What to Expect from Storm Belichick

Now that everything is shut down--even Williams and MCLA are off for tomorrow--let's hope that Storm Belichick comes through and justifies all the cancellations and preparedness. If we're going to have a storm, then let's have a storm!

One of the things to watch for is a fairly steep cutoff from this storm. What this means is that the line between deep snow totals and light snow totals will be very clearly marked. These kinds of sharp contrasts happen because very cold air is in place and the storm can't quite push farther north due to the cold air mass. For example, we could see 18" in Pittsfield but only 6-8" in Williamstown. We don't think that's where the line will set up, but be on the lookout for these kinds of steep differences in the region.

From the office of NWS Albany 

The forecast is still indicating a ton of moisture will flow from the Atlantic into our region. Our guess now is that the storm is leaking to the east slightly, which means the very heavy bands that will pummel central Massachusetts might not quite make it to the northwest corner of Berkshire County. We do think South County could get up to a foot more than the northern county towns.

The first heavy bands of snow should get to us around midnight. From then on, we'll have about 8-10 hours of sustained moderate and heavy snow. We will probably see a lull in the action around midday, and then the big question will be if wrap-around heavy bands of snow reach our area as the center of the storm slides into the Gulf of Maine. We could easily tack on another 6" tomorrow afternoon if that happens.

Here are guesses: North Adams will get 11"; Pittsfield sees 15" and Great Barrington will get to 20".  If those predictions hold true, we'll see a mixed bag of cancellations and two-hour delays on Wednesday.