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Snow Day Superstitions: How Kids Try to Get a Snow Day

By Daud Zafar · Last updated October 23, 2026

No ritual can make it snow or close a school. Pajamas inside out, a spoon under the pillow and ice cubes in the toilet are family traditions for the night before a storm, and that’s all they are. Whether school closes depends on how much snow and ice fall overnight, how cold it is at bus time and how the roads look at dawn, and your district makes the call. Our snow day calculator turns tonight’s forecast into an estimate of that chance.

We read national news, local TV stations and a university folklore archive to find the rituals families really describe. Each one links to where we found it, and anything we couldn’t trace to a real report is left out.

Rituals

Snow day rituals kids try the night before

These are the ones news reports describe. Most families mix several, and the details change from house to house. None of the reports we read says where any of them started.

Pajamas inside out

Kids put their pajamas on inside out before bed, and some turn them backwards too. When NPR interviewed Connecticut teacher Mark Dursin in January 2008, his students told him it only counts when snow is already in the forecast. A caller said the tradition had passed down through her five children, and her daughter once had the whole house in inside-out, backwards pajamas. Nobody knows where it started.

Sources: NPR, Talk of the Nation (January 22, 2008); 6abc Philadelphia (January 3, 2025); USC Digital Folklore Archives

A spoon under the pillow

The spoon usually goes with the pajamas. Kids slip one under the pillow, and 6abc describes it as standing in for a shovel. Some lick the spoon first, a version Dursin told NPR seemed strange to him. The caller’s preschooler joined in with toy teaspoons.

Sources: NPR (2008); 6abc (2025); Philadelphia Inquirer (December 6, 2010)

Ice cubes down the toilet

Kids flush ice cubes before bed. TODAY reported that some flush one cube for each snow day they want, while 6abc describes “a few ice cubes.” Fox Weather says the idea is that the ice will cool the area enough for snow to fall. If your kids try this one, keep it to a few cubes, flush nothing but ice, and have them ask a parent first.

Sources: TODAY (February 12, 2019); 6abc (2025); Fox Weather (February 12, 2025)

Ice cubes in the yard

Some kids toss ice cubes into the front yard instead. 6abc gives the rule as one cube per inch: put 12 cubes out and you could get 12 inches. Toss them from the doorstep, not out of an upstairs window.

Sources: 6abc (2025); Philadelphia Inquirer (2010)

A white crayon in the freezer or on the windowsill

A white crayon goes in the freezer overnight, in the version 6abc describes. The Weather Channel’s version puts a white crayon on every windowsill in the house instead.

Sources: 6abc (2025); The Weather Channel, on Yahoo News (updated January 19, 2025)

Yelling “snow day” into the freezer

Kids open the freezer and shout “snow day!” into it. Spectrum News and Fox Weather both list it from a Johns Hopkins University page of snow day superstitions. Neither says where it came from.

Sources: Spectrum News 1 (January 23, 2024); Fox Weather (2025)

Brushing teeth with the other hand

Kids brush their teeth with the hand they don’t usually use. It’s on the same Johns Hopkins list, as Spectrum News and Fox Weather report it.

Sources: Spectrum News 1 (2024); Fox Weather (2025)

Ice cream the night before

Some families have ice cream on the night before a storm. Spectrum News and The Weather Channel both include it, and Fox Weather’s version is “eating a ton of ice cream.”

Sources: Spectrum News 1 (2024); The Weather Channel (2025); Fox Weather (2025)

A snow dance

Kids dance before bed to call the snow in. The Weather Channel’s list of snow day superstitions ends with “Simply do a snow dance!” There are no fixed steps.

Source: The Weather Channel, on Yahoo News (updated January 19, 2025)

A penny in the freezer

A penny goes in the freezer overnight. 6abc lists it among the snow day rituals families try, and doesn’t say how it began.

Source: 6abc (2025)

Smaller extras

Families add their own touches. Mark Dursin told NPR that some people eat an oatmeal cookie before they put on their inside-out pajamas.

Source: NPR, Talk of the Nation (January 22, 2008)

History

Where snow day superstitions come from

We didn’t find a record of where any of these started. TODAY wrote in 2019 that “the origins of snow day superstitions remain murky,” and that the rituals seem popular on the East Coast and in Canada.

The oldest account we read is NPR’s 2008 interview. Dursin said he’d assumed the pajama and spoon ritual was just something his Glastonbury students did, then found people doing it all over the East Coast and heard of it in Tennessee. A New Jersey entry in the USC Digital Folklore Archives describes a woman who did it all through school and taught it to her children. In both accounts, it passed from older children to younger ones and from parent to child.

