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Will Rochester schools close due to the heat wave? Here's what we know
Several Wayne County school districts have already altered their planned school days next week - including canceling classes altogether - due to the heat wave expected to hit New York in the next few days.
School officials across the Rochester region will be monitoring the weather closely as the heat wave prepares to bring elevated heat and humidity - with a "feels like" heat index surpassing 100 - to the Rochester region early next week.
Among them - Lyons Central School District has canceled classes at Lyons Elementary for Monday and Tuesday due to the expected heat, according to district officials. Wayne Central School District has also adjusted school days for elementary and middle school students on Monday and Tuesday, reducing both days from full days to half days.
Batavia Central School District in Genesee County has also reduced the length of the school day on Monday and Tuesday for children in the district's primary, intermediate and middle schools due to the predicted extreme heat.
The last day of classes for the year for many districts lands between Tuesday, June 24 and Thursday, June 26.
Each school district in the Rochester region makes its own decision about closing due to extreme weather. Unlike in the winter — when the Monroe County Department of Public Health provides guidelines to help schools determine how cold is too cold to hold classes — there is no similar guidance in place for extreme heat.
The temperature will start to rise over the weekend - with a predicted high in the upper 80s on Saturday and surpassing 90 on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, said Steve Welch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo. On Wednesday, the high is predicted to drop back to the low 80s.
As of Friday, the hottest day of the trio appears it will land on Monday - with a predicted high of 96 degrees, said Weather Service Meteorologist Heather Kenyon.
Both Sunday and Monday could see a heat index above 100 in upstate New York, with it potentially feeling like 105 degrees on Monday. That day, Kenyon said, New Yorkers will need to decrease the amount of time they are outside. Tuesday is predicted to feel less humid, but that could change as the forecast may shift.
If the mercury does rise above 90, it will be the first time for 2025 in Rochester, forecasters said.
To date, the warmest day of the year in Rochester was on June 4, when the high reached 88 degrees, according to the Weather Service. The second warmest day was April 29, when the high reached 84 degrees at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport.
Sunday's record high of 93 was reached three times - in 2022, 1988 and 1957, Monday's record high of 95 was set in 1888 and Tuesday's record high of 96 was set in 1949, according to the Weather Service.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Will Rochester NY schools close due to the heat wave? What we know
