Des Plaines, Illinois, 4,480 students in 11 schools

Des Plaines Community Consolidated School District 62 Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Des Plaines get?

About 26.1 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station 4.6 miles away, averaged over 7 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 3 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 0.6 with 4 inches or more.

Q: What was the biggest snow day near Des Plaines?

8.5 inches on January 31, 2021, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station 4.6 miles away in 7 winters. The snowiest winter was 2020 to 2021, with 39.5 inches.

Q: Does Des Plaines get more snow days than other Illinois districts?

Des Plaines averages 0.6 weekday mornings a winter with 4 inches of new snow or more, more than 52 percent of the 788 Illinois districts with a station record.

Q: How does the Des Plaines snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Des Plaines 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 Des Plaines’s own big snow morning: 2.4 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station 4.6 miles away.

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Des Plaines, measured against Des Plaines's own big snow morning of 2.4 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Des Plaines close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Des Plaines.

Ten winters of school mornings

Des Plaines’s snow record

26.1inches of snow a winter

3school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more

0.6with 4 in or more

2.4 ina big snow morning in Des Plaines: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

More 4 inch school mornings than 52% of the 788 Illinois districts with a station record.

3.1Nov

3Dec

11.1Jan

6.7Feb

1.6Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 8.5 in on January 31, 2021
Snowiest winter 2020 to 2021, 39.5 in
6 in mornings 0 a winter
1 in mornings 5.9 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 4.6 miles 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 Illinois rule

How Illinois counts a lost day

Illinois requires a calendar of at least 185 days to guarantee 176 days of actual student attendance, each of at least 5 clock hours. The extra calendar days are emergency days used first; after they are gone, the State Superintendent may excuse days lost to an act of God or a hazard beyond the district's control without cutting state aid.

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

Next door

Districts near Des Plaines

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
East Maine School District 63Des Plaines	26.1 in	0.6
Maine Township High School District 207Park Ridge	29.5 in	0.7
Township High School District 214Arlington Heights	33.8 in	0.9
Park Ridge Consolidated Community School District 64Niles	29.5 in	0.7
Arlington Heights School District 25Arlington Heights	33.8 in	0.9
Northfield Township High School District 225Glenview	26.1 in	0.6

The schools

11 schools

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

Middle

Chippewa Middle School
Algonquin Middle School

Elementary

Forest Elem School
North Elementary School
Iroquois Community School
Central Elem School
Cumberland Elem School
Plainfield Elem School
Orchard Place Elem School
South Elem School
Terrace Elem School

Questions

Des Plaines snow day questions

How much snow does Des Plaines get?

What was the biggest snow day near Des Plaines?

Does Des Plaines get more snow days than other Illinois districts?

How does the Des Plaines snow day predictor work?

How does Illinois handle snow days?

More winter

More for Illinois 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.Illinois winter forecastThe season ahead for Illinois: 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.