Weekend Storm Update -- Wednesday PM Edition

Today was a very cold day, but fortunately there was little wind, which made it tolerable. Temps simply won't go as low as expected tomorrow morning, so we will be very surprised if any districts spring for the 2-hour delay.

The weekend storm is causing a considerable amount of angst. (More accurately--it's the models and their predictions that are causing the agita.)

Because the major models are not in agreement, meteorologists are flummoxed, especially as they consider Western Mass. Southeastern Connecticut, Rhode Island, and eastern Massachusetts, including the Cape and the islands, have a high chance for 12+ inches of snow. That part of the prediction seems reliable. But because the storm is still over 48 hours away, we're not quite ready to say "lock it in" for eastern New England but we're close.

For the Berkshires, we are seeing quite the range of forecasts. Many meteorologists are putting us in the 2-4" zone or the 3-6" zone, so we appear to be right on the edge of a "big one." The GSD Staff isn't going to complain if we can get on the high side of those forecasts (6"), but given the intensity of this storm, it will be a little sad to miss out on the snow party that will be happening out east.

But there's still a lot of time left, and there are still many moving parts in the west and central parts of the country that will impact the track, intensity, and duration of the storm. So, as antsy as everyone is to want to know just what the heck is going to happen this weekend, we really need to be patient and wait until tomorrow evening (Thursday) and Friday morning before we should start to cancel plans for Saturday due to the snow.

Our gut instinct--in opposition to NWS Albany's initial snow map for this storm--says this nor'easter is sliding out to sea and we'll ultimately see a mere 2-4 inches. Of course we're going to root loudly for this storm to track to the west, but given the track record this winter, we are less than optimistic. Sorry, folks, but we're just observing the trends.

We'd be more than happy with this outcome. Kudos to NWS Albany for breaking the ice with this snow forecast. It will certainly change, but it's a start.