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Brookings, South Dakota, 3,446 students in 6 schools

Brookings School District 05-1 Snow Day Predictor

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Brookings, measured against Brookings's own big snow morning of 2.8 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Brookings close tomorrow?

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

How Brookings calls a snow day

When the call comes

By 6:15 a.m. when decided the morning of.

“if a decision is made in the morning, the decision will be made by 6:15 a.m.”
Source

How families hear

By phone call, the district app, local TV, radio, the district website and social media.

“School cancellation information will also be broadcasted via the Brookings School District App, local media, and will be posted across our website and on school social media sites.”
The Brookings School District Inclement Weather FAQ

A 2 hour delay

On a delay morning every school starts 2 hours late.

“Schools start exactly two hours later than the usual time.”
Delay schedule

Making up a lost day

Beyond 2 snow days, make-up days are added to the end of the school year.

“If we exceed more than 2 snow days, make up days will be added to the end of the school year”
Source

The 2026 to 2027 calendar

  • First day August 26, 2026
  • Winter break Dec 23 to Jan 4
  • Last day May 19, 2027
District calendar

Read from Brookings’s own pages on October 8, 2026; the district site is brookings.k12.sd.us.

Ten winters of school mornings

Brookings’s snow record

37.5inches of snow a winter
2.8school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
1.2with 4 in or more
2.8 ina big snow morning in Brookings: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
3.3Nov
7.2Dec
6.9Jan
7.7Feb
7Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
  • Biggest day 7.8 in on February 9, 2020
  • Snowiest winter 2017 to 2018, 63.2 in
  • 6 in mornings 0.4 a winter
  • 1 in mornings 5.5 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 South Dakota rule

How South Dakota counts a lost day

South Dakota requires at least 437.5 hours for kindergarten, 875 hours for grades 1 to 5 and 962.5 hours for grades 6 to 12; the local board sets the number of days. The Secretary of Education may waive the minimum hours when the Governor or the President declares a state of emergency covering the school; there is no fixed count of forgiven days.

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

Next door

Districts near Brookings

DistrictSnow a winter4 in morningsBuilt in days
Watertown School District 14-4Watertown36.8 in1.1
Brandon Valley School District 49-2Brandon43.1 in1.31
Sioux Falls School District 49-5Sioux Falls44.9 in1.9
Harrisburg School District 41-2Harrisburg44.9 in1.9
Huron School District 02-2Huron39.5 in1.4
Mitchell School District 17-2Mitchell37.2 in2
The schools

6 schools

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

High

  • Brookings High School - 01

Middle

  • George S. Mickelson Middle School - 02

Elementary

  • Camelot Intermediate - 06
  • Dakota Prairie Elementary - 07
  • Medary Elementary - 05
  • Hillcrest Elementary - 04
Questions

Brookings snow day questions

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More winter

More for South Dakota 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.South Dakota winter forecastThe season ahead for South Dakota: 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.