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Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 12,864 students in 22 schools

Bethlehem Area School District Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Bethlehem, measured against Bethlehem's own big snow morning of 4.1 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Bethlehem close tomorrow?

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

How Bethlehem calls a snow day

When the call comes

By 5 a.m.

“Based on an assessment of all of the above factors, a decision to delay the start of school or to close school is made by 5 a.m. allowing adequate time to notify the BASD community.”
Source

How families hear

“Based on an assessment of all of the above factors, a decision to delay the start of school or to close school is made by 5 a.m. allowing adequate time to notify the BASD community.”
Weather Closing/Delay FAQs - Bethlehem Area School District

A 2 hour delay

On a delay morning every school starts 2 hours late.

“If a Wind Chill Advisory is issued and forecasts -15 degree temperatures, a 2-hour delay will be considered.”

Making up a lost day

Scheduled holidays become school days in this order: Feb 15, Mar 25, Mar 29, then Jun 8, 2027.

“Scheduled holidays will be converted to regular days of instruction according to the following order: (1) Monday, February 15; (2) Thursday, March 25; (3) Monday, March 29; and (4) Tuesday, June 8.”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

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

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

Ten winters of school mornings

Bethlehem’s snow record

27.8inches of snow a winter
1.9school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
0.9with 4 in or more
4.1 ina big snow morning in Bethlehem: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
0.6school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder
0.8Nov
3.9Dec
7.5Jan
9.6Feb
5.6Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 22.4 in on February 1, 2021
  • Snowiest winter 2020 to 2021, 58.1 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.6 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 3.6 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 4.7 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 Pennsylvania rule

How Pennsylvania counts a lost day

Pennsylvania requires either 180 days, or hours: 900 for kindergarten through grade 6 and 990 for grades 7 to 12, as the district chooses. The state forgives no days; districts are expected to build make-up days into the calendar for closures beyond any Flexible Instructional Days.

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

Next door

Districts near Bethlehem

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
Saucon Valley School DistrictHellertown33.8 in1.9
Salisbury Township School DistrictAllentown27.8 in0.9
Catasauqua Area School DistrictCatasauqua27.8 in0.9
Allentown City School DistrictAllentown27.8 in0.9
Wilson Area School DistrictEaston19.7 in0.9
Southern Lehigh School DistrictCenter Valley33.8 in1.9
The schools

22 schools

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

High

  • Liberty HS
  • Freedom HS

Middle

  • East Hills MS
  • Nitschmann MS
  • Northeast MS
  • Broughal MS

Elementary

  • Spring Garden El Sch
  • Fountain Hill El Sch
  • Donegan El Sch
  • Governor Wolf El Sch
  • Clearview El Sch
  • Freemansburg El Sch, Freemansburg
  • Farmersville El Sch, Easton
  • Miller Heights El Sch
  • Asa Packer El Sch
  • Lincoln El Sch
  • Marvine El Sch
  • James Buchanan El Sch
  • Thomas Jefferson El Sch
  • William Penn El Sch
  • Hanover El Sch
  • Calypso El Sch
Questions

Bethlehem snow day questions

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More winter

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