"She's Breaking Up, She's Breaking Up"

As of 4 PM, we are officially on the backside of Winter Storm Stella (as named by the Weather Channel). It's still snowing lightly, and some of you out there may have noticed some sleet mix in with the light snow in the last hour or so. The nose of warm air really pushed far northward, which surprised most meteorologists.

We won't see that much more snow over the next 3-4 hours. It's safe to go out and shovel.

You can see the storm is losing some of its oomph. Central NY is still getting pounded. Those dark blue bands there are moving west.

But the storm isn't entirely over. It's a very powerful system, and the deformation phase of the storm will be very interesting. We will see several more light and moderate bands of snow tonight and through a good portion of the day tomorrow. We will not be surprised to see an additional 4 inches of snow. Plus, the wind will really kick up as the storm slides up the Maine coast. The blowing of snow onto roadways will be a nuisance we will have to contend with.

We also need to keep on eye on those pesky downslope, "lake effect" type snows we often get at the ends of these storms, especially so this winter. With so much moisture in the air, we could get trapped in a downslope pattern that gives us another 6-8 inches of snow in the Berkshires. That outcome will be hard to predict accurately, but we'll keep an eye on the radar all evening and have, hopefully, a more accurate assessment later on.

So, will we have delays or snow days tomorrow? Already Southern Vermont Supervisory Union (Mt. Anthony) has called in a delay. But for the rest of us, we think it's a 50/50 proposition for delays and snow days. But that could change as we get a better sense of how this storm will behave on its way out.

And we do want to thank all of you readers over the last seven years. We are about to receive our 1,000,000th page view, which is pretty amazing to the Staff here. Thanks for all of your support!