2.1 Storm Will Start Early

Things are hopping in the GSD-following area. A quick shout out to the avid followers in SoCo, and a congratulations to Lenox and Southern Berkshire [and now Lee, Pittsfield, and Berkshire Hills -- ed.] who are already dialed in for the early release tomorrow. That's a good job by you guys down South. More districts will go that route before the evening is over, and even more will make the same decision for an early release tomorrow morning. It will be the trendy call for most schools tomorrow.

Here's what the GSD wants for this Groundhog Day Blizzard 2011: the royal flush--the snowy trinity--of snow day decisions. Tuesday--early release; Wednesday--full snow day; Thursday--two-hour delay.* Oh baby, now we're talking! The GSD Research Department has looked high and low in the record books and has not been able to find a previous MSE that has created the elusive frozen triple play.

As exciting as the royal flush would be, there's a better chance that this storm will bring the two-day snow day. Sayonora and adios to June vacation days! TWC has the snow beginning around 4:00 am, which we know is prime time for our region's supers. Begrudgingly, they may be forced to call a snow day even though the snow tomorrow will only be moderate. Regardless, you can forget about any practices, games, rehearsals, or performances tomorrow night.

Courtesy of Accuweather, as always.

The storm will hit in two phases. Phase one begins early tomorrow and will bring the whole county around 6". We think 4 am is a little early for a predicted start for the county, which puts the early release very much in play tomorrow for almost everyone in the region. The second phase of the storm (the coastal low) will kick in much later on in the evening (after midnight), and that's when Father Winter will bring the cheese for real--over a foot of snow. This is a two-shovel storm--once Tuesday evening and again around midday on Wednesday. When NOAA says to get out the yardsticks to measure the snow, you can safely put away the homework for the evening.

Wednesday will be a snow day--the $60 question is tomorrow. GSD is confident that schools will call the early release, and many will just throw in the towel and say, "See you on Thursday." The latest look at the radar (7:30 pm Monday) has the snow about 10 hours away, so tomorrow's morning decision will be dicey for supers. We think most will try to power through at least part of the day knowing that Wednesday's a fait accompli.

*See commenter on the previous post who was way out in front with the triple play call--GSD is still hiring! Keep the comments coming.