Kansas Snow Day Calculator: Chances and Forgiven Snow Days

Kansas snow comes in moderate amounts. Wichita’s normal is 11.9 inches a year, Topeka’s 15.9 and Kansas City’s 15.8, by NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals. By our rule of thumb, about 3 inches of overnight snow gives schools in Wichita, Overland Park or Lawrence an even chance of closing, and about 3.5 inches in Olathe, Topeka or Kansas City.

Roads are what the state law speaks of. Under K.S.A. 72-3115, a school board or its designee may close schools when bad weather causes hazardous driving conditions, and the calculator, too, counts snow most when it falls overnight or while buses run.

Kansas also has its own rule for missed days. A district schedules make-up days, and once those are used, the law forgives further weather days up to the number it scheduled, or five, whichever is less. Remote learning is capped at 40 hours per student a year.

How much snow closes school in Kansas?

About 3 to 3.5 inches in the state’s larger cities, by our rule of thumb. That is the overnight snow at which schools close about half the time, worked out from each city’s normal snowfall.

Kansas's six largest cities: normal snowfall a year (NOAA 1991–2020) and the snowfall and wind chill at which, by our rule of thumb, schools there usually close.

Our rule of thumb: the usual closing point is 0.5 × (normal snowfall a year)^0.7, the cold point the normal December–February low minus 45°F. How the calculator works.

The six cities are close together. Wichita (11.9 inches a year), Lawrence (12.1) and Overland Park (14.2) sit near 3 inches; Olathe (14.6), Kansas City (15.8) and Topeka (15.9) near 3.5. Lawrence has the coldest normal winter low of the six, 21.4°F, which puts its cold point at −24°F.

The calculator counts snow fully when it falls overnight (9 PM to 6 AM) or while buses run (6 to 10 AM), at 80% in the afternoon and evening before, and at 45% during the school day; gusts of 25 mph or more while an inch or more falls make it count more. Its three results are a snow day, a late start and school as usual, and in Kansas a short late start for bad roads still counts as a full school day, as explained below. More on how the calculator works.

Where does Kansas get the most snow?

Mostly on high ground. NOAA keeps snowfall normals for 265 Kansas weather stations. McDonald, about 3,360 feet up, tops the list at 33.6 inches a year, with Goodland (30.0), Atwood (28.7), St. Francis (27.3) and Colby (27.2) close behind. Centralia, at about 1,320 feet, is the exception: 33.4 inches.

Normal snowfall a year and normal December to February low at each of the 265 weather stations in Kansas with a snowfall normal in NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020, with each station's location, elevation and how complete its record is.

The 10 snowiest and 5 least snowy of 265 stations in Kansas

A station marked “left out” reports far less snow than the stations around it at a similar height, most likely because snowfalls went unmeasured, so the calculator does not use it. How the calculator works.

Download “Normal snowfall at Kansas weather stations, 1991–2020” (CSV, opens in Excel)

Built from: U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020 (National Centers for Environmental Information).

Half the stations average 14.4 inches or less, close to Olathe’s normal. The least snowy are Oxford (3.6 inches), Thrall (3.7) and Oswego (4.1). A district in Oxford and one in Goodland follow the same forgiveness rule in very different winters.

Do snow days have to be made up in Kansas?

Some are, and some are forgiven. K.S.A. 72-3115 requires 186 school days for kindergarten through grade 11 and 181 for grade 12. A board may instead adopt an hours policy, telling the State Board by September 15: 1,116 hours for grades 1–11, 465 for kindergarten and 1,086 for grade 12. The state’s FAQ says many districts adopt the hours policy but keep a regular 186-day schedule.

Forgiveness works like this. A board schedules make-up days (or hours) in its calendar. When weather takes more days than it scheduled, the extra days lost count as school days, up to the lesser of the make-up days it scheduled or five days. The Kansas State Department of Education’s FAQ gives the example of a district with three designated snow days: “the first three days must be made up” and the next three are forgiven, so any day missed after the sixth is made up too. Five is the most the law forgives.

