School Closing Outlook For Tuesday 03/17/2026
- Jonah Drake (Owner & Co-Founder)
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
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Day 1 School Closing Outlook Update
Forecast Update Issued: Monday, March 16, 2026, 6:49 PM
Forecasters: Jonah Drake & Jacob Melton
Update - Issued at 6:49 PM EDT
Have upgraded to "Extreme" risk probabilitites across our far northwest area as a result of many confirmed closings already being announced for Tuesday morning as significant winter weather continues to impact the area.
Have expanded the prior "Likely" and Elevated" risk areas south and east to account for at least some increase in potential for neighboring districts to see more winter-weather impacts as lake-effect snow and gusty winds continue to push well inland, and closing decisions are influenced by other districts surrounding them who have already closed.
No other changes have been made at this time. See previous discussion below for details.
Original Discussion:
Day 1 School Closing Outlook
Forecast Valid: Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Forecast Issued: Monday, March 16, 2026, 3:38 PM
Forecasters: Jonah Drake
Summary:
There is a “Likely” risk of school closures on Tuesday thanks to continuing impacts from gusty winds and snowfall, and perhaps some freezing rain-related power outages north of US-10.
Discussion:
During the overnight hours tonight, snow really begins to ramp up, and gusty winds, although subsiding, continue, which will lead to areas of blowing and drifting snow with reduced visibility, especially in open areas.
In terms of snow amounts in of themselves, current computer weather model guidance suggests that additional snow accumulations between 8:00 PM Monday evening and 6:00 AM Tuesday morning will range from 1-5 inches with swaths of higher totals, possibly as high as 10 inches.
The greatest potential for these bands of heavier snow will be in our typical “northwest flow lake-effect bands” along and west of US-131, especially near/north of Ludington to near Mount Pleasant and from South Haven inland to near Kalamazoo. Yesterday, the southern band in particular, from South Haven to near Kalamazoo, seemed to have the greatest consistency in the computer weather model suites to see these higher totals; however, this afternoon, the northern area, with a band favored to set up from near Ludington to near Newaygo, seems to be the favored area for the most snow and blowing snow. For this reason, we have opted to increase probabilities to “Likely” and Elevated” in this region and keep the southern zone at a “Medium” risk.
We still expect scattered school closings, especially along the immediate lakeshore and near Kalamazoo, due to a combination of snow, visibility concerns, and power outage potential. Power outage potential may also result in a couple of isolated closings north of US-10 and east of US-131.
Graphical Forecast:
