In a flashback to 2014, dozens of area school districts shut down activities for Wednesday in advance of another visit to the deep freeze.
St. Michael-Albertville, Elk River, Monticello and many Twin Cities metro school districts canceled classes for Wednesday, Jan. 7, about a year after extremely cold temperatures forced school leaders to make the same move in 2014.
All preschool, ECFE and other classes are canceled, as well. St. Michael Catholic School is also completely closed.
Frigid temperatures and nasty winds are expected to descend on Wright County and the Twin Cities Wednesday, with the brunt of the extreme cold hitting the area between 5 and 7 a.m., about the time many people would be getting up and heading on their morning commute, or dropping children off at the local bus stop.
That tipped the scales. Bus drivers were alerted around 7 p.m. Tuesday night to the decision to pull them off the roads Wednesday morning.
Minneapolis School District, which is now following a “35 Below” guideline, made its call before 5 p.m. Tuesday, as wind chills are expected to dip below that new threshold.