Watching Wednesday

The good news, Flake Followers, is that we still have two days left for our long Thanksgiving weekend. What's incredible to think about is that when we return to school on Monday, we'll only have 17 days of classes until the winter holiday break. This stretch from Thanksgiving to Christmas is always zany, but this year it's going to be more compressed, which means even less time to squeeze in all that shopping, all those holiday parties, and all those other holiday-themed events.

We might even have another a snow day or two to contend with, which would be unusual but delightful. We rarely get more than one snow day prior to the New Year, but maybe this year will be the year we buck the trend.

As for upcoming weather...

Look for possible drizzle and freezing drizzle at certain points in the overnight Saturday and into Sunday afternoon. The next eyebrow-raising event is a little something for Tuesday into Wednesday. Right now it looks like a snow-to-sleet-to-rain storm, with the progression beginning in the early Wednesday morning hours. We definitely need to keep our eyes on this weathermaker, as delays are certainly a possibility given the timing and type of precipitation forecasted for the morning commute.

This mixed precipitation could find its way into our area on Wednesday morning. Thanks to Accuweather for the image.

Until then, enjoy those leftovers and get your rest for the next phase of the holiday frenzy.

Storm Mincemeat Wrap-up

Storm Mincemeat just about delivered on its promises, dropping close to a foot in the Berkshires. At the GSD Home Office, we recorded 11 inches of snow. Official weather spotters reported 10 inches in Lanesborough and 11.5 inches in Pittsfield. The big winner was Savoy, with a robust 15 inches. Not bad for late November.

The surprise of the storm was the loss of power for several hours last night. Because the snow was so sticky and there was almost no wind associated with this storm, the snow clung to the branches to the point that many branches were overburdened and snapped. There will be a lot of clean-up ahead with this storm and the damage it did to trees.

Storm Mincemeat: Ha, ha! Have a big helping of snow!
Tree: I will bend but you will not break me.

As for the next chance of snow, we may still see a few potent snow showers for Turkey Day which could drop up to an inch on us. Other than that, we have our eye on a very brief period of snow for the afternoon on Monday and a chance at mixed precipitation for the morning commute. We'll attach the Wednesday disturbance to the True North Confidence meter; unfortuntely, we don't think it will amount to much.

Have a great day. Enjoy your time off, and if for some reason you're one of those people who insist on shopping on Friday, may the Good Fairy of Commerce keep you safe.

Storm Mincemeat Update--Midday Report

We're terribly sorry if you were not one of the schools who enjoyed a snow day or release today, which, unfortunately, was most of Berkshire County. We hope South County students were able to get home safely and the roads weren't too bad at the time of dismissal.

In Northern Berkshire, the first flakes of Storm Mincemeat started falling right after 10 AM. We were off by a 15 minutes or so in our prediction. By 11:15, the snow was starting to stick and by noon the roads were very greasy.

Because the thermometer is still above 32 degrees, the snow is a heavy, dense snow right now. As the temperature drops throughout the afternoon, the snow will become fluffier, and that will allow the snow to pile up even more.

As you can see from this radar shot, there's definitely some kick left in this storm. Those yellow and orange bands of rain (near Washington, DC) are on target to overspread our area later this afternoon. The snow is fairly light right now (1 PM); expect to see it pick up considerably in the next 5 to 6 hours.

When it's all said and done, we'll end up with at least a foot in most locations in the Berkshires. Some spots will top out around 16 or 17 inches. As of 1 PM, we're seeing reports of between 3.5 and 5 inches of snow already on the ground. At the GSD Home Office, we have 3.2 inches on the ground.

Kick back and enjoy it! Get out there and play in the white stuff. We all could use a little extra exercise today in advance of the feasting tomorrow.