Winter Weather Advisory for Friday Night (12/6)

Locate those galoshes now! The first moderate snowfall is on the way, hey hey hey.

The Berkshires look like the big winner tonight as most Wx (that's some shorthand weatherese for "weather") prognosticators (that's just a big word we like to use to sound more intelligent than we actually are) have us in the 3-7" range with some of the more aggressive forecasters thinking we'll see upwards of 8 inches. Nice.

A modest forecast, but it's Friday night, so what does it really matter?

It's definitely going to snow, and you will need to exert some energy to get yourselves on your way tomorrow, wherever you're headed.

We're still on course (see the post below) for a 6 PM start to this at times intense burst of snow.

And here's a little preview of our next item of interest:

We like it. Thanks, Accuweather.

Winter Storm Watch for Friday (12/6) Night; Monday Storm Still Likely

Oh how the landscape has changed in the last 24 hours. NOAA has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the Berkshires, which means we're in the 4-7" zone for the snow event tonight (Friday). Higher elevations will benefit more than lower elevations with this very fast moving storm. Look for the snow to start around 6 PM, perhaps even an hour earlier, and it should end by about 2 AM or 3 AM.

Had a decision about school been in play, we would have called for a 40% chance of a delay even with the WSW. Because it's a fast mover and because of the likelihood that we will be on the lower end of the 4-7" prediction, road crews would have been able to do their thing.

If you're planning on heading somewhere early Saturday morning, just know you'll need to factor in some car clean-off time. The best part of this storm is that it will certainly enhance the holiday spirit, which the GSD staff has been having a harder time than usual getting into this year. Perhaps it's the lingering food hangover from a late Thanksgiving. Whatever the cause of this unusual holiday malaise, tonight's storm will help make it look like the holidays.

As for the Monday event...

Like that crush you had in middle school, it's just one mixed signal after another. Both literally and figuratively, the amount of precipitation and the temperature are up in the air. A few models have been downgrading the amount of precipitation, but two other more recent runs of the computer models have started to swing the precipitation back up again.

What is very clear is the timing, which is just about perfect. Snow should start after midnight on Sunday--at least that's what we're saying now--and continue as snow into the pre-dawn hours when sleet and freezing rain could mix in. All in all, the commute on Monday is going to be a slippery slide. We think a delay is much more likely than a full snow day, and our chances of a delay are about 50/50. We'll know a lot more by Sunday morning, and we'll be sure to pronounce our "final word" on Monday's storm some time on Sunday afternoon.

Don't forget to vote for the first storm name!

Monday (12/9) Storm Taking Shape

Despite the warmth we have in store for us tomorrow (Thursday)--high near 50--there is a quite a bit of precipitation on the horizon for Friday and Monday. We should see light rain or drizzle on Friday with perhaps a few ticks of sleet mixed in. Toward the end of the precipitation period on Friday night, we could see a measurable snow burst (<1") as temps shoot back down to a more seasonable level (i.e. cold).

We like what we're hearing about the Sunday-into-Monday event, so much so that we're going to break out our first naming poll of the season. (We'll have to close the poll early Sunday morning so vote early and vote often!) The terms we're hearing are "moderate" and "heavy" for the snow in the post-midnight hours. During the morning commute, the snow will be changing over to sleet and freezing rain and then all rain, which could actually work out in our favor. To put it plainly: a snow day is not out of the question, and if we do get at least 3 inches of snow overnight, then delays are almost a certainty for Monday.

It's hard to say just how big this storm will get, but don't you worry. We're tapping our inner NSA agent and are all over this storm.