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Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, 8,134 students in 10 schools

Wilkes-Barre Area School District Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Wilkes-Barre, measured against Wilkes-Barre's own big snow morning of 3.9 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Wilkes-Barre close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Wilkes Barre.
The Wilkes-Barre playbook

How Wilkes-Barre calls a snow day

How families hear

By local TV, radio, the district website and the district app.

“For information, please turn to the local television stations such as WBRE and WNEP. In addition, message will be sent via Parent Square and posted on the District Website”

Delayed openings

“In the event of inclement weather, there may be a delay of 1, 2 or 3 hours in the opening of school, an early dismissal, or a school closing.”

Read from Wilkes-Barre’s own pages on October 8, 2026; the district site is wbasd.k12.pa.us.

Ten winters of school mornings

Wilkes-Barre’s snow record

31.8inches of snow a winter
3.6school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
1.3with 4 in or more
3.9 ina big snow morning in Wilkes-Barre: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

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

2Nov
6Dec
8.2Jan
7.8Feb
6.7Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 15.5 in on March 15, 2017
  • Snowiest winter 2016 to 2017, 55.3 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.7 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 6.5 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 4.6 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 Wilkes-Barre

DistrictSnow a winter4 in mornings
Wyoming Valley West School DistrictKingston31.8 in1.3
Hanover Area School DistrictHanover Township31.8 in1.3
Greater Nanticoke Area School DistrictNanticoke31.8 in1.3
Crestwood School DistrictMountain Top33.9 in1.1
Pittston Area School DistrictPittston31.8 in1.3
Wyoming Area School DistrictExeter31.8 in1.3
The schools

10 schools

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

High

  • Wilkes-Barre Area HS, Plains
  • Wilkes-Barre Area SD STEM Academy, Plains

Middle

  • G A R MS, Wilkes-Barre
  • Solomon/Plains MS, Plains

Elementary

  • Dr David W Kistler El Sch
  • Heights/Murray El Sch
  • Solomon/Plains El Sch, Plains
  • Daniel J Flood El Sch
  • Dodson El Sch

Other schools

  • Wolfpack Early Learning Academy, Wilkes-Barre
Questions

Wilkes-Barre 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.