School was canceled on Nov. 20 due to a bomb cyclone hitting the Pacific Northwest the night before. The heavy wind and rain downed some powerlines, resulting in power outages that affected over 600,000 homes and businesses. “My power was out for about eighteen hours and it was absolutely freezing. I was really bored most of the time, to be honest. Power outages always seem good in theory, but if you have no one right next to you willing to talk, it’s lonely,” Kade Pass said. “It was slightly scary during the storm because there was a cracking and a fall of a tree branch. I totally thought one of our cars was going to be totaled, but they were all okay.”
The morning after, fallen trees fully blocked roads, and schools continued to have no power. While Glacier Peak returns to school on Nov. 21, other schools in the district remain closed until further notice. “I was happy about the two-hour delay but even more delighted to hear that school was completely canceled because I had two tests. When I heard about it, I just thought we’d get a short power outage. My family was affected because my grandma’s flight the next day was delayed five hours,” Sofia Townsend said.
Students’ emotions differed from excitement over the rare occurrence, to fear from the natural disaster. “Honestly, I had no idea it was happening until in the dead of night when the drumline group chat was freaking out about it, which made me freak out too. Then I saw other people on TikTok freak out, which made me freak out even more. I thought my house would collapse. It didn’t, the storm was underwhelming. My power went out, but I slept through it, so I wasn’t scared anymore,” George Davis said.