In “Subterranean Homesick Blues” Bob Dylan sang, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows…” 

This week we’re seeing you don’t need a weatherman – or woman – to know how deep the snow blows. This past week has brought Iowa more snow than we had seen previously all winter. But the predictions by meteorologists have not been entirely accurate. To be fair, weather forecasters are better than the average person at estimating how frequently they are correct and how frequently they are incorrect in their professional predictions. In other words, they are better “calibrated” than most of us.

But weather forecasters are certainly not always right. Last Thursday their predictions were dire. Snow was falling and another six to seven inches were predicted for Friday. A winter storm advisory was issued; we were told driving was ill-advised. People cancelled meetings and activities scheduled for Thursday and Friday, but classes at Iowa State were held. They were not officially cancelled.

If short-term weather predictions are fallible, the university cannot be expected to make perfect calls on canceling classes. Sometimes weather can be treacherous and the university remains open. Other times, admittedly rarely, the university has cancelled classes only to have relatively mild weather ensue, leaving people shrugging and wondering why the forecasters were so alarmist.

Given the inevitable bad calls, we need to be flexible. As more students commute to Iowa State, faculty need to be understanding and allow students to stay home when driving is dangerous. In those circumstances, students need to be willing to meet class requirements and expectations from home as much as possible, rather than asking professors to rewrite exams or repeat lectures. 

Some imagination and creativity may be useful from all sides. Rigidity is unfair and unreasonable. But treating a snow day as a no work day can also be unreasonable. With a constructive attitude and the creative use of technology, we should be able to move our classes along, with or without the occasional interruption of unexpectedly deep snow or especially severe weather.