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Waltham, Massachusetts, 5,709 students in 10 schools

Waltham School District Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Waltham, measured against Waltham's own big snow morning of 5.8 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Waltham close tomorrow?

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

How Waltham calls a snow day

How families hear

By phone call, text message, email and local TV.

“NO SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS Notice will be sent out from the district directly to all WPS families via phone, text and email and also posted on TV Channels: 4, 5, 7, 10 and 25”

Making up a lost day

One extra day added at the end of the year for each snow day, after June 21 and no later than June 30.

“** An extra day of school will be added for EACH snow day that occurs during the school year ... 6/30 Last possible day of School”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day September 2, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 24 to Dec 31
  • February break Feb 15 to Feb 19
  • Last day June 21, 2027
District calendar

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

Ten winters of school mornings

Waltham’s snow record

26.2inches of snow a winter
3school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
1.4with 4 in or more
5.8 ina big snow morning in Waltham: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
0Nov
3.8Dec
8.7Jan
9.9Feb
2.8Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 14 in on March 4, 2019
  • Snowiest winter 2025 to 2026, 48.2 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.8 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 4 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 2.2 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 Massachusetts rule

How Massachusetts counts a lost day

Massachusetts requires a 185 day calendar, at least 180 days actually held, and 900 hours for elementary or 990 hours for secondary students. Every day lost through March 31 is made up with full rescheduled days; after March 31, days are made up until 180 or the scheduled 185th day, whichever comes first.

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

Next door

Districts near Waltham

DistrictSnow a winter4 in morningsBuilt in days
Belmont School DistrictBelmont26.2 in1.4
Newton School DistrictNewtonville26.2 in1.45
Watertown School DistrictWatertown26.2 in1.4
Lexington School DistrictLexington37.9 in1.9
Arlington School DistrictArlington34.4 in1.8
Weston School DistrictWeston26.2 in1.4
The schools

10 schools

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

High

  • Waltham Sr High

Middle

  • John F Kennedy Middle
  • John W. McDevitt Middle School

Elementary

  • Northeast Elementary School
  • Douglas MacArthur Elementary School
  • Henry Whittemore Elementary School
  • William F. Stanley Elementary School
  • James Fitzgerald Elementary School
  • Thomas R Plympton Elementary School
  • Waltham Public Schools Dual Language Program
Questions

Waltham snow day questions

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More winter

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