Minnesota schools announce closures amid extreme cold
Minnesota schools are beginning to announce closures for Friday as dangerous cold approaches.
Some schools closed early on Thursday, while others have already announced closures for Friday. The full list is below.
The entire state is under an extreme cold warning through noon on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. NEXT Weather Alerts have also been issued for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Temperatures will fall throughout the day Thursday, and extreme cold will arrive Thursday night into Friday morning, with wind chills as low as 45 below zero possible. Highs will be below zero on Friday. We likely won't see positive temperatures again until Sunday.
Delays on this page are current as of
How do Minnesota schools decide whether or not to close due to cold?
Most rely on the same key factors — either their own team of meteorologists or watching the National Weather Service.
In St. Paul, the deciding threshold is a forecast wind chill of 35 degrees below zero or colder at 6 a.m. A lot of districts follow that, including Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, Shakopee and Minneapolis.
Overall, districts set similar benchmarks, but alert families at different times.
These districts aim for evening decisions when forecast confidence is high: Anoka-Hennepin, St. Paul and Minnetonka.
Some districts do wait until the morning of the weather event. Minneapolis has a 5:30 a.m. deadline. Bloomington Public Schools makes its final decision after 5 a.m. Mahtomedi declares no later than 6 a.m.
But district leaders also say extreme cold is easier to predict than a precipitation forecast, so it's likely families will know early this time around.
"The goal is to be in school. If it's safe to be in school, we want people to be in school," St. Paul Public Schools Director of Communications Erica Wacker said. "We know it's a hardship either way on parents and staff to have to adjust plans on short notice. But this is Minnesota. We have winter, we have weather that we deal with all times of year, but our goal is always to give people as much notice as we possibly can while making the most informed weather decision possible."
Minneapolis schools already don't have classes Friday because it is a teacher work day.
Another element to school cancellations in this post-COVID world is e-learning. These days, districts will sometimes turn to virtual class instead of completely canceling.
For many districts, the first two weather days are non-school days, but if a third occurs, e-learning could be called for.
Some districts, like Anoka-Hennepin, don't consider online learning — school is either open or not.
Shakopee Public Schools has a unique method. They'll use a traditional snow day first each semester, then transition to online learning after.
"We do the best we can to communicate early. It is that part where, just like for my own kids, I see the students attending our school, each and every one of them, they're my kid as well, in a way," Shakopee Superintendent Mike Redmond said. "But we want to do right, and we want to make good, sound decisions based on what we think is happening out there with the weather and keep people safe."
