Maine Snow Day Calculator: Chances & Closure Norms
What closes Maine schools? Snowday's Maine calculator typically flags a snow day at about 8 or more inches of overnight or morning-commute snow — and often less along the ice-prone coast. Aroostook County routinely tops 100 inches a season. Enter your town above for tomorrow's percent chance.
Snow day calculator
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Result
Your forecast appears here. Enter a ZIP code or city above and press Calculate snow day chance.
Fun estimate only — always follow your school district’s official announcements.
How Maine districts decide snow days
Inland districts from Bangor north treat roughly 8 to 12 inches as the closure zone, while coastal districts from Portland to Rockland pull the trigger closer to 6 inches, because coastal storms often arrive as ice or a treacherous snow-on-ice sandwich.
Maine’s regional school units cover huge rural areas, so a storm that looks minor in one town can leave bus routes impassable in the next valley. Superintendents conference-call each other by 5 a.m. and watch wind chills as much as snowfall — around −20 °F, waiting at a bus stop becomes the hazard.
Average snowfall in Maine
| Place | Avg. snow per year |
|---|---|
| Caribou | ≈ 110 in/yr |
| Bangor | ≈ 66 in/yr |
| Portland | ≈ 71 in/yr |
Averages are approximate NOAA/NCEI 1991–2020 climate normals, rounded. Caribou’s number makes it one of the snowiest reporting stations in the United States east of the Rockies; coastal totals run about 40 inches lower.
The storm Maine remembers
The January 2018 bomb cyclone. On January 4, 2018, Winter Storm Grayson bombed out off the New England coast and dropped about 14 inches on Portland with hurricane-force gusts and record coastal flooding. Schools across southern Maine closed for two days — a reminder that in Maine, wind and ocean often matter as much as snow depth.
Using the calculator in Maine
Snowday builds Maine’s 8-inch closure baseline into its scoring, with extra weight for commute-hour snow and ice-friendly cold. Try the snow day calculator with your own ZIP code — 04101 for Portland, 04730 for Caribou — and set the strictness slider to match your district. For the full picture, open the snow day calculator and see how commute-hour snowfall, cold, and wind combine into tomorrow’s percent chance — free, instant, no sign-up.
Last updated: October 2026