Note: Clicking on underlined red text provides links to various weather maps

Summary: A band of rain and showers will pass through Berkshire County Thursday morning into early afternoon. This precipitation is being generated by a cold front, extending southward from a surface low pressure system over eastern Canada, which should pass through the county around midday. It will be mild, with temperatures hovering near 50 overnight and through the morning Thursday. However, once the front passes, temperatures will drop precipitously through the 40s and into the upper 30s during the course of the afternoon. It will be much colder Thursday night and Friday and will feel even colder on Friday as it turns blustery due to a strengthening pressure gradient between the departing storm over the Canadian maritime and surface high pressure building in from our southwest.

The strong, cold, west-northwest winds blowing over Lake Ontario will generate fairly heavy bands of lake-effect snow in the usual locations of upstate New York on Thursday night. It appears that the winds will shift into a direction favorable to bring one of these bands over Berkshire County toward dawn and into the morning on Friday. Therefore, there may be snowflakes in the air in some locations when folks awaken on Friday. However, it does not look like we will receive anything more than a dusting of accumulation.

It still looks like a dry Veteran’s Day weekend, although it may become cloudy for a time Saturday night and into Sunday as a weak low pressure system scoots by to our north. The long-range models have been intermittently generating a fairly amplified jet stream wave pattern developing mid week next week, with a trough dropping over the Northeast with an accompanying southward plunge of arctic air. If so, it will feel like winter with temperatures struggling to get above freezing. Stay tuned….

Wednesday Night

Increasing cloudiness, breezy and mild. A band of rain will be moving through the county from northwest to southeast during Thursday morning and will likely reach western portions of North County by daybreak but it will likely still be dry to the south. Probability of precipitation 60% in northwest locations and 30% in southeast locations of the county. Rainfall totals up to 0.10″ in northwest locations.

Low temperatures in the upper 40s will occur during the evening. Temperatures will rise a few degrees into the low 50s by morning.

South-southwest winds at 10-15 mph, with gusts to 25 mph, particularly over the elevated terrain.

Thursday

Overcast with rain spreading over the county from northwest to southeast early in the morning. Intermittent rain and showers through the morning, ending early to mid afternoon. It will be breezy and mild in the morning, becoming sharply colder during the afternoon. Probability of precipitation near 100%. Most likely rainfall totals between .10″ and .25″.

High temperatures will occur during the morning hours and be in the low 50s in Pittsfield, North Adams, Adams and Williamstown; low to mid 50s in Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield and; near 50 over the elevated terrain and hilltowns. Temperatures will drop through the 40s and into the upper 30s over the course of the afternoon.

Southwesterly wind at 10-15 mph, with gusts to 25 mph, during the morning, shifting to west-northwesterly around noon.

Thursday Night

Clearing during the evening then increasing clouds after midnight. Turning colder. There is a good chance for a snow flurry or snow shower toward morning, particularly over North County. Probability of precipitation 50%. A dusting of snow is possible in some locations.

Low temperatures in the upper 20s, mid to upper 20s over the elevated terrain.

West-northwesterly winds at 5-10 mph, 10-15 mph over the elevated terrain.

Friday

There is a good chance of a snow shower or flurry during the morning. Probability of precipitation 50%. A dusting of snow possible in a few locations. There will be a mix of clouds and sun during the afternoon, with the most sun in South County. It will be quite breezy and cold.

High temperatures in the low 40s in Pittsfield, North Adams, Adams and Williamstown; low to mid 40s in Lee and Stockbridge; mid 40s in Great Barrington and Sheffield and; mid to upper 30s over the elevated terrain and hilltowns, depending on elevation.

West-northwest winds at 15-20 mph with gusts to 30 to 40 mph.

Note: Clicking on underlined red text provides links to various weather maps

Summary: Surface high pressure is cresting over the region today. This made for an ideal radiational cooling night last night (clear, calm and dry) with temperatures bottoming out in the teens. This system was also responsible for the beautiful late fall/early winter day today. As it drifts to our east over the next few days, a return southerly flow around the backside of the high will bring milder temperatures but also more cloudiness into the region. We will remain dry until Thursday, when a surface low pressure system will pass well to our north, through the Great Lakes and into Quebec, dragging its trailing cold front through with some rain showers. Surface high pressure will then return for the end of the week and at least the first part of the weekend. This repeating surface pattern, and the jet stream wave pattern responsible for it, have been very persistent for the past several weeks.

Monday Night

Partly cloudy, calm and cold.

