Chicago Public Schools and Harper College have off tomorrow – all athletics have been canceled for tomorrow. We’re calling for a 99% chance of a cold day tomorrow.
What are the odds of school being cancelled this Friday?
Everybody’s been asking the same question, so we’ve decided to put an end to the debate and introduce a new as-needed series called “ProspectorNow Odds” – here, we’ll poll students and readers on what they think will happen, and based off that as well as our own independent analysis, determine a percentage chance of what we think will happen.
Below, you can see our analysis and current prediction – the percentage will be updated daily leading up to Friday, January 23.
What’s the school’s threshold?
According to District 214 (D214)’s “Weather Closing Protocol,” Prospect will be forced to close if the “sustained wind chill is -30°F or colder, or if the actual temperature is sustained at -15°F or colder during key travel times of 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and/or 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.”
This means that the actual temperature has to be below 15 degrees for a longer period of time from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. or the real feel has to be below -30 degrees for a longer period of time during times when people are going to and from school.
However, it isn’t necessarily a hard threshold: if road and sidewalk conditions are unsafe, or the bus company is unable to safely provide transportation, the District will call it.
When will we know?
The latest Prospect will notify families is 5:30 a.m. the morning of closure — in our case, that’s 5:30 a.m. Friday morning. If school is canceled, families will be texted, emailed, displayed on the district’s website, and broadcasted on WGN 720 AM radio.
What’s it looking like right now?
Right now, we’re calling for a 99% chance of a cold day on Friday.
However, more outlets are predicting higher temperatures. There still isn’t a total consensus, and it isn’t clear if it’ll be below that -30 degree threshold, but it’s looking extremely likely.
*last updated 1/22 at 11:55 a.m.
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