November Nor'easter: Evening Report

The words "November" and "nor'easter" don't typically appear side by side, but here we are girding for the first plowable event of the season.

Everything appears on track for a half a foot of snow for all of Berkshire County. It is snowing now throughout the County, and it is starting to accumulate in South County. Conventional wisdom on this storm reveals that the bulk of the 6-8 inches will fall in the first 8 hours of the storm. Whether or not we have snow days or delays depends on what happens after 3 AM.

Three scenarios are all possible:

1) The dry slot pushes into the Berkshires and cuts off precipitation for several hours after 3 AM. Road crews would likely be able to get major roadways clear before it starts snowing again lightly after daybreak.

2) A warm nose of air creeps into the Berkshires, slows precipitation down significantly, but sleet, freezing rain, and/or freezing drizzle coat the existing snow with a .10 of an inch of ice. This scenario would likely create widespread delays, at the very least.

3) It stays colder than expected and we don't get the changeover to ice. It is still snowing lightly at daybreak but several more hours of snow fall are predicted. Widespread delays and snow days ensue.

Thanks to WNYT Albany for the great graphic.

We favor the 2nd option. It's 27 degrees right now at the GSD Home Office and that temp will creep up, eventually getting to 33 degrees around 3 or 4 AM. We think we'll see that period of sleet, which will definitely put a scare in some Superintendents, especially because it's the first snow of the year and people don't have their snow-driving reps in yet.

So, we think over half the schools in Berkshire County will have some kind of shorter day tomorrow with several full snow days upcoming. We may be a bit conservative on this prediction, but that forecasted warm air or dry slot is preventing us from announcing a County-wide snow day. At this point we are not favoring North County or South County with having more or less of a chance for the full snow day. It will be up to the will of your Superintendent.