At 9:54 a.m. on Monday, April 27th, the Rockwood School District announced that all schools would be released two hours early, including MHS dismissal 1:20 p.m., due to forecasted inclement weather. All after school and evening activities have also been cancelled, and the Marquette Celebration of Excellence ceremony has been rescheduled to Monday, May 4.

Shriya Saravanan, junior, was overjoyed to hear this news, because she gets a few more hours to herself after school.

Saravanan said she didn’t think the storms were going to be as bad as students were saying.

“I heard that there is gonna be softball sized hail, I don’t know how true that is, but there is gonna be tornado warnings,” Saravanan said.

The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch with a hazardous weather forecast in St. Louis until 9 p.m. with possible heavy rain, thunderstorms and tornadoes. Tornado sirens also went off near Marquette High School around 12:30 p.m.

Saravanan said that dismissing early is a good choice because the students and staff will be safer.

“As they are leaving Marquette, just avoiding a heavy rain and even for the buses too,” Saravanan said.

Associate Principal Dr. Michael Wegener said decisions related to school getting out early are ultimately decided upon by Superintendent Dr. Curtis Cain.

Dr. Wegener said sometimes superintendents from multiple schools within the area will work together to ensure that they are being consistent with one another.

“There’s so many factors to include, like bus drivers,” Dr. Wegener said. “We have three tiers of transportation. The last elementary kid is not getting home until a couple hours after the first high school kid is getting home. They have to take all those things into consideration.”

One schedule determining factor for today was ensuring that classes have enough time to meet, which is why Ac-Lab was cancelled, Dr. Wegener said. However, he said the administration also has to consider the schedules of students in programs like dual enrollment or South Tech.

“Just given the timing on when storms are supposed to be moving in, it would be during our dismissal [times],” Dr. Wegener said. “It’s a matter of trying to get everybody home and not be outside.”

Ed Shouse, former AP Environmental Science teacher, said that one front has already passed through this morning, bringing rain, while a cold front will be coming through this afternoon around 4 p.m.

“There are five frontal boundaries, and cold fronts are typically the most dangerous because they move extremely fast,” Shouse said. “We have very humid air ahead of us. The more water vapor in the air, it makes the air less dense.”

Shouse said this difference in density results in vertically developed thunderstorm clouds. Additionally, Shouse said when the dew point is reached, water vapor condenses, causing an even more unstable area.

“Plus, we have a jet stream over just north of us a bit. When you have a jet over the surface, it reduces pressure and enhances lift even more, and that gives the rotation to mesocyclonic thunderstorms,” Shouse said. “So there is going to be some rotation today, unfortunately.”

Potential weather conditions could include large hail, very high winds, tornadic activity and scattered tornadoes, Shouse said.

“It’s not developed yet, but when we look at the radar, this afternoon we should see a long narrow strip of storms following right along the front,” Shouse said. “That’s called the squall line. [It] hasn’t built up yet, but as it moves into our moist air, it should build up.”

This story was originally published on Marquette Messenger on April 27, 2026.