School Closing Outlook For Tuesday 01/20/2026
- Jonah Drake (Owner & Co-Founder)
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Day 1 School Closing Outlook - Update
Forecast Update Issued: Monday, January 19, 2026, 6:03 PM EST
Forecasters: Jonah Drake
Have upgraded much of the immediate lakeshore to "Extreme" risk (level 6/6) as schools in this region are already closing this evening. We expect this trend to continue as the evening progresses.
Spring Lake, Allendale, Grand Haven, Hamilton, Coopersville, Shelby, Saugatuck, Zeeland, Holland, Black River, Ravenna, and West Ottawa have already announced they will be closed.
Bottom line, a very treacherous winter-weather system is impacting the region, and school closings are becoming more and more likely.
See previous discussion for additional details.
Day 1 School Closing Outlook
Forecast Valid: Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Forecast Issued: Monday, January 19, 2026, 3:45 PM EST
Forecasters: Jacob Melton and Jonah Drake
Summary:
School closures and delays are likely once again across much of West Michigan on Tuesday morning due to continued impacts from heavy lake-effect snow, gusty winds, and dangerously cold wind chills.
Discussion:
Lake-effect snow and gusty winds have contributed to very dangerous travel conditions across the area today, with accidents being reported across many of our major roadways throughout the day. Travel conditions are unlikely to improve much, if any, tonight, with continued snow and wind along with cold temperatures making road treatments generally ineffective.
School closures and/or delays are most likely in our pink “Likely” zone, mainly along and west of a line from Three Rivers to Ionia to near Reed City. In this area, the combined impacts of additional snow accumulations (as much as 3-5 inches near/west of US-131) through tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, blowing/drifting snow concerns from the wind, and inland wind chills in the -5 to -15°F range (locally as low as -20) are most likely to result in schools being closed on Tuesday.
Further east in the Elevated and Medium risk zones, additional snow accumulations are generally anticipated to be on the lower end, especially once you get to the US-127 corridor, where generally an additional inch of snow is expected through tomorrow morning, although some localized slightly higher amounts cannot be ruled out. However, any additional accumulated snow, along with any already accumulated snow, will blow around, particularly in the open rural areas, causing visibility and drifting issues. In addition, wind chills will still be an issue with most locations in the -10 to -15°F range for wind chills, although some localized locations may again dip as low as -20°F.
Graphical Forecast:
