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Altoona, Iowa, 7,424 students in 11 schools

Southeast Polk Community School District Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Southeast Polk, measured against Southeast Polk's own big snow morning of 3.9 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Southeast Polk close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Altoona.
Ten winters of school mornings

Southeast Polk’s snow record

29.6inches of snow a winter
3school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
1with 4 in or more
3.9 ina big snow morning in Southeast Polk: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
2.4Nov
4.3Dec
10.5Jan
8.1Feb
2.4Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 10 in on January 26, 2021
  • Snowiest winter 2020 to 2021, 50 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.4 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 5.3 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 9.6 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.

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The Iowa rule

How Iowa counts a lost day

Iowa requires at least 180 days or 1,080 hours of instruction, as the board chooses. When a board extends the calendar to make up weather closures, it may excuse seniors who have already met graduation requirements.

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

Next door

Districts near Southeast Polk

DistrictSnow a winter4 in morningsBuilt in days
Ankeny Community School DistrictAnkeny29.6 in1
Des Moines Independent Community School DistrictDes Moines32.2 in1.63
Johnston Community School DistrictJohnston30.8 in1.4
Urbandale Community School DistrictUrbandale27.8 in0.9
West Des Moines Community School DistrictWest Des Moines27.8 in0.9
Norwalk Community School DistrictNorwalk33.3 in1.7
The schools

11 schools

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

High

  • Southeast Polk High School, Pleasant Hill

Middle

  • Southeast Polk Junior High, Pleasant Hill
  • Spring Creek - 6th Grade, Pleasant Hill

Elementary

  • Clay Elementary
  • Willowbrook Elementary
  • Four Mile Elementary, Pleasant Hill
  • Altoona Elementary
  • Delaware Elementary, Des Moines
  • Centennial Elementary
  • Runnells Elementary, Runnells
  • Mitchellville Elementary, Mitchellville
Questions

Southeast Polk snow day questions

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More winter

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