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Grand Rapids, Michigan, 13,802 students in 51 schools

Grand Rapids Public Schools Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Grand Rapids, measured against Grand Rapids's own big snow morning of 3.6 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Grand Rapids close tomorrow?

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

How Grand Rapids calls a snow day

When the call comes

The evening before when possible, finalized by 6 a.m.

“If classes need to be canceled, GRPS will strive to make a decision the evening before, giving families and staff more time to adjust. However, weather forecasts are often uncertain at that time. In such cases, GRPS will finalize and communicate the decision by 6 a.m.”
Source

How families hear

By email, phone call, text message, the district app, social media and local TV.

“You may also download our Mobile App for instant notifications. School closing notifications can also be found on GRPS social media pages and local TV stations WOOD TV8 , WZZM 13 On Your Side , Fox 17 , and WWMT Newschannel 3 .”
Winter Weather Procedures

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 24, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 21 to Jan 1
  • February break Feb 15 to Feb 16
  • Last day June 4, 2027
District calendar

Recent snow days

  • 2024 to 2025. Classes and activities canceled Jan 22, 2025 for wind chills near minus 20.
    “Superintendent Dr. Leadriane Roby called the snow day as wind chills are forecasted to be around -20 degrees Wednesday morning.”
    District notice

The board policy

“Following input from multiple sources, the Chief of Staff & Executive Director of Public Safety & School Security provides the Superintendent with a recommendation on whether to cancel school due to the winter weather. Ultimately, the final decision is then made by the Superintendent.”
Board policy

Read from Grand Rapids’s own pages on October 8, 2026; the district site is grps.org.

Ten winters of school mornings

Grand Rapids’s snow record

73.6inches of snow a winter
7.2school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
2.6with 4 in or more
3.6 ina big snow morning in Grand Rapids: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
2school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder

More 4 inch school mornings than 76% of the 515 Michigan districts with a station record.

9.3Nov
18.5Dec
23.9Jan
13.9Feb
6.3Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 11.9 in on November 19, 2022
  • Snowiest winter 2022 to 2023, 115.9 in
  • 6 in mornings 1 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 13.5 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 1.4 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 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 Grand Rapids

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
East Grand Rapids Public School DistrictGrand Rapids73.6 in2.6
Godfrey-Lee Public SchoolsWyoming58.9 in2.1
Godwin Heights Public SchoolsGrand Rapids73.6 in2.6
Wyoming Public SchoolsWyoming58.9 in2.1
Kelloggsville Public SchoolsGrand Rapids73.6 in2.6
Comstock Park Public SchoolsComstock Park73.6 in2.6
The schools

51 schools, the 40 largest here

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

High

  • Union High School
  • City MiddleHigh
  • Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy
  • Innovation Central High
  • Ottawa Hills High School
  • Southwest MiddleHigh Academia Bilingue
  • CA Frost Environmental Science Academy Middle High School
  • Grand Rapids Public Museum High
  • Grand Rapids Montessori MiddleHigh
  • Newcomers Community School

Middle

  • Burton Middle School
  • Alger Middle School
  • Riverside Middle School
  • Westwood Middle School
  • Grand Rapids Public Museum Middle

Elementary

  • Southwest Elementary Academia Bilingue
  • Harrison Park Academy
  • CA Frost Environmental Science Academy Elementary
  • Cesar E Chavez Elementary
  • Buchanan Elementary
  • Burton Elementary
  • North Park Montessori Academy
  • Shawmut Hills School
  • Mulick Park Elementary School
  • Martin Luther King Leadership Academy
  • Sibley School
  • Brookside Elementary
  • Coit Creative Arts Academy
  • Aberdeen Academy
  • Campus Elementary
  • Gerald R Ford Academic Center
  • Dickinson Academy
  • Kent Hills Elementary
  • Palmer School
  • Congress Elementary
  • East Leonard Elementary
  • Stocking Elementary
  • Ridgemoor Park Montessori
  • Sherwood Global Studies Academy

Other schools

  • Grand Rapids Montessori Academy
Questions

Grand Rapids 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.