Back From Thanksgiving Break: What To Expect

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend, Snowhounds!

After a little taste of winter last week, it's been quiet around the GSD Home Office with temperatures generally in the 40s for the last week or so. And, unfortunately, there's not much in the 10-day forecast to feast our eyes on. 

We'll see rain in the afternoon on Sunday, and then two dry days before a low pressure system comes up from the Gulf of Mexico to usher in the month of December. Normally, this type of storm would be something to get excited about, but it's going to track too far to the west. When we're on the east side of low pressure systems, too much warm air gets into the area and we get rain. There's no indication whatsoever that this storm will track further to the east and turn the rain to snow.

The European model for the Wednesday/Thursday storm. Not much to write home about.

As the storm departs, a cold front will come through, and that's when we could see a shift from rain to wintery mix or snow. This forecast is iffy, and the people with the best chance to see snow will be those who live in higher elevation towns. So snow is possible late Wednesday and early morning on Thursday but it won't be much.

The big noticeable attribute of the midweek storm will be high winds. We won't be surprised at all to see high wind warnings and alerts. Meteorologists are already talking about the potential for 50 mph gusts.

Enjoy the weekend!

The Chance For A Wednesday Delay Is Now Weaker

The good news: it's going to snow tonight. (In fact, it's snowing right now). Yay! The bad news: the storm is tracking more to our west than models and forecasters originally thought. Boo!

This means we will have our winter wonderland this evening so get out there and enjoy it. But a warm pocket of air is going to sneak up the from the south and change our snow over to mixed precipitation briefly and then all rain. Sadly, that changeover is going to happen much earlier than we thought: well before the morning commute.

So, it's not looking too great for delays. A few schools in higher elevation towns in the eastern part of the county could still get a delay, but most students should anticipate a full day tomorrow. We know that's not what you wanted to hear given all the stress and drama of the pre-sale today, but, like the Ticketmaster website, these early season storms can be very fickle and unreliable.

This ain't gonna cut it.

It's small consolation, but some of the models are showing impressive potential storms over Thanksgiving weekend and the middle of the week after Thanksgiving. And with the cold air in place for a few more weeks, our chance for an early season winter storm is still better than average.

Winter Weather Advisory for Tuesday Night and Wednesday; Delays Possible

Winter is coming in hot, so to speak, and the GSD Home Office is astir with activity. NWS Albany hoisted the Winter Weather Advisory flag earlier this afternoon, calling for 2-5" of snow for the Northern Berkshires and 1-3" for the Southern half.

Despite the relatively low snow totals for this storm, the timing is pretty delicious with a messy commute expected Wednesday morning. We're going to bump up the chance for a delay to 50% for two reasons. 1) The great timing. 2) Superintendents may want to kick the tires on the old delayed start system--get the admin team in place, dust off the numbers for DPW, and check to see if the district-wide robo-call works.

If you were to draw a diagonal line from Williamstown to Sandisfield, the schools on the east side of that line have a much better chance for a delay than those on the west side of that line. There may be exceptions, of course, but we'll see more snow and mixed precipitation in the north and east of our fair county.

There should be a changeover to rain later in the morning, so it's highly unlikely any districts will go with the full snow day on Wednesday.

We'll have more info tomorrow evening.

Welcome To Winter, 2022-23! Delays Possible For Wednesday (Nov. 16)

Hello, fellow Flake Followers, Snow-a-holics, and Low Pressure System Lovers! We are back for another fun-filled winter in the Berkshires. Once again, we will be satisfying all of your snow day, delay, early release, and freeze day needs. With new technology and new GSD staff members, we are amped and ready to roll for the snow season.

And there's great news--snow is officially in the forecast this week. It's extremely late for us to get our first round of frozen precipitation--usually we at least see a flurry in late October--but the first snow this season could, in fact, be measurable. Delays are definitely in play for Wednesday! Right now we are expecting 1-3" for all of Berkshire County. Worse case scenario is an inch of wet snow on grassy areas and wet roads. Best case scenario is 3-4 inches with slushy roads that need to be cleared before school can start. We'll need some more information on just how cold it's going to get Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning before we settle in with a firmer prediction.

A promising mid-November forecast from NWS Albany. Delays possible for Wednesday.

Given how warm it's been, we think delays will be more the exception than the rule (25% chance), but we still have a 36 hours or so to modify the forecast. Stay posted for updates on this first winter weather producer. Eastern hill towns will have higher chances for delays.