Skip to content
Duluth, Minnesota, 8,757 students in 27 schools

Duluth Public School District Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Duluth, measured against Duluth's own big snow morning of 4.5 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Duluth close tomorrow?

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

How Duluth calls a snow day

When the call comes

Prior to 5 a.m.; the night before if possible.

“The decision to close or delay the start of school due to severe weather is made prior to 5 a.m.”
Source

How families hear

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

“Local television stations and radio stations will also be informed of the school closure. Duluth Public Schools will also post on social media ( Instagram , Facebook and Twitter ) as well as all of the school and district websites.”
Weather-Related School Closings

A 2 hour delay

On a delay morning every school starts 2 hours late.

“K-12 Schools start two hours later and dismiss at their regular times.”
Delay schedule

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day September 8, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 24 to Dec 31
  • February break Feb 16 to Feb 17
  • Last day June 10, 2027
District calendar

Read from Duluth’s own pages on October 8, 2026; the district site is isd709.org.

Ten winters of school mornings

Duluth’s snow record

59.2inches of snow a winter
7.4school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
2.9with 4 in or more
4.5 ina big snow morning in Duluth: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

More 4 inch school mornings than 92% of the 322 Minnesota districts with a station record.

5.1Nov
14.5Dec
10.9Jan
11.8Feb
12.9Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 16 in on February 22, 2022
  • Snowiest winter 2022 to 2023, 94.9 in
  • 6 in mornings 1 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 11 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.

Advertisement
The Minnesota rule

How Minnesota counts a lost day

Minnesota requires at least 165 days for grades 1 to 11, plus 935 hours for grades 1 to 6 and 1,020 hours for grades 7 to 12.

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

Next door

Districts near Duluth

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
Hermantown Public School DistrictHermantown86 in2.9
Proctor Public School DistrictProctor80.6 in3.9
Esko Public School DistrictEsko80.6 in3.9
Cloquet Public School DistrictCloquet58.1 in1.8
Lake Superior Public School DistrictTwo Harbors56.3 in2.3
Rock Ridge Public SchoolsVirginia56.1 in2.8
The schools

27 schools

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

High

  • East High School
  • Denfeld High School
  • ALC School Within a School
  • ALC Independent Study
  • Duluth Area Learning Center
  • Academic Excellence Online
  • The Bridge

Middle

  • Ordean East Middle School
  • Lincoln Park Middle School

Elementary

  • Lester Park Elementary
  • Congdon Elementary
  • Homecroft Elementary
  • Piedmont Elementary
  • Lowell Elementary Spanish Immersion
  • Myers-Wilkins Elementary
  • Laura Macarthur Elementary
  • Lowell Elementary
  • Lakewood Elementary
  • Stowe Elementary

Other schools

  • Early Childhood Special Education
  • Merritt Creek Academy
  • Rockridge Academy
  • Chester Creek Academy
  • Special Ed. N.p.
  • Arrowhead Academy
  • Superior Academy
  • Bethany Crisis Shelter
Questions

Duluth snow day questions

Advertisement
More winter

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