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Detroit, Michigan, 48,271 students in 106 schools

Detroit Public Schools Community District Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Detroit, measured against Detroit's own big snow morning of 3.1 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Detroit close tomorrow?

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

How Detroit calls a snow day

How families hear

By radio, local TV and phone call.

“If school is in session and MUS T close due to power outages or inclement weather, parents will receive a mass communication call from the attending school and/or Detroit Public Schools Community District information system.”
Parent Information - J. E. Clark Preparatory Academy

6 built in snow days

On the 2025 to 2026 calendar, listed as “days of forgiveness”.

“Districts receive 6 days of forgiveness to offset closures due to weather or if not unused the days can be applied to eliminate low-attendance days.”
Source

Making up a lost day

Make-up days are pre-scheduled June 9 to 17, used only if needed after emergency closures.

“Make up days for students and staff pre-scheduled June 9-17 in the event they are required due to emergency closure or inadequate staff attendance at PD days”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 24, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 21 to Jan 1
  • February break Feb 15 to Feb 19
  • Last day June 7, 2027
District calendar

Read from Detroit’s own pages on October 8, 2026; the district site is detroitk12.org.

Ten winters of school mornings

Detroit’s snow record

23.5inches of snow a winter
2.3school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
0.9with 4 in or more
3.1 ina big snow morning in Detroit: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
1.3school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder
1.9Nov
4.1Dec
7.8Jan
7Feb
2.6Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 7.8 in on February 10, 2018
  • Snowiest winter 2017 to 2018, 41.4 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.2 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 4.9 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 5.2 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 Michigan rule

How Michigan counts a lost day

Michigan requires at least 180 days and 1,098 hours of pupil instruction. The first 6 days (or the same hours) lost to conditions outside the district's control, such as severe storms, are counted as instruction; up to 3 more can be approved by the State Superintendent.

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

Next door

Districts near Detroit

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
Hamtramck Public SchoolsHamtramck23.5 in0.9
Hazel Park City School DistrictHazel Park23.5 in0.9
Fitzgerald Public SchoolsWarren22.3 in0.9
Ferndale Public SchoolsFerndale23.5 in0.9
River Rouge School DistrictRiver Rouge40.3 in1.4
Van Dyke Public SchoolsWarren22.3 in0.9
The schools

106 schools, the 40 largest here

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

High

  • Cass Technical High School
  • Western International High School
  • Renaissance High School
  • Mumford High School
  • Martin Luther King Jr Senior High School
  • East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney
  • Southeastern High School
  • Henry Ford High School
  • Cody High School
  • Denby High School
  • Detroit School of Arts

Elementary

  • Munger ElementaryMiddle School
  • Earhart ElementaryMiddle School
  • Mackenzie ElementaryMiddle School
  • Ronald Brown Academy
  • John R King Academic and Performing Arts Academy
  • Gompers ElementaryMiddle School
  • Davison ElementaryMiddle School
  • Brenda Scott Academy for Theatre Arts
  • Fisher Magnet Academy
  • Bates Academy
  • Priest ElementaryMiddle School
  • Mary McLeod Bethune ElementaryMiddle School
  • Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies
  • Charles Wright Academy of Arts and Science
  • Durfee ElementaryMiddle School
  • Schulze Academy for Technology and Arts
  • Emerson ElementaryMiddle School
  • Edward Duke Ellington at Beckham
  • Henderson Academy
  • Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
  • Bow ElementaryMiddle School
  • Academy of the Americas at Logan
  • Noble ElementaryMiddle School
  • Roberto Clemente Learning Academy
  • Bennett Elementary School
  • Burton International Academy
  • Carver STEM Academy

Other schools

  • Academy of The Americas High School
  • The School at Marygrove
Questions

Detroit snow day questions

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More winter

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