Early release Monday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's dumb, but at least they're not closing.

Are the buildings at least staying open for child care?

It’s a school system, not a child-care provider. The goal is getting kids home before the severe weather hits.

Get over yourself. Our aftercare provider is staying open.

Your aftercare staying open isn’t the flex you think it is. Managing a handful of kids indoors isn’t the same as getting an entire district home safely.

Keeping kids (and staff) inside a school building is safe and reasonable in the conditions expected. Much better than being on a bus or walking around outdoors, which is what we are trying to avoid with early dismissal.

Right, let’s just keep thousands of kids trapped in classrooms until normal dismissal while a Level 4 storm hits outside. Totally reasonable.

You don't seem to understand what level 4 means here.

Well, the level 4 level means we will have a good chance to see tornadoes in our area tomorrow afternoon and we will most likely be put under a tornado warning by 1pm tomorrow. According to Doug Kammerer, the storms will move through between 2-6pm and into the metro area between 3-5pm. Damaging winds are likely to occur and you don’t want to get caught outside when the storms roll through.

All of this supports the early dismissal that MCPS (and multiple other counties) has announced.

It's a 10-15% chance of tornadoes. That's certainty not "most likely."

Yes, we'll be under a tornado watch, but that doesn't mean much. They don't call a warning until they see one visually or on radar.

We're not even under a tornado watch yet which at this point I find a bit strange- there are a lot of "warnings" about the weather but we are under no actual weather advisory from NWS. Not even a wind advsiory which is in effect in other parts of MD.

Why would we be under a watch now? The conditions aren't currently right for tornadoes. Later they will be, but not now.

Sorry my bad, I always thought watches were typically issued hours in advance- like I could swear in the summer we'd often get heads-up early in the day from the summer swim team if there was potential for disruption of vening meets if there was a severe thunderstorm watch.

My mom in SW PA is under a wind advisory. I would be glad if we don't get the bad winds here I was just surprised this area was left out.

Not PP but the bad stuff is really not scheduled to hit until later. I understand why MCPS called for an early release but cancelling afterschool activities might have been sufficient.

It would have, but then they wouldn't have gotten to take the afternoon off (paid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should have canceled. It is pouring sheets of rain and gale winds. How are high schoolers and staff supposed to commute in these conditions? Not safe

It was a little rain. Big deal.

We previously joked that MCPS would start calling off for rain. I guess we shouldn't have given them ideas.

[Anonymous]

W&M canceled classes today. Many - if not all - school districts in NC and VA are canceling school today or doing early dismissal. It's just not MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the Blair poster who can’t google:

https://mbhs.edu/schedule

I’m the Blair poster and I am fully aware of the typical early dismissal schedule. However the message MCPS sent did not say schools would follow their regular early dismissal schedule - it said that high school would finish at 12 noon.

12 noon is the normal HS early release dismissal time.

Not for 9th period. The messaging is typically that school will end 2.5 hours early, not at noon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M canceled classes today. Many - if not all - school districts in NC and VA are canceling school today or doing early dismissal. It's just not MCPS.

Do you have any closer examples? What are our neighboring counties doing? The timing and severeity of the severe weather is not necessarily the same in southern VA and NC.

[Anonymous]

I know of two medical offices in MoCo that are closing at lunchtime today (shifting afternoon appointments to virtual if possible).

I’m baffled by the posters kvetching about mcps closing early—especially since neighboring counties are doing the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M canceled classes today. Many - if not all - school districts in NC and VA are canceling school today or doing early dismissal. It's just not MCPS.

Do you have any closer examples? What are our neighboring counties doing? The timing and severeity of the severe weather is not necessarily the same in southern VA and NC.

I'm sure you could easily look yourself on wtop.com: https://wtop.com/closings-and-delays/

All of the surrounding school districts in Maryland and DC are closing early today: Anne Arundel County, Calvert County, Prince George's county, Charles County, Howard County (closing 3 hours early), St. Mary's, Washington County, Frederick County (closing 3 hours early), DC Public Schools.

[Anonymous]

What time are the massive winds supposed to start? So far it seems pretty calm out there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What time are the massive winds supposed to start? So far it seems pretty calm out there

Between 3-6pm. Do people really not know how to look this up? Capital Weather Gang? Any of the local news stations/websites?

[Anonymous]

A first round of storms could affect areas west and then north of D.C. between 11 a.m and 1 p.m.; a few could be severe. The greatest concern is a probable line of strong to severe storms between 3 and 6 p.m. capable of producing damaging winds and tornadoes. Highs around 70.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/03/16/dc-weather-live-updates-severe-storms-tornadoes/

[Anonymous]

Intense storms near Culpeper will sweep northeast into the southwest portion of the D.C. region over the next hour, arriving in Fauquier County around 11 a.m., Loudoun County closer to 11:30 a.m and Frederick County closer to noon. The storms could also scrape western Montgomery County between noon and 1 p.m. These storms could produce damaging wind gusts and there’s a slight chance they could spawn a tornado.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service says there is a 60 percent chance it will issue a tornado watch for much of the region. It says this first round of storms could produce some tornado activity but says the “primary threat” for twisters will come in the second round, most likely between 3 and 6 p.m. That said, it suggests tornadoes are not necessarily a lock and depend on how storms evolve and how effectively they can tap into available energy. So far widespread cloudinnes has limited available energy, but that could change this afternoon.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/03/16/dc-weather-live-updates-severe-storms-tornadoes/

[Anonymous]

They did the right thing regarding child care today - left it up to providers. Ours is closing at 2pm, which makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What time are the massive winds supposed to start? So far it seems pretty calm out there

Between 3-6pm. Do people really not know how to look this up? Capital Weather Gang? Any of the local news stations/websites?

To be fair, some meteorologists were predicting as early as 11 AM and I think some of the forecasting has changed, but it’s a lot to keep up with because so many opinions on timing and it’s changed from yesterday to this am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What time are the massive winds supposed to start? So far it seems pretty calm out there

Between 3-6pm. Do people really not know how to look this up? Capital Weather Gang? Any of the local news stations/websites?

To be fair, some meteorologists were predicting as early as 11 AM and I think some of the forecasting has changed, but it’s a lot to keep up with because so many opinions on timing and it’s changed from yesterday to this am.

+1 I think MCPS made the right call. Early release is tough, if families don't have notice they won't know to pick up their kids, so this can't be a last minute call. I think it's worth missing a couple hours of school to avoid having kids and staff caught in a freaking tornado on their way home. Hopefully, there won't be tornados, but it is beyond reasonable to try to avoid having people get caught in one when there is a higher than usual probability.

[Anonymous]

Wind is ever so slightly picking up here in Bethesda... debating if I'll pick my kid up at school or have her take the bus (picking up will require cancelling a work call)