Posted by Parent, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 9, 2013 at 9:10 am

Hope the schools see this and allow the kids to eat lunch in their classrooms. It is crazy in these low temps to make kids eat lunch outside - play outside fine, but eating lunch in the cold makes no sense.

Posted by New in Town, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jan 9, 2013 at 1:16 pm

"There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing"....old Scandinavian saying that is good advice.

Layer up folks...

Many of us from climates where a winter coat is a necessity are appalled at the frequency of "indoor recess" at PAUSD every time it sprinkles. I'm not sure who makes the decision, but it can't help that many kids wear shorts and thin cotton clothes year round, even on frosty days. It may be California, but one should still teach their kids to dress in warm clothes on cold days.

Posted by Lawrence, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Jan 9, 2013 at 1:33 pm

53 degrees forecast for Friday. Web Link

Hence: "Hope the schools see this and allow the kids to eat lunch in their classrooms. It is crazy in these low temps to make kids eat lunch outside - play outside fine, but eating lunch in the cold makes no sense."

The frostbite danger may lead to thousands of PA kids being taken to emergency rooms! Imagine all those fingers and toes lost to the FRIGID conditions the poor little dears were forced to endure at the noon hour!

Sure can tell the folks born and raised on the Peninsula.

fifty degrees? cold?

Oh, the horror!

Posted by ndnorth, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Jan 9, 2013 at 3:21 pm

oh, my goodness, this will be the traumatic experience of a lifetime

for the little darlings having lunch in Siberia like conditions.

Come to think of it my grandchild has just endured 15 days of 32 degrees max and survived lunch most days in the local playground ...I guess she was well dressed for the weather, Bundle them up. 50 degrees is summer weather in a lot of places.

Posted by Parent, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jan 9, 2013 at 3:50 pm

I hope all of you hardy souls above will bundle up and leave your heated offices and homes and go and sit on cold metal picnic tables to eat your lunch over the next couple of days.

I also come from a cooler climate, and at school I ate lunch indoors in a heated dining room, not outside. I also had to walk laps around outside instead of PE classes when it rained (with coats and umbrellas if we had them) and we couldn't use the grass. I am quite hardy and don't mind being outside in the cold, but not to eat when I have just left a heated classroom!

Posted by Nora Charles, a resident of Stanford, on Jan 9, 2013 at 4:43 pm

I especially worry about outdoor pets. Some dogs live their entire lives chained up outside. Special prayers for them during the cold spell.

Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Jan 9, 2013 at 5:13 pm

Bright side of a spoiled citizenry: even in such a high population density area, on many days I have our parks and trails all to myself.

Posted by Outside Observer, a resident of another community, on Jan 9, 2013 at 7:35 pm

@Musical,

Yeah, you got that one right!

Worst storm of the winter is the day I go to the beach. Nothing better than the solitude and the awe of nature in action.

Posted by The HORROR of it all!, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Jan 10, 2013 at 12:41 pm

musical and OO: was hiking above Maverick's during the last big "storm" in Dec. Was absolutely wonderful. Spectacular!

re: "...go and sit on cold metal picnic tables to eat your lunch over the next couple of days." Poster must have daughters. My sons were in that group of boys that wanted to wear their shorts to school in January. A 20 minute recess will neither harm nor effect any kid that prefers to leave his coat indoors.

As for the poor animals outside?

Yeah, imagine animals surviving outdoors! In the wild and wooly Bay Area climate!

I repeat the previous comment by L: Omigosh! THE HORROR of it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by ndnorth, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Jan 10, 2013 at 5:28 pm

My sarcasm wasn´t really ¨totally¨ called for. There will be kids who do not have the clothing for the colder weather and whose parents are not able to afford it just for the occasion. For that reason I expect schools will advise kids to bundle in layers with whatever clothing they have and proceed according to how well dressed for the conditions the children are. But the rest of them...! and the worry about the animals, that maybe their fur won´t keep them warm....!

Posted by ol' times, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Jan 10, 2013 at 8:03 pm

I'm worried about the animals too.

Both the diary cows and the horses come into the farm house whenever the blizzards sweep across the prairie and temps fall below 10 degrees. Have to keep the horse well, just to pull the plow this spring.

The pigs will have to make it on their own - I gotta draw the line somewhere. Wilfred does his best to bed them down. If they don't make it, well, pork chops in the morn'.... we'll start smoking bacon in the afternoon.

Posted by Sharon, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jan 10, 2013 at 8:35 pm

Our Karelian Bear Dogs actually like sleeping outside in cold weather

A couple of layers protect kids from the mild 30 degree weather

Koreans, Chinese, Japanese and N Europeans have thrived in sub zero temperatures for 1000s of years-it lead to their innovations and work ethics

-according to the anthropologist and feminist Margaret Mead.

Posted by Not an issue, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Jan 10, 2013 at 8:40 pm

Sharon- make sure you deice your plane before you fly to napa for dinner.

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Jan 10, 2013 at 9:14 pm

Her Karelian bear dogs can de-ice the plane since they enjoy cold weather. Other pets need to be indoors, especially short-haired dogs, puppies & elderly dogs & short-haired cats.