Inclement weather days can disrupt schedules, cancel events and shift daily routines in an instant. Snow days, ice storms and other weather-related closures often become some of the most talked-about moments of the school year. Yet many yearbooks either skip them or reduce them to a single headline.
Strong yearbooks treat inclement weather as a shared experience worth documenting, not just a reason school was closed.
Why inclement weather coverage matters
Inclement weather days affect every part of school life. Classes move online or stop altogether. Practices and events are canceled. Students’ routines change, and emotions range from excitement to stress.
When yearbooks ignore these moments, they miss an opportunity to capture how students actually experienced the year. People-centered coverage helps future readers understand what made that school year unique.
The key is remembering this distinction: the story is not the weather. The story is the people.
What this Timely Tips lesson focuses on
This week’s Timely Tips lesson helps yearbook staffs plan meaningful coverage of inclement weather days and other school disruptions.
In the lesson, students:
- Identify how routines, schedules and experiences change during weather-related closures
- Develop people-centered story angles instead of surface-level headlines
- Learn how to gather content when staff members cannot be on campus
- Create a simple plan for documenting disruptions responsibly
The lesson is designed to fit into a single class period and works whether school is fully open, closed or operating remotely.
Using crowdsourcing when staff cannot be present
One of the biggest challenges during inclement weather is access. Photographers are not in the building, and moments are happening across hundreds of homes.
That is where Yearbook Snap, Walsworth’s crowdsourcing app, becomes essential. Yearbook Snap allows students and families to safely submit photos and captions from wherever they are, helping staffs collect authentic content during snow days and other closures.
When used intentionally, crowdsourcing:
- Fills coverage gaps during disruptions
- Captures real moments staff members cannot stage
- Keeps yearbook production moving despite closures
Clear prompts, deadlines and expectations make the difference between usable content and visual clutter.
Resources to support disruption coverage
In addition to Timely Tips, Walsworth provides adviser-friendly tools to help staffs document unexpected events.
- Yearbook Snap, a secure crowdsourcing app designed for yearbook use
- Classroom-ready Timely Tips lessons focused on real-world coverage challenges
- Adviser support from the only family-owned yearbook company, now in its fourth generation
Walsworth works with more award-winning yearbooks than any other publisher and focuses on helping advisers navigate both planned events and unexpected disruptions.
Capture the moments students will remember
Inclement weather days often become defining memories of a school year. Whether it is a surprise snow day or an extended closure, these moments shape the student experience.
Strong yearbooks capture them with care, accuracy and context.
👉 Explore this week’s Timely Tips lesson on covering inclement weather days and learn how Walsworth tools like Yearbook Snap can help your staff document the full story of the year.
