Happy New Year, snow lovers!
The year is starting off on a positive note with snow in the forecast. NWS Albany has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Northern Berkshire County and a Wind Advisory for the entire County. But all in the Berkshires should wake up to snow on the ground on Thursday.
Some school districts are still on vacation on Thursday, but most schools are back in session. We are expecting delays for some but not all districts. Pittsfield, Central Berkshire, Hoosac Valley, North Adams and the mountain elementary schools all have a better chance for a delay than Lee, Lenox, Berkshire Hills, and Southern Berkshire.
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| NWS Albany |
The Advisory kicks in at 4 PM, which means snow should start falling around 5. Higher elevations will once again be favored to get more snow. The current forecast is for 3-6" in Northern Berkshire and 1-3" in Southern Berkshire. Snow should continue well into the day on Thursday.
This is not a traditional snow storm (i.e. Alberta Clipper or nor'easter). The strong storm that brought heavy rain last night is now swirling around up in Canada. That swirling will create lake effect snow and upslope snow. (Check out the forecast for towns on the eastern edge of Lake Ontario--2-4 feet in some spots!)
These kinds of "residual effects" snow events can be very unpredictable. Squalls can come through and elevate snow totals. We can also get locked in to a prolonged period of upslope snow. On that note, NWS Albany always posts a high end map that shows the potential if the storm over performs. Here it is:
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| NWS Albany |
If the storm does over perform, then obviously snow days are likely for all districts. But putting hope in "if" is a dangerous game.
The GSD Staff has mixed feelings about this storm. The timing looks good in that it should be snowing during the witching hour (i.e. when Superintendents make their decisions), but we are less enthused about the amount of snow. So we will go with a fairly generic 50% chance of delays for schools in the north and 30% chance for schools below Pittsfield. And everybody gets a 15% chance for a snow day.
We'll post later tonight if conditions improve or degrade in any significant way. Enjoy the last day of vacation, and may your prayerful thoughts be snowy ones.
