Skip to content
Fort Collins, Colorado, 29,772 students in 52 schools

Poudre School District R-1 Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Poudre R-1, measured against Poudre R-1's own big snow morning of 4.7 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Poudre R-1 close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Fort Collins.
The Poudre R-1 playbook

How Poudre R-1 calls a snow day

When the call comes

Before 5 a.m. on the day, and by 10:30 p.m. the night before when possible.

“At the latest, PSD will announce inclement weather decisions prior to 5 a.m. on the day inclement weather is expected.”
Source

How families hear

By email, text message, phone call, the district website, social media, local TV and radio.

“When PSD implements a procedure, the district sends an email, SMS message and robocall to all parents/guardians and secondary students. Information is also posted on the district website and social media platforms.”
Inclement Weather Procedures - Poudre School District

A 2 hour delay

On a delay morning every school starts 2 hours late.

“Buses will pick up students at bus stops 2 hours later than the regular schedule.”
Delay schedule

Remote learning days

Poudre R-1 has remote learning days in its winter plan.

“Remote synchronous learning takes place. A remote learning schedule will be available on each schools’ website.”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 19, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 21 to Jan 4
  • February break Feb 12 to Feb 15
  • Last day May 28, 2027
District calendar

The board policy

“About 4:30 a.m., the PSD superintendent, the executive director of operations and the director of transportation join a conference call with representatives of Colorado State University, the City of Fort Collins, Larimer County and emergency management and response services to discuss the weather/storm.”
Board policy

Read from Poudre R-1’s own pages on October 8, 2026; the district site is psdschools.org.

Ten winters of school mornings

Poudre R-1’s snow record

56.5inches of snow a winter
3.5school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
1.9with 4 in or more
4.7 ina big snow morning in Poudre R-1: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

More 4 inch school mornings than 72% of the 177 Colorado districts with a station record.

7.1Nov
4.7Dec
8.9Jan
10.2Feb
9.9Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 22.2 in on March 14, 2021
  • Snowiest winter 2020 to 2021, 94.9 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.5 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 7 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.

Advertisement
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 Poudre R-1

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
Windsor School District RE-4Windsor36.6 in1
Thompson School District R-2JLoveland41.6 in1
Johnstown-Milliken School District RE-5JMilliken30.1 in0.6
Greeley School District 6Greeley26 in0.5
St. Vrain Valley School District RE 1JLongmont43.2 in1.5
Boulder Valley School District RE-2Boulder71.9 in2.5
The schools

52 schools, the 40 largest here

Every school in Poudre R-1 follows the district’s call: one closing covers them all.

High

  • Rocky Mountain High School
  • Fossil Ridge High School
  • Fort Collins High School
  • Poudre High School

Middle

  • Lesher Middle School
  • Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School
  • Webber Middle School
  • Boltz Middle School
  • Lincoln Middle School
  • Preston Middle School
  • Blevins Middle School

Elementary

  • Eyestone Elementary School, Wellington
  • Bethke Elementary School, Timnath
  • Tavelli Elementary School
  • Traut Core Elementary School
  • Zach Elementary School
  • Timnath Elementary School, Timnath
  • Kruse Elementary School
  • Riffenburgh Elementary School
  • Bauder Elementary School
  • O'Dea Elementary School
  • Laurel Elementary School
  • Rice Elementary School, Wellington
  • Shepardson Elementary School
  • Bacon Elementary School
  • Dunn Elementary School
  • Bennett Elementary School
  • McGraw Elementary School
  • Irish Elementary School
  • Lopez Elementary School
  • Werner Elementary School
  • Olander Elementary School
  • Johnson Elementary School
  • Beattie Elementary School
  • Harris Bilingual Elementary School

Other schools

  • Liberty Common Charter School
  • Timnath Middle-High School, Timnath
  • Wellington Middle-High School, Wellington
  • Ridgeview Classical Schools
  • Polaris Expeditionary Learning School
Questions

Poudre R-1 snow day questions

Advertisement