Scanners weren`t available when I was a kid; I got my fun on those days from shortwave listening and ham radio (had a novice and later a technician class ticket, which expired the year I immigrated to Canada).I had fun the rest of the day listening to the scanner. But I recall that with fond memories waiting to hear my school being closed after a blizzard or close to it.
School closures also earned me some money, aside from my paper route. A couple of friends and I would go looking for cars stuck in the snow, and team up to free them. We usually got tips for that. Or we`d go into the snow removal business; three of us would get those driveways cleared pretty quickly, and I can remember being rewarded with hot chocolate and cookies by at least one homeowner.