Palos Hills, Illinois, 3,325 students in 5 schools

North Palos School District 117 Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Palos Hills get?

About 25.9 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station 1.6 miles away, averaged over 7 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 3.1 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 1.1 with 4 inches or more.

Q: What was the biggest snow day near North Palos?

6 inches on December 5, 2016, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station 1.6 miles away in 7 winters. The snowiest winter was 2017 to 2018, with 37 inches.

Q: Does North Palos get more snow days than other Illinois districts?

North Palos averages 1.1 weekday mornings a winter with 4 inches of new snow or more, more than 92 percent of the 788 Illinois districts with a station record.

Q: How does the North Palos snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Palos Hills 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 North Palos’s own big snow morning: 3.8 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station 1.6 miles away.

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in North Palos, measured against North Palos's own big snow morning of 3.8 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will North Palos close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Palos Hills.

Ten winters of school mornings

North Palos’s snow record

25.9inches of snow a winter

3.1school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more

1.1with 4 in or more

3.8 ina big snow morning in North Palos: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

More 4 inch school mornings than 92% of the 788 Illinois districts with a station record.

2Nov

4.2Dec

6.6Jan

8.6Feb

2.9Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 6 in on December 5, 2016
Snowiest winter 2017 to 2018, 37 in
6 in mornings 0.1 a winter
1 in mornings 5.6 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 1.6 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 North Palos

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
Community High School District 218Oak Lawn	27.2 in	0.8
Burbank School District 111Burbank	32.4 in	0.7
Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123Oak Lawn	27.2 in	0.8
Consolidated High School District 230Orland Park	25.6 in	0.5
Orland School District 135Orland Park	25.6 in	0.5
Bremen Community High School District 228Midlothian	25.6 in	0.5

The schools

5 schools

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

Middle

H H Conrady Jr High School, Hickory Hills

Elementary

Oak Ridge Elem School
Glen Oaks Elem School, Hickory Hills
Dorn Elementary School, Hickory Hills
Dr Kenneth M Sorrick School

Questions

North Palos snow day questions

How much snow does Palos Hills get?

What was the biggest snow day near North Palos?

Does North Palos get more snow days than other Illinois districts?

How does the North Palos 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.