There are few things that stir up opinions like the relationship between weather and school. Whenever Haywood County Schools are delayed or canceled due to bad conditions, the same question almost always comes up from various people.

Why?

The short answer is that if it's deemed too dangerous for buses to travel at least 10 percent of the routes, school must be canceled or delayed. Determining when the danger might occur, however, seems part science and part art.

Associate Superintendent Bill Nolte explained that the process goes far beyond watching weather reports on the nightly news.

"Weather forecasts are important, but we like to see something that proves to us that the roads themselves are dangerous," he said.

Often that means checking webcams stationed in far reaches of Haywood and ...