Downgrade: Winter Weather Advisory In Effect But Early Releases Are In Play (Wednesday, Jan. 25)

A couple of developments have occurred that could impact the length of the school day tomorrow:

*Most importantly, snow totals are down now about 1.5" from earlier this morning. This means 3" or so for the entire County with higher totals in the eastern hill towns (approaching 6"). This moved the Winter Storm Watch to a Winter Weather Advisory.

*Snow is expected to start between 11 and 12 AM in South County and noon and 1:00 PM in North County. 

*The winds are going to be nasty tomorrow night. Gusts up to 45 mph. Isolated power outages are likely.

NWS Albany

Snow is expected to end around midnight--at the latest--for much of Berkshire County before the changeover to sleet and then drizzle. 

There's no real change to our prediction for Thursday (very low chance for delays and snow days most students), but the expected earlier start time for the snow tomorrow is definitely raising a red flag in the GSD Office. 

How much blowback your Superintendent received last Friday (when it started snowing at 7 AM) will likely determine if your district opts for the early release. Supers would prefer not to deal with that again. Logistically, the early release is a nightmare for families with elementary school children, so we are not expecting widespread early releases, but a few districts could go with that option.

We are still confident that after school and Wednesday evening activities will be cancelled for most schools.