How often do adults get snow days? Rather infrequently. In fact, I’ve never had a snow day as an adult. Today changed that.

Sort of.

Blizzards don’t typically occur in September, even here in Minnesota. On the other hand, September thunderstorms can be quite powerful, such as the one that menaced the Twin Cities last night. Tornado warnings, high winds, hail — the works. Having lived through many such storms, I didn’t think much of it at the time.

This morning, I drove to work as usual. Everything seemed perfectly normal until I exited the freeway to get to my office and was greeted by a long queue of cars. All the way up and down the street, the stoplights were off. As I looked closer, I noticed that none of the buildings were burning lights and that numerous tree limbs littered the lawns and street gutters.

A quarter mile farther, and I crested a hill, which gave me a full view of my office’s parking lot. Save for a number of branches and a half-dozen cars, the mammoth lot was empty.

Empty? That could only mean… YES!!! Storm day! A quick conversation with the lone on-duty security guard confirmed that the office was indeed closed for the day.

At the moment, something like 160,000 buildings are without power in the metro area. In addition to my office, another half-dozen of my company’s buildings are closed, as are two dozen school districts.

The only question now is, what should I do with my free day?