NYC School Closings: Find Out If Classes Are Canceled Amid Storm

NEW YORK CITY — A looming winter storm could dump 17 inches of snow on New York City starting Wednesday and close recently reopened school buildings — but don’t expect a snow day off, kids.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the forecast looked good for the 3-K, pre-K and kindergarten through fifth graders who recently returned to in-person classes to go to school buildings on Wednesday.

Thursday morning is an open question as to whether school buildings can open, he said.

But he said even if a snow day happens then something that never happened before in New York City’s history will take place — kids will still have class, just remotely.

“I'm kind of sad for the kids on the one hand, on the other hand, we got a lot of learning that needs to be done, a lot of catching up, so it's the right thing to do,” he said Tuesday morning. “But right now I'd say Wednesday looks solid that we can have school as normal. Thursday, still, we need to know more as we get closer and we'll certainly alert parents and families as quickly as we have a final determination.”

Deanne Criswell, the city’s emergency management commissioner, said the storm forecast as of Tuesday morning showed the following school day likely would be uneventful.

She said snow likely will fall starting Wednesday at about 4 p.m. and be light for the evening rush hour.

“The majority of this storm is going to happen in the evening hours, in the overnight hours where we will see up to eight to 12 inches of snow with some heavy winds,” she said. “And it will start to dissipate and move out by the morning rush hour, but we might see some lingering snow through the morning.”

De Blasio said officials likely will make a decision on school closures for Thursday on the evening before. He said it'll follow a National Weather Service forecast issued Wednesday at about 6 p.m.

Officials usually consult the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, the National Weather Service, the City Sanitation Department and the City Transit Authority to decide if the city's students should get a snow day.

Any updates will become available on a number of city sites as the weather changes:

1. Follow the Department of Education Twitter feed
2. Check out the DOE Facebook page
3. Keep tabs on the DOE Homepage
4. Follow the NYC Emergency Management Twitter feed
5. Check the NYC.gov website.

You can also subscribe to the New York City Patch newsletter to get updates in your inbox on New York City weather alerts, school closures and local stories.

Here’s the forecast: