Winter Storm Watch for Northern Berkshire

Happy April Fool's day, all you flake followers.

Just a caveat before we break down this early spring storm: Spring storms can be very unpredictable. October and April/May storms tend to have high variance often because not enough cold air is firmly in place.

But, without said, let's jump in to this storm and most likely get our hopes up way too high for a snow day on Thursday.

First, moderate-to-big April storms are not that uncommon. In 1997, there was a legendary April Fools Day blizzard that crushed New England with 25" in Boston and areas in central Mass and New Hampshire hitting 30 inches. In 2021, the northeastern hill towns picked up half a foot on April 14th. In 1982, Springfield received 13 inches of snow. In 2016, parts of Western Mass picked up 4" of snow on April 4th. And in 2017 4-8" was predicted for April 1 but the storm was a flop.

This storm is going to be a long duration storm. It will start raining tomorrow (Tuesday), and it will not stop raining/sleeting/snowing until Friday.

Right now it's looking like rain Tuesday and Wednesday with snow mixing an then changing over to all snow Wednesday night. Snow will fall throughout the day on Thursday before tapering to snow showers on Friday.

NWS Albany has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Northern Berkshire that begins on Wednesday and ends Thursday night. The forecast is for the chance for 7+ inches of snow with some icing mixed in and high winds to boot. This sounds a little like our Saturday, March 23rd storm but with less ice. That day would have assuredly been a snow day had it fallen on a week day.

From the map above, it looks as if the eastern half of the county has a much higher chance for snow days. Any districts with high elevation towns (over 1000') could and perhaps should be enjoying a full day off on Thursday. 

Hopefully South County gets involved with at least a Winter Weather Advisory by tomorrow. 

Look for our next update around 1 PM on Tuesday.