Valid Friday 01/12/2024

Summary: Level 6/6 "EXTREME RISK" (>91% Chance of Closure) for 99% of our coverage area on Friday! Widespread school closures are almost guaranteed for Friday in anticipation of the impactful Winter Storm and the very hazardous travel conditions brought with it.

Discussion: Winter Storm Warnings were just issued for all of our coverage area. Widespread impressive snow accumulations in excess of 6 inches are possible with higher probabilities for 8+ inches, or perhaps even double digits. The bigger concern will be the strong winds in excess of 35-55mph during the afternoon, evening, and overnight hours on Friday and the significant reductions in visibility leading to whiteouts, and perhaps even blizzard-like conditions, for the evening commute.

Because of these forecasted high impacts to travel many schools have already canceled school for Friday and we expect a majority, if not all of the remaining schools, to close in anticipation of this very dangerous storm. Schools that do not close ahead of time will almost certainly do early dismissals. This may be the case in extreme southeastern portions of our Coverage Area where a slightly lower risk of closures is expected due to the later expected arrival time of the hazardous conditions.

We'll be providing a general forecast update later this evening on the "Weather" page of this site and via social media.