Snow way! Storm gives kids day off

IT’S FINALLY spring — but city schools are getting a snow day.

Mayor de Blasio said public schools will be closed Wednesday due to the expected nor’easter — the fourth this month — that could bring as much as 15 inches of snow and wind gusts as high as 45 mph.

“We’ve got some very unpredictable weather about to hit us,” de Blasio told reporters Tuesday.

“It is the first day of spring officially, and yet I’m about to tell you about a big snowstorm that’s hitting,” he added. “This proves what I’ve said for a long time — never trust groundhogs. They will always lead you wrong.”

De Blasio infamously dropped the Staten Island Zoo’s groundhog, Chuck, during Groundhog Day ceremonies in 2014, and the creature died a week later.

A wintry mix of snow and rain began early Wednesday and was expected to continue and wreak havoc on the rush hour commute.

“Travel will be very difficult to impossible, including during the evening commute on Wednesday,” the National Weather Service cautioned.

A winter storm warning for portions of northeast New Jersey and southeast New York was issued for midnight Tuesday to 8 a.m. Thursday.

The snow is expected to continue throughout Wednesday, with up to 2 inches an hour expected at times in the afternoon.

In addition to city schools, Columbia University also canceled classes.

More than 3,000 flights, mostly in the Northeast, were scrubbed across the U.S.

On Wednesday, the high temperature is expected to hit 32 degrees. The snow will begin to taper off around midnight, according to the weather service.

During the storm, the city’s Department of Buildings cautioned property owners and construction crews to suspend work — and stow equipment — because of the expected wind gusts.