Cheswick, Pennsylvania, 1,753 students in 4 schools

Deer Lakes School District Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Cheswick get?

About 17.3 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station 6.5 miles away, averaged over 8 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 2.8 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 1.3 with 4 inches or more.

Q: What was the biggest snow day near Deer Lakes?

8 inches on December 17, 2020, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station 6.5 miles away in 8 winters. The snowiest winter was 2020 to 2021, with 34.4 inches.

Q: Does Deer Lakes get more snow days than other Pennsylvania districts?

Deer Lakes averages 1.3 weekday mornings a winter with 4 inches of new snow or more, more than 64 percent of the 490 Pennsylvania districts with a station record.

Q: How does the Deer Lakes snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Cheswick 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 Deer Lakes’s own big snow morning: 4 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station 6.5 miles away.

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Deer Lakes, measured against Deer Lakes's own big snow morning of 4 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Deer Lakes close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Cheswick.

Ten winters of school mornings

Deer Lakes’s snow record

17.3inches of snow a winter

2.8school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more

1.3with 4 in or more

4 ina big snow morning in Deer Lakes: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

0.9school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder

More 4 inch school mornings than 64% of the 490 Pennsylvania districts with a station record.

0.4Nov

4.2Dec

5.2Jan

5.4Feb

2.1Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 8 in on December 17, 2020
Snowiest winter 2020 to 2021, 34.4 in
6 in mornings 0.1 a winter
1 in mornings 4.1 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 6.5 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 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 Deer Lakes

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
Hampton Township School DistrictAllison Park	17.3 in	1.3
Highlands School DistrictNatrona Heights	22.2 in	0.8
Fox Chapel Area School DistrictPittsburgh	17.3 in	1.3
Mars Area School DistrictMars	38.9 in	1.4
Knoch School DistrictSaxonburg	14.6 in	0.4
Shaler Area School DistrictGlenshaw	11.9 in	0.4

The schools

4 schools

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

High

Deer Lakes HS

Middle

Deer Lakes MS

Elementary

Curtisville Pri Ctr, Tarentum
East Union Intrmd Sch

Questions

Deer Lakes snow day questions

How much snow does Cheswick get?

What was the biggest snow day near Deer Lakes?

Does Deer Lakes get more snow days than other Pennsylvania districts?

How does the Deer Lakes snow day predictor work?

How does Pennsylvania handle snow days?

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.