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Weather Cancellations and Closures

In Minnesota, the weather can be harsh and unpredictable. The safety of our students and employees are of the utmost importance at Metropolitan State University.

How do we make weather-related decisions?

Metropolitan State University has a few characteristics that are distinct from other educational institutions:

  • Our classes are typically scheduled to meet one time a week so that every missed class session is equivalent to a week of instruction
  • We offer classes at many locations across the Twin Cities that are far enough apart to experience different weather conditions
  • All of our students are commuting to their campus location and travel varying distances.

Decision timeline

Metropolitan State University administration will typically make decisions about winter weather-related cancelations or closures each day (as opposed to the evening before) and by the following times:

  • 5 a.m. for morning classes
  • 9 a.m. for afternoon classes
  • 3 p.m. for evening classes

Decision factors

In making the decisions we consider snow accumulation rates, mixed participation, wind strength, wind chill, and travel conditions that lead to MnDOT indicating that travel is not advised, or significant public transit disruption/closure.

Our threshold for canceling classes or closing the campus is different from that used by local school districts and you should not automatically expect that we will cancel classes or close if K-12 schools are closed.

Various locations

Please remember that Metropolitan State offers classes at locations throughout the Twin Cities. We consult with our partner campus locations to determine conditions in their area and whether or not they will be open or closed.

In general, if a partner campus location is open and offering its classes, we expect our scheduled classes will be meeting also. We will provide information by class location.

Weather-related announcements

The two primary modes of communication for weather announcements are your university email and the university’s website.

We will also provide information to WCCO Radio (830 AM) and WCCO-TV. Based on feedback about significant time delays last year, we will not use the Star Alert system to notify the campus community about weather-related cancelations or closures.

For employees

If classes are canceled, the University is still open and employees are expected to report for work. If you are concerned about your travel safety, please consult with your supervisor as quickly as possible to determine your opens for work at home or vacation time.

Since our students travel from varying distances to attend our classes, we ask that faculty be as flexible as possible with students who report that their travel to class would be unsafe even when the University has not canceled classes.