As I’ve been outside wandering and hiking around in this crazy and beautiful weather I’ve found myself laughing at people in ill equipped vehicles attempting to get around in this inclement weather. Be it a car with no front wheel or four wheel drive, or just a lack of chains, it got me thinking, how inefficient this kind of weather has on functioning society. There are of course several positive consumption externalities for us students with no school and a winter wonderland to play in, but a major issue still remains and that is the ill equipped transportation departments for such storms. In the Midwest and east coast where storms like these are frequent, transportation departments are prepared to get hit hard by storms like this one. With fleets of plows, salt truckers, and deicers; the majority of time the working folk and students don’t miss a beat. The roads are cleared and society putters along as usual. But in a climate like ours, this is not the case. There are large negative externalities for a storm like this when it comes to functionality. People who are paid by the hour at on campus jobs and other places, won’t get paid for today, heating costs increase not to mention all the ill prepared drivers that are unlucky enough to get in an accident. School is another loss that cannot be ignored, obviously we would all prefer to stay at home, have coffee, hot cocoa, and watch the Winter Olympics but there is an opportunity cost of not being in class. less time learning and more time playing. Its a positive when the fun outweighs the boredom, but the lost time learning is still a factor. All in all have a blast, but if you try driving and end up struggling, I will probably be one of the people laughing at you.
