Chance for Delays: Monday, April 7

The cool and wet pattern continues, and tonight into Monday we might see measurable snow. We've been flirting with snow in our area the last few storms, and tonight we finally might see the ground covered again.

Because it's so late in the season, we are not at all confident that schools will see delays tomorrow. The roads have warmed up, and this system is not going to produce all that much moisture. But the timing is excellent and it could very well be messy for the morning commute.

NWS Albany. Notice that this forecast is through Wednesday AM. More accumulating snow showers are possible Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning.

NWS Albany is telling us that areas above 500' of elevation are the likeliest to see measurable snow. The usual suspects in the eastern portions of the county will again have the better chance for a delay.

Snow should start to fall around 4 AM and continue until 11 AM. Hopefully it will start a little earlier than 4 AM because we'll need several hours of wet snow for it to eventually accumulate on the roads.

After much deliberation, we're going to go with a 15% chance for a delay tomorrow. Most schools will have a full day, but we might see a few districts all their students to sleep in for a few extra hours.

Spring Is Here; Delays Possible for Monday, March 24

Welcome back to GSD, followers of the flake! It's been a spell since our last update. We thought about sending out an APB for last Thursday night/Friday morning's snow, but we had a strong feeling the roads were too warm to generate any delays Friday morning. After all, did hit 70 in many parts of the Berkshires just a day before.

But enough with the old news chit chat. 

We have a developing situation that could lead to delays for some public school students tomorrow (Monday). The Berkshires have a Winter Weather Advisory for late tonight through late morning tomorrow. The timing for this small storm is chef's-kiss-terrific. And the reason this disturbance has an Advisory is a prediction for ice in some areas. If you are a fan of snow days and delays, then ice is your friend.

NWS Albany

Also, for this storm there is more cold air in place tonight than there was on Friday. This means roads will be colder and could slick up: inconveniently for bus drivers, but conveniently for students who wouldn't mind sleeping in on a Monday. These various factors that are in place tare making this storm much more intriguing from a prediction standpoint. 

NWS Albany

Unfortunately, because it's late March, we are not too bullish on this storm. Any schools/districts with high elevation towns (over 1000') have a much better chance for delays than valley schools. So this means eastern Berkshire districts (north, central, and south) will have a much greater chance for delays than schools more anchored to route 7. 

We think west/central schools have a 10% chance for a delay and eastern schools/districts have a 35% chance. That's not much but at least it's something.

If you have read this post all the way to here, spread the word. This one might sneak up on a few people.

Late Winter Blahs -- Snowcast for the week March 3-9

We picked up a quick inch yesterday (Saturday) as the cold front moved through and immediately changed the spring-like temperatures to that familiar deep winter feeling. Single digits were the norm for Berkshirites as we arose this morning.

Unfortunately, the cold air will not hold and we are in for a midweek warm-up. A storm with a lot of moisture will move through the area on Wednesday. Temps that day will be close to 50, so we are looking at a soaker of a rain storm. Over an inch of liquid is expected in western Mass.

Temps will return to normal over the weekend and again very light snow showers could occur. Not enough snow will fall to merit any discussion.

The long-range forecast is not entirely disappointing. The North American model is showing 1-2 inches for the weekend as well as on Tuesday, March 11. The Euro is showing lesser amounts for those storms, but it does predict a whopper of a storm for Friday, March 14. That would be an ideal day for a snow storm to break up the one month of the school year with no holidays.

Stay dry on Wednesday, and hopefully next week we'll have a big storm to get excited about.

The Euro for Friday, March 14. Daily prayers to the snow gods are recommended.