Tuesday, February 13 Storm: Snow Days Likely

Good morning, Flake Followers!

It is certainly looking more and more likely that students in the area will be enjoying a snow day on Tuesday. The Winter Storm Watch was expanded to Northern Berkshire as well as Southern Vermont, which means the expected track of the storm is more northerly. And remember, as the wise old staffers at GSD say, "the norther the better"™.

The things working in our favor:

*Enough cold air in place.
*Spectacularly perfect timing--snow starting around 3:00 AM and heavy snow expected throughout the morning on Tuesday.
*A high level of liquid is associated with this storm. More liquid = more snow.

What we don't like:

*It's a fast mover--probably no more than 12 hours of snow fall.
*There could be a significant cut-off line for the northern edge of the storm. The northwest corner of the Berkshires might only see 3-5 inches. The only school districts that could be affected by this cut-off would be Mount Anthony and Mount Greylock. Everyone else should be fine.

Widespread snow days are likely due to the anticipated heavy snow during the morning commute and the relatively high snow totals. And we definitely think some Superintendents will call this one on Monday night.

Here's our favorite map so far:

NWS Albany -- high end forecast.

We're not sure how this much snow is going to fall from a storm that is supposed to move through this fast, but we like it! In no way does the GSD Staff think that this amount of snow will fall, but it's nice knowing it's in the realm of possibility.

Here are some realistic maps:

Meteorologist Dave Epstein.

NWS Burlington

The next time you'll hear from us Monday. We'll have (hopefully) more refined information, more maps, and hopefully a few closings to report.