Extreme cold leads to school delays, cancellations Tuesday across Minnesota

The arctic cold snap that remains entrenched across the Upper Midwest has prompted some school districts in Minnesota and neighboring states to cancel classes on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Some districts will be running on a delayed start, or have moved to online learning.

Anoka-Hennepin, Duluth, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Rochester are among the districts that have canceled classes for Tuesday. Find a full list below.

Wind chills across the region are again forecast to be in the 30s below zero and 40s below zero on Tuesday morning. Find forecast updates on MPR Weather’s Updraft blog.

The subzero temperatures in recent days have meant an increase in patients requiring care for frostnip or frostbite, including at Children’s Minnesota in the Twin Cities.

Dr. Liz Placzek with Children’s Minnesota said children are especially prone to cold injuries — and that the first signs are easy to identify.

“It’s when the skin becomes kind of red or numb or tingly. We see it on the fingers, the nose, the ears or the cheeks,” Placzek said. “These are actually the very first signs of cold injury, and we’re seeing this a lot in kids recently — but what we’re starting to see also with these really cold temperatures is the progression into frostbite.”

Placzek said parents should bring kids inside to warm up at the first sign of frostnip. They should contact a medical provider if cold skin turns hard or waxy, and if exposure to gradual warmth indoors doesn’t improve pain or skin discoloration.

“Kids are much more vulnerable to cold injury than adults are. Kids lose heat from their body much faster and are more likely to want to stay outside and play longer,” Placzek said. “We want to make sure that they have layers on. We don’t want them just in a T-shirt under their big winter coat — we want lots of warm layers, and try to keep them dry.”

School delays, closures

School districts with weather-related closures or delays Tuesday in Minnesota and neighboring states include:

Closed

  • Austin

  • Annandale 

  • Anoka-Hennepin

  • Blooming Prairie

  • Brooklyn Center

  • Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose

  • Burnsville-Eagan-Savage

  • Caledonia Area

  • Central (Norwood Young America)

  • Chatfield

  • Chisago Lakes

  • Columbia Heights

  • Cook County

  • Duluth

  • Eden Prairie

  • Edina

  • Ely

  • Fairmont Area

  • Fillmore Central

  • Foley

  • Fond du Lac Ojibwe

  • Forest Lake Area

  • Fridley

  • Glenville-Emmons

  • Goodhue

  • Grand Meadow

  • Hayfield

  • Inver Grove Heights

  • Kasson-Mantorville

  • Kingsland

  • La Crosse, Wis.

  • Lake City

  • Lake Superior (Two Harbors, Silver Bay)

  • Lakeville Area

  • Lanesboro

  • LeRoy-Ostrander

  • Lewiston-Altura

  • Lyle

  • Maple Lake

  • Medford

  • Minneapolis

  • Minnetonka

  • Moose Lake

  • Mounds View

  • Nay Ah Shing

  • Orono

  • Osceola, Wis.

  • Pepin Area, Wis.

  • Pine Island

  • Prior Lake-Savage Area

  • Red Wing

  • Richfield

  • River Falls, Wis.

  • Rochester

  • Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan

  • Roseville Area

  • Rushford-Peterson

  • St. Croix Falls, Wis.

  • St. Francis Area

  • St. Louis Park

  • St. Michael-Albertville

  • St. Paul

  • Shakopee

  • South St. Paul

  • South Washington County

  • Southland

  • Spring Grove

  • Spring Lake Park

  • Stewartville

  • Triton

  • Wabasha-Kellogg

  • Waconia

  • Watertown-Mayer

  • Wayzata 

  • Westonka 

  • Winona Area

  • Zumbrota-Mazeppa

E-learning day

  • Albert Lea Area

  • Alden-Conger

  • Barnum

  • Belle Plaine

  • Byron

  • Cambridge-Isanti

  • Carlton

  • Farmington Area

  • Floodwood

  • Glencoe-Silver Lake

  • Hopkins (grades 6-12; no school for PreK-5)

  • Houston

  • Jordan

  • International Falls

  • Kimball Area

  • Lester Prairie

  • Littlefork-Big Falls

  • Monticello

  • New Prague Area

  • Northome

  • Osseo Area

  • Plainview-Elgin-Millville 

  • Princeton

  • Robbinsdale Area

  • Swanville

  • White Earth Tribal & Community College

  • Willow River Area

Two-hour delay

  • Adrian

  • Aitkin

  • Albany Area

  • Alexandria

  • Ashby

  • Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City

  • Badger

  • Bagley

  • Baldwin-Woodville Area, Wis.

