Winter Storm Warning For Friday/Saturday April 17/18

Just so you're informed--and just for our records--we have been upgraded from a Winter Weather Advisory to a Winter Storm Warning. New England lives up to its reputation.

We're now expecting 4-8 inches for the County. Roads will definitely get slick if this storm pans out, so be prepared for slow travel tomorrow morning. But should you really be going anywhere anyway?

Looks like the weekend yard work will have to wait for another week.

Check @GreylockSnowDa1 for snow totals tomorrow morning.

More Snow Friday Night

This oddly inverted winter continues as we prepare for our third (minor) April snow event heading into the weekend.

From Wednesday night's disturbance, we measured a fairly robust 2.75 inches at the GSD Home Office. The snow flakes must have been fairly large--the staff was sound asleep when it came down--and there was no wind so that allowed the snow to pile up easily on grassy surfaces.

And it looks like tomorrow night we'll experience an almost identical scenario. Some of the models have us in the 4-6" range for tomorrow night into Saturday, but more realistically we'll see 2-4 inches of fluffy, sticky snow, with higher totals on the east-facing slopes.

All the way from Peoria...

The snow will take longer to melt on Saturday, as clouds will persist throughout the day, but it will all be gone by noon on Sunday.

There is great snowperson-building potential on Saturday, as well as a chance for some sledding. We encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity as we really think--and we mean it this time--that this is the final measurable snow of the season.

Snow Tonight

We thought we were finished for the year, but we kept one computer going in the GSD Home Office just in case. And sure enough, the snow alarm went off earlier this afternoon, announcing a chance for measurable snow by morning.

It won't be a lot--maybe an inch--and most of us will be asleep when it falls, but we could wake up to a winter wonderland tomorrow in the Berkshires. With temps expected to drop into the high 20s tonight, and a big swath of precipitation moving in from western New York after midnight, we expect grassy surfaces will have at least a coating by tomorrow morning.

Because the sun is much stronger in April, the snow should melt by the afternoon. And the day should be sunny and slightly warmer than today, which felt rather brisk.

Stay safe and germ free.

School Closures For the Rest of the Year

With distance learning in full effect for most students in Berkshire County, the next question is, of course, will we return to classrooms this year?

Governor Charlie Baker has given mixed signals so far about a return, but if we look at other states and the trends, it does seem unlikely that students in the Commonwealth will have to put their bodies in their brick-and-mortar classrooms in May or June.

We'll try to update this list as often as we can (from here until the end of the school year). But here are the states that have cancelled public schools for the remainder of the year:

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Michigan
Missouri
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Washington
Vermont
Virginia

Winter's Last Stand

This could be it. Old Man Winter is trying to stay on his feet 'til the final bell, and he might throw a few weak punches tonight in the form of snow showers. Accumulations are unlikely.

Although we can never rule out an early May freak storm, the 10-day forecast would suggest that really might be it for the Old Guy for the winter of 2019-20.

There's a significant amount of energy with today/tonight's storm--as you can tell by the Wind Advisory and the heavy snow falling in central Maine--so enough cold air could get pulled down from Canada to make for snowy conditions tonight and even tomorrow morning.

Travel should not be a problem at all, other than a few limbs in roadways.

OMW's last gasps.

This may be the last time you'll hear from us until we roll out the long-term forecast for the winter of 2020-21 some time in August. Thanks again for reading and your support of GSD!