Where Are Snow Days Most Likely Today?
A live Top 10 of the U.S. regions most likely to see school closures, ranked from active National Weather Service winter alerts — blizzard warnings first, then winter storm warnings, watches, and advisories.
Updated Jul 30, 12:23 PM EDT · Source: NWS active alerts
No active winter alerts anywhere in the U.S. right now
That's normal outside of winter. When storms return, this list updates automatically every 15 minutes with the regions where snow days are most likely. In the meantime, see the places where snow days happen most often below — or look up your school to be ready for the season.
The 10 places where snow days happen most often
Some regions are practically built for snow days — lake-effect snow machines, nor'easter alley, and Southern cities where a single inch shuts everything down. Based on average seasonal snowfall and how readily local districts close:
- 1
Tug Hill Plateau & Syracuse, New York New York schools →
The snowiest populated region east of the Rockies. Lake-effect snow off Lake Ontario buries towns like Redfield and Oswego under 20+ feet a season, and Syracuse routinely tops the Golden Snowball rankings.
- 2
Buffalo & Watertown, New York New York schools →
Lake Erie lake-effect bands can drop several feet in a single day, and multi-foot storms like November 2022 shut schools for a week at a time.
- 3
Erie, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania schools →
One of the snowiest cities in America (about 100 inches a year). Lake-effect events off Lake Erie make December-through-February closures a near-annual guarantee.
- 4
Marquette & Michigan's Upper Peninsula Michigan schools →
Lake Superior snow machine: Marquette averages around 150 inches a year, among the highest of any U.S. city with a school district.
- 5
Grand Rapids & West Michigan Michigan schools →
Lake Michigan lake-effect plus frequent Alberta clipper systems give West Michigan districts some of the highest snow-day counts in the Midwest.
- 6
Cleveland Snowbelt, Northeast Ohio Ohio schools →
The hilly snowbelt east of Cleveland (Chardon, Geauga County) can see triple the snowfall of the west side of town, driving frequent localized closures.
- 7
Burlington & Northern Vermont Vermont schools →
Nor'easters plus terrain-enhanced snow in the Greens mean Vermont schools build five or more snow days into the calendar every year.
- 8
Caribou & Northern Maine Maine schools →
One of the coldest, snowiest corners of the Lower 48. Long winters and frequent nor'easters make Aroostook County a perennial closure hotspot.
- 9
Duluth, Minnesota Minnesota schools →
Heavy Lake Superior snow combined with dangerous wind chills — Minnesota districts close for extreme cold even when roads are clear.
- 10
Nashville & Middle Tennessee Tennessee schools →
The wildcard: far less snow than the North, but minimal plow infrastructure means even 1–2 inches of snow or a glaze of ice reliably cancels school.
How this ranking works
The live Top 10 scores every active National Weather Service winter alert by how strongly it predicts school closures: Blizzard and Ice Storm Warnings rank highest, followed by Winter Storm Warnings, Watches, and Advisories, weighted by the NWS severity rating. The list refreshes every 15 minutes. For a specific school's closure odds, use the snow day calculator — it combines NOAA point forecasts, probabilistic snowfall data, ice, wind, and temperature into a single percentage.