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Springfield, Illinois, 12,920 students in 35 schools

Springfield School District 186 Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Springfield, measured against Springfield's own big snow morning of 3.2 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Springfield close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Springfield.
The Springfield playbook

How Springfield calls a snow day

When the call comes

As early as possible, no later than 5:30 a.m.

“We will make this decision as early as possible, no later than 5:30 a.m., so that we can follow our school closure protocol.”
Source

How families hear

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

“As soon as the decision is made to close school, families will receive direct messaging via call/text/email & it will be posted on social media & the main page of the District 186 website.”
Communications: Winter Weather Information

5 built in snow days

On the 2026 to 2027 calendar, listed as “Emergency Day”.

“E = Emergency Day - Additional school days if needed due to emergency school closure.”
Source

eLearning days

Springfield has eLearning days in its winter plan.

“This plan will allow us to use e-learning days on inclement weather days. This will limit the number of emergency days we have to make up at the end of the school year.”
Source

Making up a lost day

Emergency days are added in June if needed.

Make up dates: Jun 1, Jun 2, Jun 3, Jun 4, Jun 7.

“E = Emergency Day - Additional school days if needed due to emergency school closure.”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 24, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 23 to Jan 4
  • Last day May 28, 2027
District calendar

Read from Springfield’s own pages on October 8, 2026; the district site is sps186.org.

Ten winters of school mornings

Springfield’s snow record

18.6inches of snow a winter
1.8school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
0.6with 4 in or more
3.2 ina big snow morning in Springfield: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
4.3school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder

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

2.5Nov
2.7Dec
5.4Jan
5.2Feb
1.9Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 8.9 in on November 29, 2025
  • Snowiest winter 2018 to 2019, 31.6 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.1 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 3.3 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 3.2 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.

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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 Springfield

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
Ball-Chatham Community Unit School District 5Chatham18.6 in0.6
Jacksonville School District 117Jacksonville15.7 in0.3
Decatur School District 61Decatur13.2 in0.5
Pekin Public School District108Pekin25.5 in0.6
Morton Community Unit School District 709Morton21.7 in0.5
Bloomington School District 87Bloomington11.6 in0.3
The schools

35 schools

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

High

  • Springfield High School
  • Springfield Southeast High Sch
  • Lanphier High School
  • Douglas School
  • Lawrence Education Center
  • Sangamon Co Detention Center
  • Springfield Learning Academy

Middle

  • Benjamin Franklin Middle School
  • U S Grant Middle School
  • Washington Middle School
  • Jefferson Middle School
  • Lincoln Magnet School

Elementary

  • Lindsay School
  • Dubois Elem School
  • Iles Elem School
  • Springfield Ball Charter School
  • Butler Elem School
  • Harvard Park Elem School
  • Ridgely Elem School
  • Fairview Elem School
  • Owen Marsh Elem School
  • Sandburg Elem School
  • Feitshans Elem Sch
  • Jane Addams Elem School
  • Black Hawk Elem School
  • Wilcox Elem School
  • Elizabeth Graham Elem School
  • Enos Elem School
  • Matheny-Withrow Elem Sch
  • McClernand Elem School
  • Southern View Elem School
  • Laketown Elem School
  • Hazel Dell Elem School

Other schools

  • Early Learning Center
  • Edwin A Lee Elementary School
Questions

Springfield snow day questions

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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.