Storm Update: Delay, Snow Days or Nothing for Wednesday?

Forecast models hit the nail on the head with the timing of the start of the snow. With moderate snow coming down throughout Berkshire County (as of 1:00 PM), Superintendents got this one right with their decision to send students home early. And you take back that joke you just made about blind squirrels finding nuts every once in a while. That simply is not nice.

Despite the moderate snow right now, we are not feeling great about snow days for tomorrow. Because this storm is complex with its double-barreled low pressure systems, we're just not sure how the second phase of the storm is going to play out after the sleet starts falling. We are supposed to see a return to snow after the sleet portion, and that snow should be falling during the morning commute tomorrow. The second round of snow will give us an additional 1-2 inches, and throw in the sleet and the high winds we wrote about yesterday, one would think that a delayed start would be prudent and build up more good-will capital with the Supers' constituents.

Still on track for half a foot. Image courtesy of NWS Albany.

Don't get your hopes up about snow days' getting called in this evening. With the heavy snow coming to a close around 7 or 8 PM, we'll all shift into "wait-and-see" mode through the evening and tomorrow morning to see how the back half of the storm behaves.

The official GSD position is delays are likely and full snow days are possible but unlikely. Schools in North County, southern Vermont, and the east-facing slopes of the Berkshires will have slightly better chances for delays and/or snow days.

We'll see if we can find a few snow totals to report later this evening, and we'll keep gathering intel to learn what it might be doing tomorrow morning.

Lastly, if you want a simple to understand video on the polar vortex and how it impacts our winter weather, check out this little gem by meteorologist Judah Cohen.