Oak Park, Illinois, 5,596 students in 10 schools

Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Oak Park get?

About 34.4 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station 1.8 miles away, averaged over 10 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 3.3 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 Oak Park?

17.2 inches on February 16, 2021, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station 1.8 miles away in 10 winters. The snowiest winter was 2020 to 2021, with 61.3 inches.

Q: Does Oak Park get more snow days than other Illinois districts?

Oak Park averages 1 weekday mornings a winter with 4 inches of new snow or more, more than 87 percent of the 788 Illinois districts with a station record.

Q: How does the Oak Park snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Oak Park 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 Oak Park’s own big snow morning: 3.1 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station 1.8 miles away.

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Oak Park, measured against Oak Park's own big snow morning of 3.1 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Oak Park close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Oak Park.

Ten winters of school mornings

Oak Park’s snow record

34.4inches of snow a winter

3.3school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more

1with 4 in or more

3.1 ina big snow morning in Oak Park: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

More 4 inch school mornings than 87% of the 788 Illinois districts with a station record.

3.9Nov

3.9Dec

11.5Jan

10.8Feb

2.8Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 17.2 in on February 16, 2021
Snowiest winter 2020 to 2021, 61.3 in
6 in mornings 0.2 a winter
1 in mornings 6.4 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 1.8 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 Oak Park

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
Oak Park and River Forest District 200Oak Park	34.4 in	1
J. Sterling Morton High School District 201Cicero	34.4 in	1
Cicero School District 99Cicero	34.4 in	1
Proviso Township High School District 209Forest Park	27.5 in	0.5
Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview School District 89Melrose Park	34.4 in	1
Berwyn South School District 100Berwyn	27.5 in	0.5

The schools

10 schools

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

Middle

Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School
Percy Julian Middle School

Elementary

Abraham Lincoln Elem School
Irving Elem School
Oliver W Holmes Elem School
Longfellow Elem School
Horace Mann Elem School
William Beye Elem School
Whittier Elem School
William Hatch Elem School

Questions

Oak Park snow day questions

How much snow does Oak Park get?

What was the biggest snow day near Oak Park?

Does Oak Park get more snow days than other Illinois districts?

How does the Oak Park 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.