Portage Community School District Snow Day Predictor
The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Portage, measured against Portage's own big snow morning of 4 inches.
The next three school mornings
Will Portage close tomorrow?
Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Portage.
Ten winters of school mornings
Portage’s snow record
36inches of snow a winter
4.6school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more
1.4with 4 in or more
4 ina big snow morning in Portage: the top tenth of snowy school mornings
10.2school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder
2.1Nov
7.2Dec
10.8Jan
7.4Feb
5.7Mar
Average snowfall by month, inches
Biggest day 9 in on February 10, 2020
Snowiest winter 2022 to 2023, 63.2 in
6 in mornings 0.4 a winter
1 in mornings 7.2 a winter
Measured at a NOAA weather station 2.4 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 Wisconsin rule
How Wisconsin counts a lost day
Wisconsin requires hours, not days: 437 for kindergarten, 1,050 for grades 1 to 6 and 1,137 for grades 7 to 12.
Every school in Portage follows the district’s call: one closing covers them all.
High
Portage High
Portage Academy of Achievement
Middle
Wayne Bartels Middle
Elementary
Muir Elementary
Woodridge Elementary
Lewiston Elementary
Endeavor Elementary, Endeavor
Other schools
Portage Partnering Preschool
Questions
Portage snow day questions
About 36 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station 2.4 miles away, averaged over 10 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 4.6 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 1.4 with 4 inches or more.
9 inches on February 10, 2020, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station 2.4 miles away in 10 winters. The snowiest winter was 2022 to 2023, with 63.2 inches.
It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Portage 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 Portage’s own big snow morning: 4 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station 2.4 miles away.
Wisconsin requires hours, not days: 437 for kindergarten, 1,050 for grades 1 to 6 and 1,137 for grades 7 to 12.
If a district offers make-up instruction virtually on a weather closure, those hours can count; the rule sets no cap on such days.
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.
