Snow Day Predictor for Wisconsin

Browse snow day predictions for all 98 cities in Wisconsin. Select your city to check tomorrow's school closure forecast.

Every city below links to its own live snow day forecast for Wisconsin. Find your city in the alphabetical list and click it to check today's snowfall probability and school closure forecast.

About Wisconsin

Wisconsin became the 30th state on May 29, 1848, wedged between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior with Minnesota to the west and Illinois to the south. About 5.9 million people live here, concentrated in the Milwaukee-Madison corridor while the northern third stays sparsely forested lake country. Dairy farming built the state's identity, but winter shapes the calendar just as much, running from November into April. Two lake-effect snowbelts define Wisconsin's snow map. East winds off Lake Michigan dump extra snow on Sheboygan, Manitowoc, and the shoreline north of Milwaukee, while the Lake Superior snowbelt near Ashland and Bayfield can bury Chequamegon Bay towns under feet of snow while Superior, twenty miles west, sees far less. Interior cities like Madison and Eau Claire miss that lake enhancement, relying on clipper systems and Alberta lows instead. Wisconsinites shovel first and complain later. Six inches on a Tuesday rarely closes a district; buses run, kids walk, and life continues. What actually shuts schools is ice on rural roads, wind chill warnings, or a genuine blizzard with near-zero visibility. Milwaukee and Madison, with better-salted arterials, close less often than rural northern counties where one icy township road can strand a bus for hours.

Wisconsin Snow Day Climate and School Closures

How Wisconsin's Climate Affects Snow Days

Wisconsin winters run long and genuinely cold, with average annual snowfall ranging from about 49 inches in Milwaukee to over 80 inches near Ashland's Lake Superior snowbelt. Interior areas see less lake enhancement but harsher cold snaps. Arctic outbreaks push temperatures well below zero from December through February most years.

The Groundhog Day Blizzard of February 1-2, 2011, dropped 19.8 inches on Milwaukee and 18.7 inches on Madison over three days, with wind gusts reaching 40 to 50 mph, according to NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan. (National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan)

What Causes School Closures in Wisconsin

Extreme cold and wind chill close more Wisconsin schools than snow itself. Districts that shrug off six inches cancel once wind chills hit 25 or 30 below zero, cold enough to frostbite skin in minutes. The January 2019 polar vortex, when La Crosse hit 26 below with a 49-below wind chill, forced statewide closures.

Explore Snow Day Predictions Across Wisconsin

Wisconsin has 98 cities covered by the Snow Day Predictor. Predictions are updated hourly using real-time weather data from Open-Meteo.

Popular Cities to Check in Wisconsin

Milwaukee. Milwaukee averages 48.7 inches of snow annually based on 1991-2020 NWS normals, and its Lake Michigan shoreline can amplify onshore snow bands, though the city sits south of the heaviest lake-effect belt near Sheboygan.

Madison. Madison, the state capital in south-central Wisconsin, averages 51.8 inches of snow per year and sees comparatively little lake-effect enhancement, relying instead on Alberta clipper systems and occasional Panhandle hook storms for its heaviest accumulations.

Green Bay. Green Bay hosted the 1967 NFL Championship, the Ice Bowl, on December 31, when game-time temperature hit 13 below zero with a wind chill near 48 below, among the coldest games in NFL history.

Eau Claire. Eau Claire averages 55.4 inches of snow annually and sits far enough from both Great Lakes that its harshest winter threat comes from continental Arctic air masses rather than lake-effect bands.

Wausau. Wausau averages 64.3 inches of snow a year, among the higher totals in central Wisconsin, and its Rib Mountain terrain helps wring extra snow from passing systems compared to the flatter Fox Valley to its east.

Ashland. Ashland County averages 83.1 inches of snow annually, fed by Lake Superior's snowbelt; a single lake-effect event from December 21-23, 2013, dropped 31.5 inches on Ashland alone, according to NWS Duluth.

A 4

Allouez Appleton Ashland Ashwaubenon

B 7

Baraboo Beaver Dam Bellevue Beloit Brookfield Brown Deer Burlington

C 4

Caledonia Cedarburg Chippewa Falls Cudahy

D 2

De Pere Delafield

E 3

Eau Claire Elkhorn Elm Grove

F 5

Fitchburg Fond du Lac Fort Atkinson Fox Crossing Franklin

G 6

Germantown Glendale Grafton Green Bay Greendale Greenfield

H 5

Hartford Hartland Holmen Howard Hudson

J 1

Janesville

K 3

Kaukauna Kenosha Kimberly

L 2

La Crosse Little Chute

M 14

Madison Manitowoc Marinette Marshfield Menasha Menomonee Falls Menomonie Mequon Middleton Milwaukee Monona Mount Pleasant Mukwonago Muskego

N 4

Neenah New Berlin New London New Richmond

O 5

Oak Creek Oconomowoc Onalaska Oregon Oshkosh

P 5

Pewaukee Pleasant Prairie Plover Port Washington Portage

R 4

Racine Rhinelander Rice Lake River Falls

S 10

Sheboygan Shorewood South Milwaukee Sparta Stevens Point Stoughton Sturgeon Bay Sun Prairie Superior Sussex

T 1

Two Rivers

V 1

Verona

W 12

Watertown Waukesha Waunakee Waupun Wausau Wauwatosa West Allis West Bend Weston Whitefish Bay Whitewater Wisconsin Rapids

Frequently Asked Questions About Snow Days in Wisconsin

Does it take a lot of snow to close Wisconsin schools?

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Yes, more than most states. Districts here plow and salt constantly, and kids grow up walking to bus stops in genuine cold, so six or eight inches on its own rarely cancels class. What tips the scale is ice underneath the snow, whiteout conditions on rural roads, or wind chills cold enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin within minutes, which is the more common trigger statewide.

Why do some parts of Wisconsin get so much more snow than others?

Lake-effect snow explains most of the gap. Cold air crossing open water off Lake Michigan and Lake Superior picks up moisture and dumps it as snow once it hits land, which is why Ashland County averages over 80 inches a year while Madison, sitting inland with no lake enhancement, averages closer to 52. Wind direction decides which shoreline towns get buried on any given storm.

How cold does it actually get in Wisconsin?

Cold enough to be dangerous most winters. The state's all-time record low is 55 below zero at Couderay in Sawyer County, set in February 1996. Milwaukee's own record low sits at 26 below zero, reached on both February 3, 1996, and January 17, 1982, per University of Wisconsin climatology records. Wind chill readings anywhere near those levels close schools statewide regardless of how much snow is actually on the ground.

What's the difference between how Milwaukee and rural northern Wisconsin handle snow?

Milwaukee and Madison run well-salted arterial networks and can usually keep buses moving through routine storms. Rural districts in the north cover far more square miles per student, often on gravel or lightly maintained township roads, so a single icy stretch can strand a bus for an hour. That's why northern districts often close on days southeastern Wisconsin barely notices.

When is Wisconsin's snow season?

Wisconsin's snow season typically runs from November into April, though Milwaukee's earliest trace snowfall on record fell September 23, 1942, and Madison has recorded measurable snow into May in past years. The heaviest, most closure-worthy storms cluster between late December and February, when lake-effect bands and Alberta clipper systems hit hardest across the state, especially up north.

Are wind chill warnings treated as seriously as snow warnings for closures?

In Wisconsin, often more seriously. A wind chill warning means exposed skin can develop frostbite in under 30 minutes, a real danger for kids waiting at bus stops, so districts close or delay for extreme cold with the same urgency they would use for a blizzard. Many northern districts have specific wind-chill closure thresholds written into their emergency policies.