Winter Storm Update -- Midday Report

While our friends to the north have been upgraded from the Watch to the Warning, Berkshire County still has only the Watch in place. If we are to get the upgrade, it will happen for Northern Berkshire only.

Most maps we're seeing are showing 3-6" for South County and 6-9" for the northern half. We will also see sleet force its way in at some point--probably closer to midnight--which will suppress our snow totals.

Image courtesy of NWS Albany.

NWS Albany tells us that the snow will start in Berkshire County at noon tomorrow. That piece of information could lead schools to call for the early release. We're as curious as you are about how Superintendents will react to this forecast. Given the extra-precaution we saw with the freeze days and delays, we will not be at all surprised to see several early releases announced tonight for Tuesday.

As for our snow day chances on Wednesday, the storm is expected to taper off in the morning hours. But a big factor could be the wind. We have a Wind Advisory up for Berkshire County, with wind gusts up to 50 mph expected. If these gusts are prevalent when the Supers wake up on Wednesday, the blowing of snow will create enough of a hazard for road crews and bus drivers to warrant delays (at the least) and full snow days (at best).

The threat of warm air moving into the area after the initial onslaught of snow has us feeling hesitant about across the board delays and snow days for Wednesday. The period of moderate and heavy snow will end relatively early, so it will be up to the sleet and lingering snow bursts to get us to the promised land, which is a very tenuous situation to be in.

We'll have updated info and several maps later this afternoon and/or tonight.