Weather-triggered government shutdowns in 2015 are much different than closures back in the day.

Thanks to technological changes, political correctness and experience, ice, snow and weather events are handled differently than in days of yore. And for the most part handled better too.

Washington, D.C., is often the focus of weather events for several reasons. For one, 14 of every 100 federal employees lives and works in the metro area. For another, it’s a large geographic area with mountains at one end and a giant bay (the Chesapeake) at the other. It takes in three states (parts of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia) plus the city itself. Finally, lots of people just don’t like us. They think Washington is the root of all evil. And it is where the White House and Congress are, even though people from all the other states pick who comes to serve here.

Past snow closures in the D.C. area were often disasters. People were killed or injured on roads they shouldn’t have been on, at times they shouldn’t have been out. Feds would be called in and — after a horrendous and often dangerous commute — told to go home.

At one point, the government workers were divided into two castes. There were “essential” employees and “nonessential” employees. Being essential was a pain because it meant you had to come to work regardless, while your nonessential colleagues got to stay home. Eventually, egalitarianism prevailed. Non-essentials became nonemergency people. Egos soared. In bad weather, the latter also get to stay home. With pay.

Teleworking has also changed the dynamic of a foul weather day. Teleworkers were once the elite of their office, people who (if lucky) could work from home a day or two a month. Mainly to satisfy congressional monitors who were pushing telework. What was originally a noble, but wobbly, project turned out to work beautifully. Tens of thousands now work from home. The downside, for some, is that those who are telework-ready are often expected to keep working on snow days when their colleagues are allowed to roast chestnuts on an open hearth.

Thanks to regionalization, federal offices around the country have more autonomy to make bad weather decisions. That has come in very handy this year in Chicago, New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Those cities have been slammed by staggering amounts of snow. Like their less robust counterparts in D.C., feds in the Midwest and Northeast have been told to stay home.

The government itself — with the Office of Personnel Management at ground zero — also has done a better job managing snow days. While there will always be critics, no matter what call OPM does or doesn’t make, many long-time observers say the last couple of years — despite two back-to-back nasty winters — have been among the best.

Now, back to your shovel!

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

By Michael O’Connell

Wilson Bently of Vermont was one of the first people to successfully photograph a snowflake. He photographed his first snowflake on Jan. 15, 1885, and went on to photograph more than 5,000 crystals over his lifetime.

Source: Wikipedia

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