Grand Rapids, Minnesota, 4,024 students in 11 schools

Grand Rapids Public School District Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Grand Rapids get?

About 56 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station 2.3 miles away, averaged over 8 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 5.3 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 1.5 with 4 inches or more.

Q: What was the biggest snow day near Grand Rapids?

17 inches on November 18, 2016, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station 2.3 miles away in 8 winters. The snowiest winter was 2022 to 2023, with 78.7 inches.

Q: How does the Grand Rapids snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Grand Rapids through the night and the 5 to 8 am bus run, adds winter alerts and the Winter Storm Severity Index, and measures the snow against Grand Rapids’s own big snow morning: 3.2 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station 2.3 miles away.

Q: Can Minnesota schools hold a remote day instead?

A district or charter school with an adopted plan may hold up to five e-learning days a year for bad weather, and each one counts as a day of instruction.

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 3.2 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.

Ten winters of school mornings

Grand Rapids’s snow record

56inches of snow a winter

5.3school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more

1.5with 4 in or more

3.2 ina big snow morning in Grand Rapids: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

28.6school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder

6.9Nov

15.3Dec

8.9Jan

8.1Feb

8.7Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 17 in on November 18, 2016
Snowiest winter 2022 to 2023, 78.7 in
6 in mornings 0.4 a winter
1 in mornings 10.8 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 2.3 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.

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 Grand Rapids

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
Greenway Public School DistrictColeraine	56 in	1.5
Hibbing Public School DistrictHibbing	77.3 in	2.7
Rock Ridge Public SchoolsVirginia	56.1 in	2.8
Cass Lake-Bena Public SchoolsCass Lake	56.4 in	2.7
St. Louis County School DistrictVirginia	56.1 in	2.8
Pequot Lakes Public SchoolsPequot Lakes	69.2 in	3.1

The schools

11 schools

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

High

Grand Rapids Senior High
Bigfork Secondary, Bigfork
Grand Rapids Area Learning Center

Middle

Robert J. Elkington Middle School
Middle Area Learning Center

Elementary

East Rapids Elementary
West Rapids Elementary
Cohasset Elementary, Cohasset
Bigfork Elementary, Bigfork

Other schools

Grand Rapids Early Childhood Center
Itaskin Education Center

Questions

Grand Rapids snow day questions

How much snow does Grand Rapids get?

What was the biggest snow day near Grand Rapids?

How does the Grand Rapids snow day predictor work?

How does Minnesota handle snow days?

Can Minnesota schools hold a remote day instead?

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.