  • Battle Lake

  • Becker

  • Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

  • Bemidji

  • Benson

  • Bertha-Hewitt

  • Blackduck

  • Blue Earth Area

  • BOLD

  • Brainerd

  • Brandon-Evansville

  • Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart

  • Cass Lake-Bena

  • Cedar Mountain

  • Cherry

  • Clearbrook-Gonvick

  • Cleveland

  • Cloquet

  • Cromwell-Wright

  • Dassel-Cokato

  • Dawson-Boyd

  • Deer River

  • Delano

  • Detroit Lakes

  • East Central

  • Eden Valley-Watkins

  • Edgerton

  • Esko

  • Fergus Falls

  • Fosston

  • Frazee-Vergas

  • Grand Rapids Area

  • Greenbush-Middle River

  • Hendricks

  • Henning

  • Hermantown

  • Hinckley-Finlayson

  • Holdingford

  • Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted

  • Hudson, Wis.

  • Hutchinson

  • Isle

  • Jackson County Central

  • Kelliher

  • Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg

  • Lac qui Parle Valley

  • Lake Benton

  • Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial

  • Lake of the Woods

  • Lakeview

  • Laporte

  • Le Sueur-Henderson

  • Litchfield

  • Little Falls

  • Long Prairie-Grey Eagle

  • Lynd

  • MACCRAY

  • Mahnomen

  • Mahtomedi

  • Mankato Area

  • Maple River

  • Marshall

  • McGregor

  • Melrose Area

  • Menahga

  • Milaca

  • Minneota

  • Minnesota State College Southeast — Red Wing and Winona campuses opening at 10 a.m.

  • Minnesota West Community & Technical College — all campuses opening at 10 a.m.

  • Minnewaska Area

  • Montevideo

  • Morris Area

  • Mountain Lake

  • Murray County Central

  • Nashwauk-Keewatin

  • Nett Lake

  • Nevis

  • New London-Spicer

  • New York Mills

  • Nicollet

  • Norman County East

  • North Woods (Cook-Orr)

  • Northeast Range

  • Northland-Remer

  • Ogilvie

  • Onamia

  • Ortonville

  • Osakis

  • Park Rapids

  • Parkers Prairie

  • Paynesville Area

  • Pelican Rapids

  • Pequot Lakes

  • Perham

  • Pillager

  • Pine City

  • Pine River-Backus

  • Pipestone Area

  • Red Lake

  • Red Rock Central

  • Renville County West

  • Ridgewater College — opening at 10:30 a.m.

  • Riverland Community College — all campuses opening at 10 a.m.

  • Rockford

  • ROCORI

  • Roseau

  • Rothsay

  • Round Lake-Brewster

  • Royalton

  • Russell-Tyler-Ruthton

  • St. Clair

  • St. Cloud Area

  • St. James

  • St. Peter

  • Sartell-St. Stephen

  • Sauk Centre

  • Sauk Rapids-Rice

  • Sebeka

  • Sleepy Eye

  • Somerset, Wis.

  • South Ridge

  • Springfield

  • Stillwater Area

  • Thief River Falls

  • Tower-Soudan

  • Ulen-Hitterdal

  • Underwood

  • United South Central

  • University of Minnesota Crookston — reduced operations until 10 a.m.

  • University of Minnesota Duluth — reduced operations until noon

  • University of Minnesota Morris — reduced operations until 10 a.m.

  • Verndale

  • Wabasso

  • Wadena-Deer Creek

  • Walker Hackensack Akeley

  • Warroad

  • Waseca

  • Waubun-Ogema-White Earth

  • West Central Area

  • Willmar

  • Windom

  • Worthington

This list will be updated as additional delays and closings are reported. If you don’t see your school listed here, check with your district for updates.

Related News