Colorado Springs, Colorado, 22,740 students in 58 schools

Colorado Springs School District 11 Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Colorado Springs get?

About 38.5 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station under a mile away, averaged over 10 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 2.4 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 1 with 4 inches or more.

Q: What was the biggest snow day near Colorado Springs?

11.8 inches on March 15, 2024, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station under a mile away in 10 winters. The snowiest winter was 2019 to 2020, with 62.9 inches.

Q: How does the Colorado Springs snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Colorado Springs through the night and the 5 to 8 am bus run, adds winter alerts and the Winter Storm Severity Index, and measures the snow against Colorado Springs’s own big snow morning: 3.7 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station under a mile away.

Q: How far ahead does the Colorado Springs snow day predictor look?

Three school mornings, as far as the National Weather Service hourly forecast reaches. Weekends and breaks are skipped, so a Friday storm is read for Monday’s buses.

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Colorado Springs, measured against Colorado Springs's own big snow morning of 3.7 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Colorado Springs close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Colorado Springs.

Ten winters of school mornings

Colorado Springs’s snow record

38.5inches of snow a winter

2.4school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more

1with 4 in or more

3.7 ina big snow morning in Colorado Springs: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

5Nov

4.1Dec

5.7Jan

8.2Feb

5.9Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 11.8 in on March 15, 2024
Snowiest winter 2019 to 2020, 62.9 in
6 in mornings 0.5 a winter
1 in mornings 5.6 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station under a mile away. Mornings are the 7 am snow reading on a weekday from December 1 through March 31, over the ten winters from 2016 to 2017 through 2025 to 2026, from NOAA GHCN Daily.

The Colorado rule

How Colorado counts a lost day

Colorado requires at least 160 days, with 1,080 scheduled hours in secondary school and 990 in elementary. The scheduled hours can drop to 1,056 (secondary), 968 (elementary), 870 (full-day kindergarten) or 435 (half-day kindergarten) to cover conferences, staff training and closings the board judges necessary for student health, safety or welfare.

The Colorado rules in the agency’s own words, and every Colorado district

Next door

Districts near Colorado Springs

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
Cheyenne Mountain School District 12Colorado Springs	42.9 in	1.3
Harrison School District 2Colorado Springs	44.5 in	1.3
Widefield School District 3Colorado Springs	31.6 in	1
Academy School District 20Colorado Springs	59.5 in	2.3
School District 49Peyton	50.1 in	2.1
Fountain School District 8Fountain	31.6 in	1

The schools

58 schools, the 40 largest here

Every school in Colorado Springs follows the district’s call: one closing covers them all.

High

Doherty High School
Palmer High School
Coronado High School
Mitchell High School
Achieve Online
Odyssey Early College and Career Options
Nikola Tesla Education Opportunity Center

Middle

Jenkins Middle School
North Middle School
Sabin Middle School
Russell Middle School
Holmes Middle School
Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy
Mann Middle School
Galileo School of Math and Science

Elementary

Scott Elementary School
McAuliffe Elementary
Roosevelt Charter Academy
Chipeta Elementary School
Martinez Elementary School
Fremont Elementary School
Rudy Elementary School
Freedom Elementary School
Keller Elementary School
Monroe Elementary School
Jackson Elementary School
Adams Elementary School
Wilson Elementary School
Grant Elementary School
Penrose Elementary School
Henry Elementary School
King Elementary School
Twain Elementary School
Madison Elementary School
Columbia Elementary School
Stratton Elementary School
James Irwin Elementary School - Howard
Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning
Rogers Elementary School
Audubon Elementary School

Questions

Colorado Springs snow day questions

How much snow does Colorado Springs get?

What was the biggest snow day near Colorado Springs?

How does the Colorado Springs snow day predictor work?

How does Colorado handle snow days?

How far ahead does the Colorado Springs snow day predictor look?

More winter

More for Colorado snow days

Snow day predictorClosing and delay odds for any ZIP, with the snowiest districts in the country.Snow depth mapHow much snow is on the ground right now, measured, across the country.First snow datesWhen the first measurable snow usually lands where you live.Frozen pipesThe nights cold enough to freeze a pipe, and what to do before one.Snow plow trackerWhere the plows are during a storm, city by city.Colorado winter forecastThe season ahead for Colorado: snowfall, cold and the first snow.

A residential street under deep snow on a bright blue morning, cars parked along the curb buried into smooth white mounds, one set of tire tracks down the middle — The morning after a big one: cars buried to the mirrors and one set of tracks down the middle. A street like this is a closing, no debate. Photo, Fairfax, Virginia, January 2016: Jarek Tuszyński, CC BY 4.0

The odds are a forecast read, and the superintendent makes the call: the district’s own announcement is the one to follow.