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Portland, Maine, 6,649 students in 17 schools

Portland Public Schools Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Portland, measured against Portland's own big snow morning of 5.5 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Portland close tomorrow?

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

How Portland calls a snow day

How families hear

By phone call, text message and email.

“Using robocalls, text messages and emails, we notify families about a variety of important announcements that include school cancellations due to inclement weather and school emergencies.”
Communications - Portland Public Schools

Making up a lost day

Added at the end of the year, June 14 to 16, as needed.

Make up dates: Jun 14, Jun 15, Jun 16.

“Please note the last day of school is subject to change, depending on the number of storm-related make-up days that must be used at the end of the year.”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 31, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 23 to Dec 31
  • February break Feb 15 to Feb 19
  • Last day June 11, 2027
District calendar

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

Ten winters of school mornings

Portland’s snow record

61inches of snow a winter
6.5school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
3.7with 4 in or more
5.5 ina big snow morning in Portland: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
2.2school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder
1.7Nov
12.8Dec
17.1Jan
16Feb
11Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 17.6 in on December 17, 2020
  • Snowiest winter 2016 to 2017, 95.2 in
  • 6 in mornings 1.5 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 9.3 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 2.4 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 Maine rule

How Maine counts a lost day

Maine requires a 180 day school year with at least 175 days of instruction. The Commissioner may waive the minimum days on a school board's written application, but only after the district has tried every reasonable way to make the days up.

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

Next door

Districts near Portland

DistrictSnow a winter4 in morningsBuilt in days
South Portland Public SchoolsSouth Portland61 in3.76
Cape Elizabeth Public SchoolsCape Elizabeth53.4 in3.6
Westbrook Public SchoolsWestbrook61.3 in3.4
Falmouth Public SchoolsFalmouth61.3 in3.4
Scarborough Public SchoolsScarborough53.4 in3.63
Gorham Public SchoolsGorham61.3 in3.45
The schools

17 schools

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

High

  • Portland High School
  • Deering High School
  • Casco Bay High School

Middle

  • Lyman Moore Middle School
  • King Middle School
  • Lincoln Middle School

Elementary

  • Harrison Lyseth Elem School
  • Amanda C Rowe School
  • Howard C Reiche Community Sch
  • East End Community School
  • Gerald E Talbot Community School
  • Ocean Avenue
  • Longfellow School-Portland
  • Presumpscot School
  • Peaks Island School, Peaks Island
  • Cliff Island School, Cliff Island

Other schools

  • Portland Arts & Technology H S
Questions

Portland snow day questions

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More winter

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