Sing along everybody, because it's the most wonderful time of the year! Snow is just around the corner and it's long-range winter forecasting time!
That means GSD is back and readier than ever to translate the mumbo jumbo, cut through the hype, and--hopefully--deliver useful weather advice so you can plan your school and work weeks. Delays, snow days, remote days--you're thirsty for them and we're on it. For the winter of 2021-22, we pledge to never, ever lead you astray.
Because a few flakes are showing up on the smartphone weather apps the week of November 15, curious bystanders on the streets have been pestering GSD Staff members with queries about what the winter of 2021-22 will present us denizens of the Berkshires. We have stared into the meteorological crystal ball, and we have some ideas:
Experts are saying that New England will see slightly higher temps this winter and average precipitation amounts due to La Nina conditions. Just to remind you, a typical Berkshires winter yields about 70 inches of snow, and last season we were right around that mark throughout the region.
If La Nina is here to stay, then the upper midwest typically sees more precipitation and the southeast sees higher temps. But the big X-factor is climate change and the extremes we have been seeing. Despite the forecast for slightly higher temps and average snowfall, we still could very likely see several major storms this season that could skew our snow totals in a positive direction.
A few things you can count on. 1) We'll have a period of sub-zero temps that will last 3-5 days, typically in January. 2) At some point we'll see a stormy pattern that brings us three storms in a three-week period, most likely in the late January or February period. Those storms could be snow-to-slush-to-rain or they could be direct hits. 3) History tells us we'll get a big storm in December or March. We haven't had a March blockbuster in a while, so maybe 2022 is our year.
Overall, though, our best guess is that we'll get 60 to 70 inches of snow this winter.
Currently, we're looking at a chance for high elevation snow Friday night into Saturday and then wet snow on Monday. There's little to no chance the snow will accumulate enough to impact the length of the school day on Monday, but of course we'll keep an eye on it. We just had a stretch of three fall nor'easters (one hit, one half hit, and the other went out to sea) and then a two-week quiet period. It may take another week or two until we get back into a stormier pattern.
We're excited to be back in the GSD Office. The supercomputers are humming and ready to make snow predictions. As always, we'll post updates as well on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We'll have an update about the Monday snow situation over the weekend.
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