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DALLAS, TX – Addie Boland, 10, and Madison Woolley, 6, slide down a snowy hill together at White Rock Lake on a snow day in Dallas, Texas on February 3, 2022. (Photo by Emil Lippe/Getty Images)
DALLAS – Dallas ISD is among several school districts in North Texas to close schools because of the winter weather.
Dallas schools will be closed on Thursday, Jan. 9 and Friday, Jan. 10. Athletics and after-school events are also canceled.
Fort Worth ISD is among the districts who have yet to announce their decisions.
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Snow in Dallas
Dallas weather: Forecast features snow, wintry mix
A Winter Weather Warning has been issued for Thursday in North Texas. FOX 4 meteorologist Dylan Federico walks through tomorrow’s forecast including when we expect the weather to switch from a wintry mix to snow.
Things will be mostly dry with highs in the low 40s on Wednesday. But the forecast calls for a mix of snow, sleet and rain throughout the day on Thursday. Northern areas are more likely to see snow, while southern areas will experience mostly rain.
Then after sunset on Thursday, the wintry mix transitions into snow, with heavier snow anticipated north and northeast of Dallas. Snowfall predictions are 1 to 3 inches in the DFW area, with 3 to 6 inches in the northern and northeastern parts of the Metroplex.
The National Weather Service has upgraded the Winter Storm Watch to a Winter Storm Warning for most of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex through Friday.
MORE: Dallas-Fort Worth Weather Forecast
How schools decide when to close
School closures: When will districts decide?
A wintry mix and snow is expected across North Texas on Thursday. School districts across DFW are watching the forecast, but they say the forecast does not necessarily mean schools will close.
Dallas ISD officials said snow on the ground doesn’t necessarily mean no school.
“Kids have gone to school when it’s cold and a little flurries before, but we can’t handle the ice,” Chief Operating Officer David Bates said. “If we do have snow accumulate, we’ll have some downed tree branches which could affect the power lines, right. And without power, you have no heat. So, we will look at all those things.”
The reality is that most school districts will wait until there is more certainty in the forecast before making the call to close schools.
Dallas ISD and many other large districts rely on updates from the NWS, as well as the Texas Department of Transportation, local law enforcement agencies, actual road conditions, and neighboring school districts when making a decision about snow and ice closures.
Richardson ISD Superintendent Tabitha Branum said safety is always a top priority.
“One of the challenges, for example, for Thursday, is the fact that in the end in the morning our staff and our students may be able to get to school with no impending weather. But by the afternoon, that might be when we see our real challenges, and in the end we have 160 buses with 6,000 students. We have hundreds of high school student drivers,” Superintendent Branum said.
Some districts like Garland ISD have staggered bus schedules, so they’d rather close that dismiss early or open late.
