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Ellicott City, Maryland, 57,633 students in 78 schools

Howard County Public Schools Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Howard, measured against Howard's own big snow morning of 4.3 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Howard close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Ellicott City.
The Howard playbook

How Howard calls a snow day

When the call comes

No later than 5:30 a.m.; a two-hour delay may become a closure by 7:30 a.m.

“Decisions regarding closings due to inclement weather will be made no later than 5:30 a.m. Two-hour delays will be called by 5:30 a.m. and reevaluated for closure no later than 7:30 a.m.”
Source

How families hear

By the district website, email, text message and social media.

“HCPSS News email and text message alerts. Parents are automatically signed up for email alerts, and only once need to opt in for text messaging .”
Emergency / Weather Closings

A 2 hour delay

On a delay morning every school starts 2 hours late.

“The decision is made to open on time, open two hours late, or close for the day.”

6 built in snow days

On the 2026 to 2027 calendar, listed as “inclement weather days”.

“June 9-11 & June 14-16, 2027 May be used as inclement weather days”
Source

Making up a lost day

Added after the June 8 last scheduled day, on June 9 to 11 and June 14 to 16.

Make up dates: Jun 9, Jun 10, Jun 11, Jun 14, Jun 15, Jun 16.

“June 9-11 & June 14-16, 2027 May be used as inclement weather days”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 24, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 24 to Jan 1
  • Last day June 8, 2027
District calendar

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

Ten winters of school mornings

Howard’s snow record

11.4inches of snow a winter
1.6school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
0.8with 4 in or more
4.3 ina big snow morning in Howard: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

More 4 inch school mornings than 79% of the 24 Maryland districts with a station record.

0Nov
1.3Dec
5.5Jan
2.4Feb
2.2Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 7 in on March 22, 2018
  • Snowiest winter 2025 to 2026, 17.9 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.3 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 2 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 8.7 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 Maryland rule

How Maryland counts a lost day

Maryland requires at least 180 school days and 1,080 hours within 10 months, with days of at least 3 hours. On a county board's application showing it tried to comply, the State Board may shorten the year when severe weather or a disaster prevented normal attendance, without cutting state or local funding.

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

Next door

Districts near Howard

DistrictSnow a winter4 in morningsBuilt in days
Baltimore City Public SchoolsBaltimore4.4 in0.13
Montgomery County Public SchoolsRockville7.4 in0.4
Baltimore County Public SchoolsTowson15.7 in13
Carroll County Public SchoolsWestminster16 in0.74
Anne Arundel County Public SchoolsAnnapolis10.6 in0.53
Prince George's County Public SchoolsUpper Marlboro7.1 in0.33
The schools

78 schools, the 40 largest here

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

High

  • Reservoir High, Fulton
  • Marriotts Ridge High, Marriottsville
  • Howard High
  • Mount Hebron High
  • Atholton High, Columbia
  • River Hill High, Clarksville
  • Long Reach High, Columbia
  • Oakland Mills High, Columbia
  • Glenelg High, Glenelg
  • Centennial High
  • Wilde Lake High, Columbia
  • Hammond High, Columbia

Middle

  • Mount View Middle, Marriottsville
  • Patuxent Valley Middle, Jessup
  • Burleigh Manor Middle
  • Thomas Viaduct Middle, Hanover
  • Ellicott Mills Middle
  • Bonnie Branch Middle
  • Mayfield Woods Middle, Elkridge
  • Folly Quarter Middle
  • Elkridge Landing Middle, Elkridge

Elementary

  • Veterans Elementary
  • Waverly Elementary
  • Fulton Elementary, Fulton
  • Hanover Hills Elementary, Hanover
  • Pointers Run Elementary, Clarksville
  • Bellows Spring Elementary
  • Elkridge Elementary, Elkridge
  • Dayton Oaks Elementary, Dayton
  • Bollman Bridge Elementary, Jessup
  • Northfield Elementary
  • Centennial Lane Elementary
  • Hammond Elementary, Laurel
  • Gorman Crossing Elementary, Laurel
  • Hollifield Station Elementary
  • Phelps Luck Elementary, Columbia
  • Forest Ridge Elementary, Laurel
  • Deep Run Elementary, Elkridge
  • Manor Woods Elementary

Other schools

  • Guilford Park High, Jessup
Questions

Howard snow day questions

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More winter

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