Low temperatures near 20 to the low 20s in most locations. There may be some spots in the upper teens over the elevated terrain.

Calm winds.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies and seasonably cool.

High temperatures in the mid to upper 40s in Pittsfield, North Adams, Adams and Williamstown; upper 40s in Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield and; low to mid 40s over the elevated terrain and hilltowns, depending on elevation.

Southerly winds at 5-10 mph.

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear in the evening. Increasing clouds after midnight. Not as cold as previous nights.

Low temperatures generally in the low 30s.

Calm winds.

Wednesday

Partly sunny (more clouds than sun) and milder.

High temperatures in the mid 50s in Pittsfield, North Adams, Adams and Williamstown; mid to upper 50s in Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield and; low 50s over the elevated terrain and hilltowns.

Southerly winds at 8-12 mph.

Note: Clicking on underlined red text provides links to various weather maps

Summary: We will be on a bit of a roller coaster ride with our weather over the next week as the jet stream “waves” back and forth across the region. When it waves to the south of us, as it will be doing this weekend, it will become colder than average and as it waves back to our north it will become warmer than normal. This is fairly typical of this transitional time of year as the jet stream strengthens and, eventually, moves to our south for most of the winter.

During the day today a cold front separating warm, subtropical air from mild air passed through. As a result, Saturday will still be quite mild, with temperatures rising well into the 50s. There should also be a fair amount of sunshine early in the day. However, a second, stronger cold front, separating the mild air from cold, modified arctic air will move through Saturday evening so cloudiness should increase during the afternoon as the front approaches. Even though there will be considerable “lift” generated by this front, the air in advance of the front is too dry to produce more than some scattered showers as the front moves through late Saturday afternoon through the evening. The best chance for a shower is early evening. It should still be warm enough that most, if not all, of any shower activity will be rain. The cold frontal passage will usher in much colder air for Sunday and Monday. It should feel particularly cold on Sunday with temperatures holding in the 30s with blustery north-northwesterly winds.

Unfortunately, right now it looks like skies are likely to be fairly cloudy at sunrise on Sunday so it may be difficult to get a look at the partial solar eclipse.

A strong high pressure system will build in behind the front, giving us fair skies for the early part of the work week. As the high drifts to our east, the jet stream will drift to our north again and southerly winds at the surface will warm our temperatures back up to above normal for midweek. Another cold front will plow through late on Thursday or Thursday night with a period of rain, as the jet stream drifts back to our south, and colder than normal weather should return for the end of the week. However, once again, surface high pressure will build in and, after a transitional day on Friday, could give us fair skies through the Veteran’s Day weekend.

Friday Night

Mostly clear skies, turning cooler, with diminishing winds.

Low temperatures generally near 40 to the low 40s with some upper 30s over the elevated terrain.

West-southwesterly winds at 5-15 mph early this evening, becoming light northwesterly by midnight.

Saturday

Partly cloudy through the morning and into early afternoon. Increasing cloudiness as the afternoon progresses, with the chance of a rain shower late. Probability of precipitation 40% late in the day. Any showers should be relatively light, with rainfall totals 0.05″ or less.

High temperatures in the mid to upper 50s in Pittsfield, North Adams, Adams and Williamstown; upper 50s to near 60 in Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield and; low to mid 50s over the elevated terrain and hilltowns, depending on elevation.

Southwesterly winds at 5-10 mph.

Saturday Night

Mostly cloudy. Scattered rain showers are likely early in the evening. Showers are still a possibility until midnight. Any rain showers cold end as light snow showers or flurries over the elevated terrain. Probability of precipitation 60% early with diminishing probability as the evening progresses. Shower activity should be light with likely rainfall totals .05″ or less. No snow accumulation expected. Becoming breezy and colder.

Low temperatures generally in the low 30s, upper 20s to near 30 over the elevated terrain.

Northwesterly winds at 5-10 mph in the evening, becoming north-northwesterly at 10-15 mph after midnight.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy early in the morning. This may make it difficult to visualize the partial solar eclipse at sunrise. Clouds will decrease over the course of the morning. Partly cloudy skies in the afternoon. It will be blustery and much colder.

High temperatures near 40 in Pittsfield, upper 30s in North Adams, Adams and Williamstown; low 40s in Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield and; mid to upper 30s over the elevated terrain and hilltowns, depending on elevation.

North-northwesterly winds at 10-15 mph, up to 20 mph over the higher terrain, with gusts to 25-30 mph.