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Lincoln, Nebraska, 41,654 students in 78 schools

Lincoln Public Schools Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Lincoln, measured against Lincoln's own big snow morning of 3 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Lincoln close tomorrow?

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

How Lincoln calls a snow day

How families hear

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

“If a decision to close the schools the next day is made the evening before, the district will initiate calls to ensure notification of families by approximately 10:00 p.m. If the school closing decision is made early in the morning, phone calls to homes will begin as early as 5:45 a.m.”
Severe Weather Policy | Lincoln Public Schools

Making up a lost day

No set make up days; if lost time takes the year below the state minimum hours, the Superintendent sets a plan (longer days, added days or converted non student days).

“the Superintendent will implement a plan for making up this time, which may require additional minutes added to the day, additional days added to the calendar, days previously identified as non-student days re‐scheduled as student day, or other appropriate calendar or schedule measures.”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 12, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 23 to Jan 4
  • Last day May 20, 2027
District calendar

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

Ten winters of school mornings

Lincoln’s snow record

23.8inches of snow a winter
1.9school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
0.6with 4 in or more
3 ina big snow morning in Lincoln: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
1.4Nov
4Dec
7.4Jan
7.1Feb
2.3Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 13.5 in on January 26, 2021
  • Snowiest winter 2018 to 2019, 52.8 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.4 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 4.2 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 5.1 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 Nebraska rule

How Nebraska counts a lost day

Nebraska requires at least 1,032 instructional hours for elementary grades and 1,080 for high school. At the State Board's discretion, a district that closed for severe storms or epidemic sickness keeps its accreditation and state aid, after the board secretary files a sworn statement if fewer hours will be offered.

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

Next door

Districts near Lincoln

DistrictSnow a winter4 in morningsBuilt in days
Gretna Public SchoolsGretna26.2 in1.2
Millard Public SchoolsOmaha22.8 in1
Elkhorn Public SchoolsElkhorn19.6 in1
Papillion-La Vista Community SchoolsPapillion22.8 in16
Ralston Public SchoolsRalston22.8 in1
Bellevue Public SchoolsBellevue17.1 in0.8
The schools

78 schools, the 40 largest here

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

High

  • Lincoln High School
  • Lincoln East High School
  • Southwest High School
  • North Star High School
  • Lincoln Southeast High School
  • Lincoln Northeast High School
  • Northwest High School

Middle

  • Scott Middle School
  • Schoo Middle School
  • Goodrich Middle School
  • Irving Middle School
  • Lux Middle School
  • Park Middle School
  • Moore Middle School
  • Pound Middle School
  • Mickle Middle School
  • Culler Middle School
  • Lefler Middle School

Elementary

  • Kooser Elementary School
  • Roper Elementary School
  • Belmont Elementary School
  • Adams Elementary School
  • Wysong Elementary
  • Arnold Elementary School
  • Maxey Elementary School
  • Campbell Elementary School
  • Cavett Elementary School
  • Rousseau Elementary School
  • Meadow Lane Elementary School
  • Humann Elementary School
  • Prescott Elementary School
  • Kloefkorn Elementary
  • West Lincoln Elementary School
  • Pyrtle Elementary School
  • Randolph Elementary School
  • Kahoa Elementary School
  • Pershing Elementary School
  • Fredstrom Elementary School
  • Clinton Elementary School

Other schools

  • Ecse - Homebased
Questions

Lincoln snow day questions

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More winter

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