School closings announced in McHenry County Friday because of extreme cold. Check our list

Several school districts across McHenry County announced closures or e-learning days Friday as an extreme cold warning is forecast, bringing dangerously low wind chills.

According to the National Weather Service, wind chills are expected to drop as low as 30 to 40 degrees below zero near and north of Interstate 55 from 3 a.m. to noon Friday. Areas farther south will see wind chills ranging from 20 to 30 below zero, prompting a Cold Weather Advisory that continues through 9 a.m. Saturday.

All Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 schools will be closed Friday, including all after-school student activities, Superintendent Kathy Hinz said in an alert sent out Thursday morning.

“As a reminder, when making the decision to close schools, we consider both the weather forecast [including ambient temperature, wind chill, precipitation and any warnings or watches in effect], the status of school buses, building and roadway conditions and the ability of our community to travel safely to and from school,” Hinz said in the announcement.

All Crystal Lake-based Community High School District 155 schools will be closed, with e-learning on Friday.

Algonquin-based Community School District 300 at first issued a “winter weather watch” for Friday, warning that schools have the potential to switch to online learning, have a late start, early dismissal or closure. By the afternoon, the district announced that Friday would be an e-learning day, like several other districts.

Most districts indicated they expect to reopen Monday, and in most cases Friday’s cancellations include after-school activities, sports and other extra curricular events.

Along with a closure Friday, for example, Wonder Lake-based Harrison School District 36 is canceling its morning activity bus for Monday as cold temperatures continue with a predicted -20 degree windchill.

“As of right now, we are just watching this projection,” District 36 officials said in the alert. “If it changes to a warning, we will notify you on Sunday.”