Friday, December 16 Storm Update -- T-minus 36 Hours

Expectations for this messy storm are starting to come into better focus, but there is still a high degree of uncertainty about what is going to happen in South County. 

We're going to need a few questions answered in the next 24 hours:

*Will the Watch get upgraded to a Warning for Northern Berkshire? If that happens, then students from Pittsfield and Central Berkshire and all districts north will have snow days on Fridays.

*Will the expected snow totals continue to go up? NWS Albany adjusted their maps in the wee hours this morning to reflect higher snow totals. That's a great trend.

*Will South County get a Winter Weather Advisory or a full Winter Storm Warning? If NWS Albany goes with an Advisory, then delays--not snow days--are still in play, especially for Southern Berkshire, Farmington River and maybe even Berkshire Hills. If the Warning gets announced, then full snow days are almost assured for all.

*Will we get radiational cooling this evening? The lower the temperature drop this evening, the more entrenched the cold air will be. More cold air, longer period of snow. Even just a few additional hours of snow before the shift to rain (South County) could make a big difference between getting a delay and getting a snow day.

*Could this storm be a bust? There's a lot of moisture with this one, but that threat of warm up pushing up the Hudson Valley and into western Berkshire County is definitely a possible scenario. It would be by far the cruelest outcome, and it's definitely in play.

At this point, just under 36 hours away from the start of the storm, we have high confidence that Northern Berkshire schools will have full snow days and South County schools will have--at the very least--delays. The timing is perfect as is the threat of severe weather throughout the day on Friday. Those two factors alone will give Superintendents pause as they consider making their staff and students travel to school.