Out east, schools often have to make decisions at 4 or 5 am. If they or the weathermen guess wrong, then they catch hell because of the risk to children and commuters and damnit what were you thinking?! Or they can look at the number of built in snow days they have left and call off school. They get yelled at either way.
I doubt the electricity is turned off completely in public buildings, lights maybe. Have to keep the buildings heated to prevent freezing pipes and such. The whole government, huh? That is a bit odd.