It seems that every other day in the second quarter was a Code Red for Prince William County’s staff and students, and the chilly weather is expected to continue into March, with even some potential instances of snow expected on the 12th. Superintendent Dr. Steve Walts has seen what has almost become a cult following among the county’s students, with Instagram usernames like “welovestevewalts” and “steve_walts_is_god” cropping up, jokingly claiming him as their new deity. On Feb. 10, he even posted a video of himself on Twitter playing the piano and singing about whether or not he would decide to close school the following day (he did).

Regardless, the cold weather has to end at some point. But according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an El Niño has developed and will continue throughout the spring of 2019. This condition develops out of above-average temperatures in the Pacific Ocean – these temperatures were recorded earlier in the season, but the atmosphere only began to respond later in January. Thankfully, the El Niño is weak enough that it will not create any extreme weather conditions, for the time being at least. What it does mean, however, is that the South may experience above-average rain and the Midwest could be drier than average as well. As for right now, Virginia has no out of the ordinary conditions to worry about, aside from lower temperatures.

As for future Code Red days, the county does not currently have a schedule out detailing how many hours are left, but for right now the schedules for high school graduations and the last day of school have not been affected, hopefully it will stay that way!