Sunday, November 19, 2017

Turkey Week Travel Forecast

The only thing more important than the size of your bird for Thursday is the travel forecast for this week, the busiest travel time of the entire year. Whether you're heading to Grandma's house on Thursday or your oldest sibling is heading home from college or even if you're headed to the airport for a weeklong getaway to, say, Italy, you want to know what to expect on the roads this week.

And the good news is...a relatively quiet week is expected for the Berkshires. After a few stray flakes in the overnight hours tonight, the cold front that came in with all of this wind will settle in over us. We'll see plenty of sun Monday with high temps in the upper 30s.

Tuesday, when a lot of travel begins, will be a spectacular day--full sun and highs in the mid 50s. Outdoor sports are in order on Tuesday.

Wednesday, too, looks good but it will be cooler (40s). There is a chance of some showers in the early morning hours but roads will be fine all day.

Thursday will simply be pleasant for this time of year--highs in the low 40s and partly cloudy skies all day. Morning runs, soccer games, family football, and post-feast walks will all go on as scheduled.

There is a big storm coming into our region for the weekend, but worry not for it will track well to our north. With the arrival of the storm, we will see instability, which could kick up a few rain showers late Friday night and during the day on Saturday. Friday will be calm but cool with temps in the 30s; Saturday will be warmer (40s) but the slight chance of rain could curtail some outdoor activities.

And those returning to the Berkshires or heading back to school on Sunday, again you will have smooth sailing. Cloudy, cool (30s) and windy but the roads will be dry.

That's about the size of it. We still feel good about a full-on school-impacting weathermaker for the first half of December, but the next seven days look very manageable. Enjoy the holiday!

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Snow Returns Thursday, Saturday Morning

Snow is headed our way for Thursday. While the real accumulating snow will fall just to our north and west, most of the Berkshires will see some flakes but little accumulation. Higher elevations might see an inch.

Temps will dip into the mid-30s tonight, and with rain expected to move into our area during the day tomorrow, there could be enough cold air in place for a period of snow during the late morning hours.
There is not a lot of moisture with this system, but don't be shocked if you see flakes during the day.

A similar situation sets up for Saturday morning. We could wake up that morning to see a few flakes on the ground and falling through the air. Again, there's not much moisture with this system, but enough moisture and cold air could be in place for a dusting to an inch.

The storm pattern is active right now. We will not see a snow day or delay before Thanksgiving, but the GSD staff is feeling good about a moderate snowstorm at some point in the first half of December.




Tuesday, November 7, 2017

First Flakes of the Season

The big news today in Berkshire County is not the number of characters you now have available to you for your tweets...

It's the first verified snowflakes of the 2017-18. Hooray for winter!

These flakes did sneak up on us. With a colder-than-expected day and a slightly stronger-than-anticipated low pressure system off of Long Island, enough moisture moved into our area and dropped a few flakes on us this afternoon and evening. We haven't had any accumulation at the GSD Home Office in Williamstown, but we won't be surprised to see a dusting in higher elevation towns.

Unfortunately, tonight's snow showers are no harbingers. While we do have some very cold temperatures headed our way for the long weekend--the thermometer will read in the mid-teens on Saturday morning (!)--we don't see snow storms in the two-week forecast. Temps will settle into the 40s next week with just a few chances for rain showers in that period.

It's nice to know we're making strides toward the first snow day of the season. And of course we'll let you know when you should really start to get excited.