What is an AMI day in Arkansas?

Alternative Methods of Instruction: a day the district teaches remotely instead of closing, under a plan approved by the state commissioner. The law allows up to the equivalent of ten such days a year and names inclement weather as a reason. Whether they count against the LEARNS Act's 178 on-site days was still being argued in 2024, so check your district's current calendar notes.

Do Arkansas schools have to make up snow days?

Yes, but the calendar already plans for it. State law requires five make-up days in every district calendar, and lets a superintendent recover lost time by adding at least an hour to regular days instead. Little Rock, for example, built six inclement-weather days into its 2023-24 calendar.

Does Little Rock close for an inch of snow?

Usually, and often for the forecast of one. Little Rock averages 1.1 days a year with an inch or more and 0.3 days with 3 inches or more, so an inch is a notable event there. The January 2025 closures were announced the afternoon before the snow arrived.

Is ice or snow the bigger risk in Arkansas?

Ice. Freezing rain over the hill country closes bus routes that snow would not, and ARDOT's statewide stock of about 75,000 cubic yards of salt is spread over every county. The meter counts each hour of freezing rain in your forecast as its own signal.

Snow day calculator Arkansas

Chance of a snow day

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Best time to check

The evening before, after 9 pm: The evening model runs are in by then and the forecast here refreshes every 30 minutes. A number read at 6 pm can move by several inches of snow before midnight.
The morning of, 5 to 7 am: The strip above shades 4 to 7 am. Snow still falling in those hours lands on the commute, so the model counts it extra, and most districts have decided by the time the buses roll at 7.

When districts actually decide

Portland Public Schools, Oregon publishes its closure decision no later than 5 am (read 10 Oct 2026)
Omaha Public Schools announced the 23 January 2026 cold closure at 5:50 pm the evening before (read 10 Oct 2026)
Little Rock School District announced a two-day closure the afternoon before the 9 January 2025 storm (read 10 Oct 2026)
Minnesota e-learning days must be announced at least two hours before the normal start time, by statute (read 10 Oct 2026)

Every district sets its own cut-off; these are published examples, not a rule.

Arkansas schools usually close around 1 inches of overnight snow. An inch or freezing rain is enough; ice storms are the classic Arkansas closure. The meter below opens on Little Rock; type your ZIP or town and it reads tonight's hourly forecast for your exact spot and scores it against the Arkansas threshold.

How much snow it takes in Arkansas

Arkansas closes on an inch, and more often on no snow at all. Little Rock averages 3.8 inches a season and about one day a year with an inch or more; Fort Smith averages 2.9. The classic Arkansas closure is an ice storm: freezing rain on the Ozark and Ouachita hills, where county bus routes climb and the state's roughly 700 plows are spread across every county.

The model therefore uses a 1-inch threshold and gives freezing rain hours heavy weight. Warm overnight air is the other Arkansas tell: a forecast that starts as rain at 34 degrees and ends as sleet at 30 will score higher than the snow total suggests, because that is the storm shape that glazes the roads.

Districts here move early. Ahead of the 9 and 10 January 2025 storm, the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special districts all announced two-day closures the day before.

Arkansas winter by the numbers

Station	Snow per season	Days with 1″+	Days with 3″+	Snowiest month
Little Rock	3.8″	1.1	0.3	Feb
Fort Smith	2.9″	0.9	0.2	Jan

1991-2020 climate normals for the airport or first-order station in each city, read 2026-10-10 from the NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. “Days with 3″+” is the average number of calendar days a year with at least 3 inches of new snow. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Northwest Arkansas National Airport.

How closures are decided in Arkansas

Arkansas writes the snow days into the law. Every district calendar must carry five make-up days on top of its student-teacher days (Ark. Code 6-10-106), and a district on the hours-based alternate calendar must build in at least 30 make-up hours for weather. A superintendent who closes school may also recover the time by adding at least 60 minutes to other school days (Ark. Code 6-10-127).

The remote option is Alternative Methods of Instruction, or AMI. The Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education may grant a district with an approved plan up to the equivalent of ten student attendance days for AMI, and inclement weather is one of the named triggers. Since the 2023 LEARNS Act set a 178-day or 1,068-hour on-site requirement, whether AMI days still count toward it has been contested; an attorney general's opinion in January 2024 said legislative clarification was warranted. The 233 regular districts set their own calendars.

Minimum school year: 1,068 instructional hours; 178 days under LEARNS (Ark. Code 6-10-106)
Built-in make-up: Five make-up days per calendar, or 30 hours on an hours calendar
Remote snow days: AMI, up to 10 days with a commissioner-approved plan (Ark. Code 6-10-127)
Regular districts: 233 (NCES, 2021-22)

Questions people ask

What is an AMI day in Arkansas?: Alternative Methods of Instruction: a day the district teaches remotely instead of closing, under a plan approved by the state commissioner. The law allows up to the equivalent of ten such days a year and names inclement weather as a reason. Whether they count against the LEARNS Act's 178 on-site days was still being argued in 2024, so check your district's current calendar notes.
Do Arkansas schools have to make up snow days?: Yes, but the calendar already plans for it. State law requires five make-up days in every district calendar, and lets a superintendent recover lost time by adding at least an hour to regular days instead. Little Rock, for example, built six inclement-weather days into its 2023-24 calendar.
Does Little Rock close for an inch of snow?: Usually, and often for the forecast of one. Little Rock averages 1.1 days a year with an inch or more and 0.3 days with 3 inches or more, so an inch is a notable event there. The January 2025 closures were announced the afternoon before the snow arrived.
Is ice or snow the bigger risk in Arkansas?: Ice. Freezing rain over the hill country closes bus routes that snow would not, and ARDOT's statewide stock of about 75,000 cubic yards of salt is spread over every county. The meter counts each hour of freezing rain in your forecast as its own signal.

Sources

Ark. Code 6-10-106, school year, make-up days and the alternate calendar (read 2026-10-10)
Ark. Code 6-10-127, make-up time and Alternative Methods of Instruction (read 2026-10-10)
KUAR, confusion over Arkansas AMI days after LEARNS, 19 Jan 2024 (read 2026-10-10)
KARK, Little Rock area districts close for the 9-10 Jan 2025 storm (read 2026-10-10)
ARDOT, winter weather readiness: about 700 plows and 75,000 cubic yards of salt, Nov 2025 (read 2026-10-10)
NCES Digest table 214.30, regular school districts by state, 2021-22 (read 2026-10-10)
NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, Little Rock and Fort Smith (read 2026-10-10)

The closure threshold itself is our model's estimate from typical district practice, not an official figure. Districts, not states, make the call. The model page shows every term.

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