornado watch and "a rare Level 4 out of 5 risk" for severe weather, something that usually only happens two or three times a decade, the Capital Weather Gang noted.
- Thousands of flights were canceled nationwide, including 42 in Richmond as of 5pm Monday, per flight tracking website FlightAware.
Yes, but: The nasty weather stayed west of Richmond with some reports of downed trees coming in from Louisa and Farmville, per WWBT.
- What Richmond (and Raleigh and D.C.) got was a whole lot of nothing, aside from rain, some gusts and a steep drop in temperature.
- And plenty of annoyed parents, at least if the comments on each district's school closure announcements on Sunday are any indication.
What they're saying: "Man, these kids are going to be real disappointed when they become adults, and the places they work don't cancel because it is raining," read one.
- "Aren't the cinder block schools the safest place for the kids?"
- "No school unless its sunny and 75 for now on."
- "Ridiculous."
- "Psssst… where's the storm?"
Context: Before this week, most Richmond-area school districts had already closed for at least 10 days between an early December snowfall and the January storm.
- Most districts had some banked days built in and shifted to online learning instead of fully closing, but many still needed to add in-person instructional days back to their calendars.
- Chesterfield, the region's largest district, which had already added a day and made three half-days full days, announced Sunday it's adding five minutes to the start and end of each day beginning April 6.
- And Hanover announced Monday that May 28 and 29 will now be full school days instead of early release.
What's next: The first day of spring is Friday, so we're almost done with this awful, terrible, rotten, no-good winter.