Watching Freeze Delays for Tuesday

While it seems unlikely, we might see a few freeze delays tomorrow in Berkshire County. 

Temps will steadily decline from the upper teens to around zero tonight. Add in wind, which is forecasted in the 10-15 mph range, and you have wind chill values between -15 and -25 degrees. And of course that's when children will be standing out at bus stops. There is, in fact, a Wind Chill Advisory in effect tonight until 3 PM Tuesday.

6 AM expected temps with wind chill tomorrow.

So, we could see a few communities decide to postpone the start of school. The only problem with that decision is that the temperature is only going to go up a few degrees even with the 9:30 or 10:00 start. Highs tomorrow will be in the single digits. As a result of the forecasted cold, Boston schools have a day off. But they obviously have a lot more walkers then riders in parts of Boston.

And we want to apologize for not giving a heads up about delays for this morning. Several school districts had two-hour delays (North Adams and Pittsfield, notably) due to the frozen slush from yesterday's storm. Road conditions were decent on the ride in to the GSD Home Office and did not raise much cause for concern. 

But yesterdays freezing rain and sleet storm was a real missed opportunity. Had that storm fallen on a school day, most schools in the county would have cancelled due to the very poor driving conditions that lasted throughout the day. One of the basic rules of predicting snow days is never underestimate the power of ice.

Keep eyes and ears open for possible delays tomorrow.