David Sukhin invented the snow day calculator as part of a school project when he was a teenager four years ago.

Now a student at MIT studying computer science and business, Sukhin told WBUR.org that his app is still downloaded thousands of times every winter and that he frequently runs into people who reminisce about using his app in high school.

"On Sunday, ahead of the blizzard, 305,000 people accessed the calculator and the iOS app was downloaded 1,200 times, according to Sukhin. He said the calculator has received 38.5 million hits this month and 8,500 iOS downloads so far this winter,” WBUR.org said.

Sukhin impressively created an algorithm eight years ago that analyzes several different factors to come up with a snow day prediction.

"It uses an algorithm Sukhin created that analyzes a person’s ZIP code, school type (public, private, etc.) and other factors, such as snow removal and a school’s previous snow days. The tool also has the ability to learn from past predictions, Sukhin said,” according to the article.

Sukhin told WBUR.org that the app is being used all over the country, most frequently, of course, on the East Coast.

"Students rely on it to a point that I’ve heard them tell their parents, 'Oh we’re not going to have school tomorrow for sure, so I’m not going to do my homework,' which might get me in some hot water for saying that. I would advise people to do their homework, but I’m happy that they trust it so much,” Sukhin said in the interview.

Sukhin hopes to use his experience in computer science to continue his love and affinity for data analysis. For now, major snowstorms keep him extra busy as he stays on top of ensuring the app is working properly.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

2/9/2016