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Вчера весь день была метель, так что мы остались дома.

Вчера весь день была метель, так что мы остались дома.
Yesterday there was a blizzard all day, so we stayed at home.
From Lesson 399:Factual consequence (так что)·Russian

Questions & Answers about Вчера весь день была метель, так что мы остались дома.

Why is there a comma before так что, and can the comma go between the two words instead?
In Russian, a comma is always required before the conjunction так что when it introduces a result clause meaning 'so' or 'with the result that'. Unlike conjunctions like потому что, you can never split так что with a comma—the punctuation must always come directly before так.
Why does весь день (all day) not need a preposition here?
Phrases expressing the duration of time, like 'all day', 'a whole week', or 'two hours', take the accusative case with no preposition. Here, весь день is in the accusative case to show exactly how long the blizzard lasted.
How do we know to use the feminine past tense была when метель (blizzard) just ends in a soft sign?
Nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь) can be either masculine or feminine, and you usually have to memorize them. Метель happens to be feminine, so the past tense verb быть must take the feminine ending -а to match it (была).
Since the blizzard lasted весь день (all day), why use the perfective verb остались instead of an imperfective verb?
The first half of the sentence uses the imperfective была to describe an ongoing background state. The так что clause, however, describes the resulting action. We use the perfective остались to state the simple, completed result: because of the weather, we made the choice to stay home.

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