Student-created snow-day predictor and news website MoCoClosures undergoes rapid popularity growth among MCPS students as the winter season arrives.
According to MoCoClosure’s social media posts, two years ago, a group of MCPS student leaders and weather enthusiasts banded together, intending to provide a new source to keep students informed on social media about weather predictions and general MCPS news. They ended up creating MoCoClosures, a news and media website that provides snow day predictions and MCPS news across Instagram, Facebook, X, and various other social media platforms. Quick support from then-SMOB Sami Saeed provided a base of support for MoCoClosures that has since only grown.
Lead Forecasting Director of MoCoClosures and junior Srivatsan Ganesh is astonished by the growth of MoCoClosures since its creation in 2023.
“It has exploded into something far bigger than I ever could have imagined in 2023,” said Ganesh. “We went from a small page to 15k followers and millions of views, just about posting weather, which is just incredible to me.”
The growth of MoCoClosures is not just in numbers. A follower of MoCoClosures,junior Alex Dacanay noted that awareness of MoCoClosures among students has been visibly rising.
“Most other students I talk to talk about MoCoClosures when snow is in the forecast, and many repost the delay or no school posts,” explained Dacanay. “I’d say their presence among the Poolesville student body is pretty high.” he added.
To make predictions, MoCoClosures uses a rating system of 1 to 5 snowflakes, which range from very low confidence in a delay or closure at one snowflake to 5 snowflakes for high confidence and a likely day off.
Dacanay praised the simplicity of their rating system, their attractive graphics, and the overall convenience of MoCoClosures.
“Compared to other snowday predictors, MoCoClosures is the best and most accessible for me,” said Dacanay. “The content is designed really nicely, providing clear, direct, and immediate informative messages.”
Expansion is also evident in MoCoClosures’ content. MoCoClosures occasionally reports on MCPS news for topics like SMOB elections and graduation schedules.
However, Ganesh asserts that MoCoClosures’ growth is far from over, with plans for further development already in the works by its staff.
“We’ve been putting more & more effort into slightly expanding our platform/services to neighboring counties, while maintaining our roots and keeping most coverage focused on Montgomery County,” said Ganesh.
As the winter season progresses, MoCoClosures is set to deliver plentiful snow day predictions to its ever-growing audience.
