Greater Toronto Area · In centimetres
Snow Day Predictor Toronto
Will school be closed tomorrow?
Loading the live forecast for Toronto now. Tuned for what actually closes schools here — freezing rain, not snowfall totals.
Toronto Closure Chance
A bus cancellation is the likelier outcome here — check the bus cancellation predictor.
What Closes Schools in Toronto
Toronto almost never closes its schools. The board is the largest in Canada, most students walk or take the TTC rather than a yellow bus, and the city is plowed and salted on a scale nowhere else in Ontario matches.
Lake Ontario is the reason the snow totals stay moderate. The lake holds warmth into the winter, which trims accumulation across the waterfront and often turns what falls as snow in Barrie into rain or wet slush downtown. What Toronto does get is freezing rain, and that is what actually disrupts the city — iced sidewalks matter more here than anywhere else in the province precisely because so many students are walking.
What a Bad Morning Actually Looks Like
A bad Toronto morning is almost always ice rather than snow. Freezing rain overnight, sidewalks glazed across the whole city, and hundreds of thousands of students who walk to school facing a genuine hazard on foot. That is the scenario that actually disrupts Toronto, and the snowfall total is beside the point.
How Much It Takes Here
A true closure needs an exceptional storm, generally 25 cm or more falling through the morning. Below that Toronto stays open. Bus routes serving the outer suburbs and students with special transportation can be cancelled at far lower amounts while the schools themselves run normally.
In Toronto, watch the temperature line rather than the snow total. A degree either side of freezing is the difference between slush and a citywide sheet of ice. Beyond that, snow still falling between 3am and 8am counts for several times its depth, because the pre-dawn road patrol is what the decision is built on.
In Toronto, Expect the Buses to Go First
Frequently, and it is the usual outcome. Across Canada the transportation consortium and the school board make two separate decisions, and buses are pulled far more often than schools close. On a bad morning the honest answer is normally no bus, but school still running.
Most Toronto students walk or take the TTC, so the board has far less bus exposure than any other in Ontario. What does get cancelled is transportation for students who depend on it, and those cancellations can happen while the schools themselves stay firmly open.
If that is your real question, the bus cancellation predictor weighs blowing snow and open rural roads far more heavily, because that is what actually pulls buses. Extreme cold has its own page too — the cold day calculator scores wind chill and ignores snow.
Nearby
Squalls and drifting are intensely local. If you are near a boundary, check more than one:
Toronto Snow Day Questions
Will school be closed tomorrow in Toronto?
The predictor above loads the live forecast for Toronto and scores it against what actually closes schools here. The main driver is freezing rain, not snowfall totals. Set the day to Tomorrow to check the next school morning.
How much snow closes schools in Toronto?
A true closure needs an exceptional storm, generally 25 cm or more falling through the morning. Below that Toronto stays open. Bus routes serving the outer suburbs and students with special transportation can be cancelled at far lower amounts while the schools themselves run normally.
Are buses cancelled in Toronto when school stays open?
Frequently, and it is the usual outcome. Across Canada the transportation consortium and the school board make two separate decisions, and buses are pulled far more often than schools close. On a bad morning the honest answer is normally no bus, but school still running.
What time are Toronto cancellations announced?
Toronto announcements come by about 6:00am when they come at all, which is rarely. Absence of news in Toronto is unusually strong evidence that school is open.
When was the last time Toronto closed all its schools?
It takes an exceptional storm. Toronto's board is the largest in Canada, most students walk, and the city is plowed and salted on a scale nothing else in Ontario matches, so full closures happen perhaps once in several years rather than several times a winter.
One Important Caveat
This is an estimate for planning, not an official notice. Only your school district can close a school. Always check their website or local radio before assuming anything — and never make a travel decision based on this page instead of an official weather warning.