School districts around the Treasure Valley cancel school after inches of overnight snow

School districts across the Treasure Valley canceled school Monday, calling a snow day after an overnight storm left several inches of snow in the Boise area.

The Boise, West Ada, Nampa and Caldwell school districts announced early Monday that all classes would be canceled for the day. Kuna School District and Middleton School District also canceled classes.

Several charter and private schools also announced snow days. Peace Valley Charter School, Gem Prep, Victory Charter School, Legacy Charter School, Cole Valley Christian Schools and Calvary Christian School were among those that canceled classes Monday.

Jay Breidenbach, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Boise office, told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview that Boise and Meridian each reported 3 inches of snow by Monday morning, while Garden City reported 2.5 inches and Kuna reported 3.5 inches. One Weather Service employee reported about 5 inches of snow near the Elmore County line. In Mountain Home, school officials delayed school start times to 10 a.m. to allow time for road clearing.

Local colleges and universities, however, appeared to be open. Boise State University and College of Western Idaho both notified students that their campuses were open. It’s finals week at both schools.

Greg Wilson, spokesperson for West Ada School District, told the Statesman in an email that “icy and unsafe road conditions” were to blame for the closures.

“Early this morning (around 3:30am), key staff from the operations team were driving key routes and determining if the conditions were safe for driving and determined they were not,” Wilson said.

The Boise School District did not respond to a request for its reasoning for the closure. The district simply cited “inclement weather” in messages to parents.

After a wet, gray Sunday, temperatures dipped below freezing overnight, causing any untreated routes to ice over. By 8:30 a.m., temperatures were still slightly below freezing at 31 degrees.

Breidenbach said Boise could reach a high around 35 degrees Monday, which could melt some snow. But most of the accumulation will stick around, he said. Temperatures will drop steadily through the week and will be below freezing “for the foreseeable future,” Breidenbach said. Overnight lows will reach single digits by the end of the week.