Inclement Weather

How TCC handles weather that causes a late start or college closure.  

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The fastest way to learn about snow closures or delays is to sign up for TCC Alerts. Sign up to get a text and/or email if there's a snow closure or delay. 

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Communication About Snow Closure or Delay 

We know that many students and employees have to get up early to commute to campus. So TCC leadership makes the decision about snow closures or delays as early as possible.

We take many things into consideration in making the decision to have a delayed start or to cancel school for the day: 

  • Weather:  We rely on the National Weather Service (NWS) and its forecasts. 
  • Road conditions:  We review road condition reports from our own staff, who are here in the mornings and provide a report; from NWS; and from other sources. Roads may be clear in some areas, but dangerous in others.
  • Buildings, parking lots, grounds: We review our needs to determine if our Tacoma and Gig Harbor campuses are safe to be open.
  • Other colleges and status reports: We look at the status of other colleges, schools, and local businesses. 

There are many factors at play when making a decision. We do not make a decision to delay opening or close the college lightly; we understand that schedules, classes, and childcare can be highly disrupted. We also realize that our students and employees live in several different school districts, and there will be times when another entity makes a different decision than affects TCC students and employees. If you're affected by such a decision, please talk to your professors or your supervisor to arrive at a solution that works for everyone. 

As soon as a decision is made, we'll communicate it via the following channels:

  • TCC Alerts (text & email to subscribers) 
  • Tacomacc.edu home page banner
  • TCC Emergency page 
  • Email to current students and employees
  • TCC social media (@tacomacc on Twitter and Facebook)
  • TCC Voicemail: Call 253-566-5000
  • Local News