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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 117,907 students in 220 schools

Philadelphia City School District Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Philadelphia, measured against Philadelphia's own big snow morning of 3.1 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Philadelphia close tomorrow?

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

How Philadelphia calls a snow day

When the call comes

Night before: decision finalized by 5 p.m. and announced by 9 p.m. Same morning: finalized by 4 a.m. and announced by 4:45 a.m.

“By 4:00AM – Superintendent finalizes school opening, delay, or closure decision.”
Source

How families hear

By email, text message and the district website.

“By 9:00PM – Launch communications cascade to issue a message and announce the decision for school opening, delay or closure (email, text, district website, and media outreach)”
Inclement Weather and Emergency Protocol - The School District of Philadelphia

Virtual learning days

Philadelphia has virtual learning days in its winter plan.

“tomorrow, Tuesday, February 24, all School District of Philadelphia schools and Early Childhood Centers, as well as the Constance E. Clayton Education Center (Central Office) will operate virtually.”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 24, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 23 to Jan 1
  • Last day June 9, 2027
District calendar

Recent snow days

  • 2025 to 2026. After a late February snowstorm, all schools operated virtually on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
    “tomorrow, Tuesday, February 24, all School District of Philadelphia schools and Early Childhood Centers, as well as the Constance E. Clayton Education Center (Central Office) will operate virtually.”
    District notice
  • 2025 to 2026. After the late January snowstorm, all schools operated virtually on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, and returned in person January 29.
    “This weekend’s snowstorm and the resulting snow and ice across the region, has continued to yield hazardous travel conditions”
    District notice

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

Ten winters of school mornings

Philadelphia’s snow record

11.9inches of snow a winter
1.3school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
0.4with 4 in or more
3.1 ina big snow morning in Philadelphia: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
0.5Nov
1.5Dec
4.3Jan
5.1Feb
0.6Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 9.3 in on January 25, 2026
  • Snowiest winter 2025 to 2026, 30.1 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.3 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 2.1 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 1.1 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 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 Philadelphia

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
William Penn School DistrictLansdowne14.9 in0.7
Upper Darby School DistrictUpper Darby14.9 in0.7
Lower Merion School DistrictArdmore12.7 in0.8
Southeast Delco School DistrictFolcroft14.9 in0.7
Haverford Township School DistrictHavertown12.7 in0.8
Cheltenham School DistrictElkins Park11.9 in0.4
The schools

220 schools, the 40 largest here

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

High

  • Northeast HS
  • Central HS
  • Lincoln HS
  • Washington George HS
  • Fels Samuel HS
  • Olney HS, Philadephia
  • Masterman Julia R Sec Sch
  • Academy at Palumbo
  • Edison HS/Fareira Skills
  • Frankford HS
  • HS of Engineering & Science
  • Swenson Arts and Technology High School
  • Furness Horace HS
  • Dobbins Area Vocational-Technical High School
  • Franklin LC
  • Girls HS

Middle

  • Baldi C C A MS
  • Castor Gardens MS

Elementary

  • Northeast Community Propel Academy
  • Mayfair Sch
  • Frank Anne Sch
  • Solis-Cohen Solomon Sch
  • Spruance Gilbert Sch
  • Loesche William H Sch
  • Farrell Louis H Sch
  • Moore J Hampton Sch
  • Southwark Sch
  • Decatur Stephen Sch
  • Allen Ethan Sch
  • Juniata Park Academy
  • Greenberg Joseph Sch
  • Fitzpatrick Aloysius L Sch
  • Forrest Edwin Sch
  • Holme Thomas Sch
  • John Hancock Demonstration Sch
  • Pollock Robert B Sch
  • Disston Hamilton Sch
  • Greenfield Albert M Sch
  • Olney El Sch

Other schools

  • The SD of Philadelphia Virtual Academy
Questions

Philadelphia 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.