With another snowstorm taking aim at the Pioneer Valley, the Republican and Masslive.com will be posting news updates about the storm throughout the day.
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The second storm will strike Wednesday morning bringing 4 to 6 inches of snow with as much as an inch of ice to Hampden County and 6 to 12 inches of snow in Franklin and Berkshire Counties. Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties will likely get 6 to 12 inches of snow Wednesday, he said.
There were reports again of heavy traffic in grocery stores as area residents prepared by stocking up on supplies. Ludlow school officials announced Monday that classes would be dismissed today before noon in anticipation of the storm, and that classes would be canceled if conditions worsen.
The record-breaking season is a reminder that iconic Currier and Ives scenes of New England winters have not lost their relevance.
“Of course, we don’t know what’s going to happen in February, March and April, but if things keep up, we could be challenging the winter of 1995-96, the snowiest on record,” says Ed Carroll, meteorologist for abc40.
In Greater Springfield, there were six days in January when temperatures dropped below zero, including a minus-20 degree reading at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee on Jan. 24, the coldest temperature in the area in a half century.
Historically in Greater Springfield, an average of 50 inches of snow falls a year, and only half of it falls by Feb. 1.
“So there is certainly the potential for a lot more,” said Curt M. Osgood, a consulting meteorologist who forecasts for Chicopee.
“February has had the biggest storms, but we can have major snowstorms right through March. We’ve even had some blizzards in April,” he said.
If you define the winter as December, January and February, as many meteorologists do, the current season is on track to be the coldest since 1994, as it is running about 4 degrees below normal.
In terms of snowfall, much will have to be added to the 40 or so inches that have fallen to date in Greater Springfield to reach the record total of the 1995-96 season, 107 inches. The 72 inches that have fallen at Bradley have already put this snow season among the top 10 of the last century in the Greater Hartford area.
The year has begun in markedly different fashion than 2010, when the talk was about how little snow was falling. Only about 28 inches fell through the season locally. Ironically, the area received significantly less snow than areas to the south, such as New York City (about 51 inches) and Washington, D.C., (about 73 inches) .
The winter was followed by a spring that was unseasonably warm, with thermometers hitting 90 degrees during the first week of April. In fact, eight of 12 months in 2010 were warmer than normal.
Locally, March was the fourth warmest on record, April was the warmest on record, and May was the warmest in almost 20 years. The warmth caused flowers to bloom and grass to green up two or three weeks earlier than normal.
Summer was barely underway when a major record fell. There was a 103-degree reading at Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield on July 6, the highest temperature ever recorded in Greater Springfield.
Meanwhile, rain was scarce. The flow of water in some rivers and streams in Western Massachusetts fell to new historic lows through the summer, threatening local water supplies. Much of Hampshire County and western Hampden County was placed in the “severe hydrologic drought,” category by the U.S. Geological Survey.
In fact, only four of 12 months during the year were wetter than normal.
The fall was a more normal season, with above normal rainfall and about normal temperatures. The year’s rainiest day occurred on Oct. 1, when 2.83 inches fell in Westfield.
As for the rest of the winter, the National Weather Service is calling for a better than even chance that precipitation will be higher than normal, but temperatures are most likely to be about normal.
Material from Patrick Johnson, staff writer for The Republican, and the Associated Press was used in this report.