Snow Day Predictor SaguenayWill school be cancelled tomorrow in Saguenay?

Type your Saguenay postal code or "Saguenay, Quebec" into the predictor above. CSS des Rives-du-Saguenay serves the Chicoutimi and La Baie sectors and makes closure decisions independently of CSS de la Jonquière and CSS du Pays-des-Bleuets. The official call typically comes between 5:30 and 6:00 am the morning of and is posted to the board’s website and social channels. Our predictor returns an advance probability the night before based on the overnight wind chill, snowfall, and visibility forecast at your exact coordinates.

There is no fixed provincial threshold, but in practice the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean centres de services scolaires consider extreme-cold closures when wind chill is forecast at or below -40 to -45 °C during the morning bus run window. Saguenay’s tolerance is meaningfully colder than Montreal or Quebec City because routine winter mornings here already sit in the -25 to -30 °C range. The model is calibrated to that higher local threshold.

Chicoutimi falls under CSS des Rives-du-Saguenay; Jonquière falls under CSS de la Jonquière. The two boards make independent closure calls and it is common for one sector to close while the other runs a regular day, especially when valley-floor cold-air pooling concentrates the worst conditions on the Saguenay River side. Enter your specific postal code so the predictor uses the right local forecast and the right board.

Saguenay averages roughly twice the seasonal snowfall of Montreal and runs 6 to 10 °C colder on a typical January night. Storms that close Montreal CSSDM and the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal are often regular operating days in Chicoutimi or Jonquière. The closure threshold here is shifted noticeably toward the extreme end: Saguenay closes for events that would be considered exceptional in the St. Lawrence valley, and runs through events that would close Montreal entirely.

No. The two boards cover adjacent territory and often face similar weather, but each makes its own independent decision and there is no inter-board consortium coordinating the call. Differences are most common during cold-air-pooling events, when the Saguenay River valley sees materially colder morning temperatures than the Jonquière plateau, and during Lac-Saint-Jean lake-effect events that hit Jonquière harder than Chicoutimi.

On clear, calm winter nights the deep Saguenay River valley between Chicoutimi and La Baie traps cold air, producing valley-floor temperatures 5 to 10 °C colder than the surrounding plateau. A regional forecast showing -28 °C may translate to -36 °C at bus-stop level in Bagotville or downtown Chicoutimi. Our predictor pulls hourly data at your exact coordinates rather than averaging across the region, so the valley-floor cold shows up correctly when it matters.

CSS du Pays-des-Bleuets covers the Lac-Saint-Jean side of the region, including Alma, Roberval, and Dolbeau-Mistassini. Its closure decisions are independent of the two Saguenay urban-area boards and frequently differ from them, particularly during lake-effect snow events that concentrate on the eastern and southern shores of Lac-Saint-Jean before the lake freezes. If you live on the Lac-Saint-Jean side, use the predictor with your local postal code rather than relying on the Chicoutimi or Jonquière call.