Has New Orleans ever had a snow day?

Yes. NOLA Public Schools closed on 21 January 2025 ahead of the hard freeze that brought the Gulf Coast its record snowstorm, and stayed closed as the snow fell. The 1991-2020 normal for the city is 0.0 inches, so that storm was the exception the meter's half-inch threshold exists for.

Why does the meter show a chance when there is no snow in the forecast?

Because freezing rain and a hard freeze at bus time are scored on their own. In Louisiana the bridges ice first, the state salts overpasses overnight rather than plowing, and a glaze closes parishes that will never see an inch of snow.

Do Louisiana schools make up winter closures?

The requirement is 63,720 minutes a year, and Bulletin 741 has no weather make-up or forgiveness clause that we could find, so a district short of minutes adds time. The only state exception is for schools sharing buildings after a governor-declared disaster.

Is north Louisiana different?

A little. Shreveport averages 0.9 inches a season and 0.3 days with an inch or more, against zero in New Orleans, so Caddo and Bossier see a dusting every few winters. The threshold is the same half inch statewide; type your own ZIP for the local forecast.

Snow day calculator Louisiana

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.

Louisiana schools usually close around 0.5 inches of overnight snow. Any frozen precipitation closes schools; the 2025 Gulf snowstorm shut the state for days. The meter below opens on New Orleans; type your ZIP or town and it reads tonight's hourly forecast for your exact spot and scores it against the Louisiana threshold.

How much snow it takes in Louisiana

Louisiana's snowfall normal is a rounding error: 0.0 inches a season in New Orleans, 0.2 in Baton Rouge, 0.9 in Shreveport. The model's half-inch threshold is there for the one storm a decade that matters, and the January 2025 Gulf snowstorm was it. Ahead of the hard freeze, NOLA Public Schools, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Terrebonne parishes all closed for Tuesday 21 January, some before a flake had fallen, and the snow that followed shut the state for days.

Between those storms the Louisiana closure is a freeze. Bridges and overpasses ice before anything else, and the state transportation department's winter operation is crews salting them overnight and reapplying as needed, as it did around New Orleans and the Northshore on 25 January 2026. The meter reads the same thing: hours of freezing rain and temperatures at or below freezing at bus time score higher here than any snow total.

Louisiana winter by the numbers

Station	Snow per season	Days with 1″+	Days with 3″+	Snowiest month
New Orleans	0.0″	0.0	0.0	none
Shreveport	0.9″	0.3	0.1	Feb
Baton Rouge	0.2″	0.1	0.1	Dec

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.

How closures are decided in Louisiana

Louisiana sets its school year in minutes. Bulletin 741, the state's school administrators' handbook, requires a calendar with at least 63,720 minutes of instructional time, which is 1,062 hours or 177 six-hour days; we did not find a separate day count in the text we could read. The only exception in that section is for a school that shares a building after a governor-declared disaster, when the state board may approve fewer daily minutes on an application filed within 30 days of the declaration.

We found no state rule for making up or forgiving weather days and no virtual snow day programme in Bulletin 741, which is unsurprising in a state that closes for winter weather about once in a decade. Each of the 75 parish and city districts decides its own closures, and the legislature's website was not reachable when we checked, so the underlying statute is not cited here.

Minimum school year: 63,720 instructional minutes (Bulletin 741, section 333)
Weather make-up rule: None found in Bulletin 741
Snow normals: 0.0 inches New Orleans, 0.2 Baton Rouge, 0.9 Shreveport
Parish and city districts: 75 (NCES, 2021-22)

Questions people ask

Has New Orleans ever had a snow day?: Yes. NOLA Public Schools closed on 21 January 2025 ahead of the hard freeze that brought the Gulf Coast its record snowstorm, and stayed closed as the snow fell. The 1991-2020 normal for the city is 0.0 inches, so that storm was the exception the meter's half-inch threshold exists for.
Why does the meter show a chance when there is no snow in the forecast?: Because freezing rain and a hard freeze at bus time are scored on their own. In Louisiana the bridges ice first, the state salts overpasses overnight rather than plowing, and a glaze closes parishes that will never see an inch of snow.
Do Louisiana schools make up winter closures?: The requirement is 63,720 minutes a year, and Bulletin 741 has no weather make-up or forgiveness clause that we could find, so a district short of minutes adds time. The only state exception is for schools sharing buildings after a governor-declared disaster.
Is north Louisiana different?: A little. Shreveport averages 0.9 inches a season and 0.3 days with an inch or more, against zero in New Orleans, so Caddo and Bossier see a dusting every few winters. The threshold is the same half inch statewide; type your own ZIP for the local forecast.

Sources

Louisiana Bulletin 741, section 333, instructional minutes (archived copy of the state PDF) (read 2026-10-10)
WGNO via Yahoo, parish school closures ahead of the 21 Jan 2025 freeze (read 2026-10-10)
Louisiana DOTD, crews pre-treating bridges in New Orleans and the Northshore, 25 Jan 2026 (archived copy) (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, New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport (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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