Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, 2,137 students in 4 schools

Highlands School District Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Natrona Heights get?

About 22.2 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station under a mile away, averaged over 9 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 2.8 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 0.8 with 4 inches or more.

Q: What was the biggest snow day near Highlands?

11 inches on January 26, 2026, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station under a mile away in 9 winters. The snowiest winter was 2017 to 2018, with 38.8 inches.

Q: How does the Highlands snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Natrona Heights 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 Highlands’s own big snow morning: 3 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station under a mile away.

Q: Can Pennsylvania schools hold a remote day instead?

A district with a PDE accepted plan can turn up to five closure days a year, including snow days, into Flexible Instructional Days that count as school days; they can be online, offline or both.

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

The next three school mornings

Will Highlands close tomorrow?

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

Ten winters of school mornings

Highlands’s snow record

22.2inches of snow a winter

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

0.8with 4 in or more

3 ina big snow morning in Highlands: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

2school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder

0.9Nov

4.7Dec

8.4Jan

4.5Feb

3.3Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 11 in on January 26, 2026
Snowiest winter 2017 to 2018, 38.8 in
6 in mornings 0.4 a winter
1 in mornings 5.6 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station under a mile 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 Highlands

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
Burrell School DistrictLower Burrell	22.2 in	0.8
Freeport Area School DistrictSarver	14.6 in	0.4
Deer Lakes School DistrictCheswick	17.3 in	1.3
Plum Borough School DistrictPlum	17.3 in	1.3
Kiski Area School DistrictVandergrift	25.6 in	0.7
Fox Chapel Area School DistrictPittsburgh	17.3 in	1.3

The schools

4 schools

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

High

Highlands SHS

Middle

Highlands MS

Elementary

Highlands El Sch, Tarentum

Other schools

Highlands Early Childhood Center, Brackenridge

Questions

Highlands snow day questions

How much snow does Natrona Heights get?

What was the biggest snow day near Highlands?

How does the Highlands snow day predictor work?

How does Pennsylvania handle snow days?

Can Pennsylvania schools hold a remote day instead?

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.