The real answer

What actually decides a snow day

Your district or school board decides, usually early in the morning, after checking the forecast and the roads. The forecast part is what our calculators read, and these are the things they score:

  • Snow overnight. The biggest factor in the snow day estimate. We add up the snow forecast from 6 pm to 8 am, and the points rise smoothly between steps. On its own, 2 inches gives 37% (Maybe) and 4 inches 57% (still Maybe); Likely starts at about 4.4 inches (60%), and 6 inches gives 72%. Snow on a morning above 34°F counts half.
  • Freezing rain. It scores high even with no snow at all. One or two hours of freezing rain or drizzle add 30 points, and six hours or more add 65.
  • Cold at bus time. Bitter cold at 7 am adds a little to the snow day estimate. Our cold & ice day calculator looks at wind chill while kids wait for the bus, using the coldest of the 6, 7 and 8 am readings.
  • Wind. Gusts of 30 mph or more add points, but only when there’s snow or ice for them to blow around.
  • Roads and buses. The forecast can’t see how fast your streets get plowed or how many back roads your buses drive. The calculator’s “Your roads?” question adjusts for city, suburban or rural roads; the rest only your district knows.

Every rule is published in How the snow day estimate works. It’s an estimate from the forecast, not a promise, and we haven’t checked it against real closings. If you’re wondering how many snow days a school can use before it has to make them up, see How many snow days do schools get?

For parents

Snow day eve checklist for parents

While the kids flush their ice cubes, a few minutes of setup saves a scramble at 6 a.m.

  1. Find where your district posts closures. Usually that’s its website, its app or text alerts, and local TV and radio. Bookmark the page tonight.
  2. Turn on its alerts. If your phone uses Do Not Disturb or a sleep mode overnight, check whether it silences the district’s texts or calls, and allow them if it does.
  3. Check the estimate twice. Look at the snow day calculator in the evening, then again early in the morning. Overnight forecasts often change, and before 6 am on a weekday it shows that same morning.
  4. Plan both mornings. Know who watches the kids if school closes, and what time the bus comes if it doesn’t.

Canada

For Canadian readers

In Ontario, a cancelled bus doesn’t always mean a closed school. SCDSB in Barrie says its schools “remain open for student learning” when buses are cancelled, and OCDSB in Ottawa says that on a snow day “all schools remain open for students.” WRDSB in Kitchener says bus cancellations “do not automatically result in schools being closed.” HWDSB in Hamilton is the other way round: when it cancels buses for severe weather, its schools close. So check your bus service as well as your board.

Our city pages link each board’s own rule and where it announces: Barrie, Halifax, Hamilton, Kitchener and Ottawa.

FAQ

Snow day superstition questions

Do snow day superstitions work?

No. No ritual can change the weather or a district’s decision. Kids usually do them when snow is already forecast (Mark Dursin’s students told NPR it only counts then), so a snow day sometimes follows anyway. For the real chance, check the forecast-based estimate in our snow day calculator.

Why do kids wear pajamas inside out for a snow day?

It’s a tradition, and nobody knows where it began. Fox Weather describes inside-out pajamas and a spoon under the pillow as ways “to confuse Mother Nature.” Kids often learn it from an older sibling or a parent.

What is the spoon under the pillow trick?

Kids put a spoon under their pillow on the night before a possible storm, usually with their pajamas on inside out. 6abc in Philadelphia describes the spoon as standing in for a shovel. Some kids lick the spoon first.

How many ice cubes do you flush for a snow day?

Families tell it differently. TODAY reported one cube for each snow day you want, and 6abc says “a few ice cubes.” Keep it to a few, flush only ice, and ask a parent first.

What time do schools announce snow days?

Usually early in the morning, but each district sets its own time, so check yours. In Halifax, HRCE aims to announce as close to 6:00 a.m. as possible. In Hamilton, HWDSB announces by 6 a.m. and HWCDSB by 6:30 a.m. Simcoe County’s bus consortium aims to post cancellations between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m.

Where did snow day superstitions come from?

Nobody knows. TODAY wrote in 2019 that their origins “remain murky.” The oldest account we read is a 2008 NPR interview with a Connecticut teacher whose students did the pajama and spoon ritual; he found people doing it all over the East Coast.

How can I tell if there will be a snow day tomorrow?

Only your district or school board can say, and it usually announces in the morning. Before then, check our snow day calculator in the evening and again early in the morning for a forecast-based estimate, and the cold & ice day calculator if bitter cold or freezing rain is coming.

Sources

We read every page below in October 2026. We only included a ritual if a news outlet, TV station or university page describes it.

Related pages

Snow day calculator The chance that snow, ice, cold and wind close school on the next school morning, with Mr. Chill. Cold & ice day calculator The chance that bitter wind chill or freezing rain closes school on the next school morning. How many snow days do schools get? Every US state’s minimum school days or hours, and how Ontario and Nova Scotia handle snow days. Ottawa snow day predictor OSTA bus cancellations, OCDSB and OCSB, and Ottawa’s deep cold.