Districts report their designated weather days to the state each fall, on the Superintendent’s Organizational Report. A day counts only if school had started before it was called off, the FAQ says, and a delayed start of one to two hours for hazardous driving counts as a full day, says the state’s school-term audit guide, written for 2023–24.

For long spells of bad weather, the State Board can grant a waiver when hazardous driving has lasted an unusually long time and the district cannot reasonably adjust its schedule. A separate law, K.S.A. 72-3117, lets the State Board count time lost to a disaster as part of the school term.

Can Kansas schools switch to remote learning instead?

Only a little. Since the 2021–22 school year, K.S.A. 72-5180 has capped remote learning at 40 school-term hours per student a year, with exceptions for individual medical cases and for a State Board disaster waiver of up to 240 hours.

The state’s January 2025 FAQ on remote learning for bad weather says building-wide remote learning in place of a snow day “should only be considered in extreme circumstances.” Counting it toward the 1,116 hours takes a great deal of planning and record keeping, including a daily contact log for each student.

So in Kansas a remote day is the exception, not the usual answer to snow.

How cold does it have to be to close school in Kansas?

Far colder than a normal winter morning, by our rule of thumb: a wind chill near −21°F at bus time in Wichita, Overland Park and Kansas City, −22°F in Olathe, −23°F in Topeka and −24°F in Lawrence. That is each city’s normal December–February low minus 45°F. We have no Kansas district’s own cold number on file.

The calculator reads the wind chill from 5 to 9 AM and adds to its chance when the National Weather Service issues cold alerts. The top one is now the Extreme Cold Warning, for “extremely dangerous cold conditions or wind chill values.” It replaced the Wind Chill Warning on or about October 1, 2024, because cold can be dangerous with or without wind, the Weather Service said.

The Weather Service’s wind chill chart adds a useful fact: frostbite needs the actual air temperature to be below freezing, not just the wind chill.

Who decides, and when do Kansas families hear?

The local school board or the person it designates. Under K.S.A. 72-3115, “the board, or its designee, may close any or all of the schools” when bad weather causes hazardous driving conditions.

We have not found a Kansas district’s announcement clock, so check your district’s website, app or local TV and radio for the final word. The calculator reads the National Weather Service forecast from 6 AM the day before to 3 PM on the school day, so its chance can change as the storm gets closer.

It is independent: not a school district, a state agency or the Weather Service. It shows the reasons behind each chance so you can judge them.

The page at a glance:

Snow days in Kansas

• What closes schools
  • about 3 to 3.5 inches
  • hazardous driving
  • overnight timing
• School year
  • 186 days or 1,116 hours
  • 181 days for grade 12
• Forgiven days
  • make-up days first
  • then up to 5 forgiven
  • a 1 to 2 hour delay counts
• Remote learning
  • 40 hours per student a year
  • extreme cases only
• Who decides
  • the board or its designee
  • check your district

Questions people ask

How many snow days do Kansas schools get?

It depends on how many make-up days your district scheduled. Those are made up first; after that, the law forgives as many more weather days as the district scheduled, up to five, under K.S.A. 72-3115. Your district’s calendar shows its designated days.

Does a late start count as a school day in Kansas?

Yes. A delayed start of one to two hours for hazardous driving counts as a full day, says the state’s school-term audit guide. A day called off after school has started also counts; one called off before it starts does not.

Do Kansas schools have to make up snow days?

The first ones, up to the number of make-up days the district scheduled, yes. The next ones are forgiven, up to that same number or five, whichever is less. Anything beyond that is made up again.

Can Kansas schools use remote learning on snow days?

Rarely. State law caps remote learning at 40 hours per student a year, and the Department of Education says a building-wide remote day for snow is for extreme circumstances only.

Sources: K.S.A. 72-3115; Kansas State Department of Education, 1,116-hour statute FAQ; K.S.A. 72-5180.

Facts checked October 29, 2026.

Updated October 29, 2026