The Triumphant Return of Snow

Spring has not sprung; the grass has not riz. Winter is making a comeback and will impact our area next week.

We have our meteorological eyeballs fixed on two events next week. The first one, which will be lighter, could impact the Tuesday morning commute to school. The second one could impact the length of the day on Friday.

Folks at Accuweather are more optimistic about this storm than our local meteorologists are.

There are few indicators that the Monday/Tuesday storm could be a sleeper and develop into a more coastally enhanced event, but right now the expectation is for 1-3 inches starting late Monday night and lasting throughout the day on Tuesday. The models aren't doing much with the storm, but there seems to be enough energy in place for it to develop into a moderate snowstorm, especially for South County and southern and southeastern New England. If it fully develops, we could see 4" north of Pittsfield and 6 inches in South County. If.

The storm at the end of the week has the potential to bring heavy snow to the Northeast. There's still a lot of uncertainty with, but we won't be surprised to see a nor'easter develop on Friday. Our only concern is that it will develop too late on Friday to give us widespread snow days. Early releases might be our only hope.

All of this is good news for us snow lovers. If we could add 10 inches to the seasonal snow total next week--a distinct possibility--skiers, sledders, and snowshoers should have enough of a base of snow to get them through the end of February, as we are expecting #arcticgeddon beginning in early February.

Keep your eyes peeled and your ears open. More to follow tomorrow.

Winter Weather Advisory and News and Notes

The National Weather Service has announced a Winter Weather Advisory for patchy frozen precipitation of various kinds this evening and tomorrow morning for Northern Berkshire county only. There's just the slightest chance of delays on Tuesday for Adams-Cheshire, Florida, Clarksburg, and Savoy, but most students will be unaffected. If you're reading this, it is officially, as they say, on your radar.

And some other news...

The government shutdown is not good for weather brokers like ourselves. We tried to do some research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website and got shot down. Some parts of the website are working--those having to do with the weather safety--but everything else will return at a later date.

And finally, brace yourselves for a brutal February. There is lots of talk about the return of subzero temperatures after the first week of February. The well-known long-term forecasters are all over the story of the returning cold temperatures. And if it's anything like December, we'll be looking at freeze delays and freeze cancellations in the week before February vacation. This is all a few weeks off, and you should expect to see a lot of coverage in the mainstream media as we get closer to the arrival of the potentially record-setting cold air.

Watch those roads tonight and tomorrow morning for slick spots.

January Thaw

We're entering the doldrums of winter. The holidays are over, we just had MLK Jr. Day, the Super Bowl is not for another two weeks, and the next vacation is over a month away. And to top it all off, we have a map to show you that will make you very sad.

This is the predicted temperature forecast for the end of January. That is not the map that those in the snow day business want to see. We'll get precipitation during this time, but it will be in the form of rain. Case in point: Monday-night-into-Tuesday's storm. We could see an inch of rain out of this weather disturbance by the end of the day Tuesday. Normally at this time of year, one inch of liquid would generate roughly 12 inches of snow. But not this time, as temperatures will be in the low 40s.

A look ahead at the forecast models show that for 10 of the next 12 days, we will see temperatures north of the freezing mark. This brings us great sadness.

The GSD Staff definitely thinks that Old Man Winter has a few more whoppers in store for the Berkshires before this winter runs its course--and some forecasters think that in February we'll see a cold snap similar to the one we experienced in December--but we're entering a very quiet phase that will last for at least two weeks.