Winter Storm Watch for Friday (Feb. 25)

With yet another encouraging sign that we have a moderate to heavy snowfall heading our way for Friday, the National Weather Service in Albany has issued a Winter Storm Watch for our region. The finer details are being sorted out, but the prediction right now is for 6-12" of snow starting early Friday morning.

First up, though, is blustery day with temperatures gradually dropping from the balmy mid-50s this morning (Wednesday) to mid-teens by Thursday morning. Ushering in this 40 degree change in temperature will be a robust wind. We have a Wind Advisory in the Berkshires today, so don't be surprised to see some strong gusts approaching 40 mph.

Thursday looks like a typical calm-before-the-storm day. Mostly sunny. Highs around freezing. Diminishing winds. A good day to get outside and soak up the strengthening sun.

NWS Albany

Snow should start around 1 AM, and it will be coming down heavily during the morning commute. Friday might be a good remote work day, if you have the option. Travel should be difficult for most of the day on Friday. Snow will eventually wind down around 9 PM.

Based on the information we're seeing, we at GSD think most of us in the region will get 8-10 inches of snow. It will start off as light and fluffy snow but get denser as the temps move closer to freezing in the morning and midday on Friday. And there's still a chance sleet will mix in from I-90 and southward, which would make shoveling even harder.

If Friday were a school day, we would be very confident in full snow days for every student in Berkshire County. To that end, we should see some announcements from BCC, MCLA and Williams about a delayed start, a shift to remote classes for the day, or a key staff only day. 

An encouraging map for the Berkshires from Channel 22's Chris Bouzakis.

Just a heads up that the GSD Staff is headed to Boston this weekend for its annual Agricultural Festival. (This year's theme is "Squash!", and we're very excited to see all the presenters especially after last year's festival was cancelled due to the pandemic.) So, we'll do our best to get reliable snowfall totals for you during the storm.

We'll have more about the storm tomorrow: More maps, more fine-tuning of the timing, and an update on the sleet situation.