After the Slush: Warmer Weather Arrives

Staff ReportsPrint Story | Email Story
Yuck. After Tuesday's surprise snowstorm (1 to 2 inches??), which sent kids home early and canceled activities, there's another mess headed our way. 
 
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for all of Western Massachusetts, Southern Vermont, northern Connecticut and most of Upstate New York and the Capital Region.
 
The warning runs from 5 p.m. on Thursday to noon Friday, with a forecast of snow and sleet and icy rain. 
 
The region can expect total accumulations of one to 2 inches, with greater expectations of ice totals in the higher elevations. 
 
This will start as rain on Thursday afternoon, before changing over to sleet and freezing rain, and then snow across the northern region. This is expected to taper off on Friday morning. 
 
The evening and morning commutes will be messy with black ice and slippery roads.
 
Greylock Snow Day's confidence meter is at 45 percent for school delays on Friday morning.
 
But wait, according to Accuweather, temperatures are going to finally break out of the frozone this weekend and spike across the Midwest and Northeast. We're talking high 40s and maybe even the 50s for New England. 
 
"The pattern from late this week into the weekend will give tens of millions of people in parts of the Midwest and Northeast a serious case of spring fever," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz said
 
Spring is 17 days away. 

A messy storm will begin with plain rain showers this afternoon across southern New England. As cold air bleeds south, a change to ice, sleet and snow will occur from north to south. The storm has trended colder with more sleet potential. #MAwx #CTwx #RIwx #NHwx #MEwx #VTwx

[image or embed]

— New England Storm Center (@nestormcenter.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 11:09 AM

Tags: snow & ice,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Clarksburg Students Write in Support of Rural School Aid

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Mason Langenback calculated that Clarksburg would get almost $1 million if the $60 million was allocated equally.
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Eighth-graders at Clarksburg School took a lesson in civic advocacy this week, researching school funding and writing letters to Beacon Hill that call for fully funding rural school aid. 
 
The students focused on the hardships for small rural schools and their importance to the community — that they struggle with limited funding and teacher shortages, but offer safe and supportive spaces for learning and are a hub for community connections.
 
"They all address the main issue, the funding for rural schools, and how there's a gap, and there's the $4 million gap this year, and then it's about the $40 million next year, and that rural schools need that equitable funding," said social studies teacher Mark Karhan.
 
A rural schools report in 2022 found smaller school districts cost from nearly 17 percent to 23 percent more to operate, and recommended "at least" $60 million be appropriated annually for rural school aid. 
 
Gov. Maura Healey has filed for more Chapter 70 school aid, but that often is little help to small rural schools with declining or static enrollment. For fiscal 2027, she's budgeted $20 million for rural schools, up from around $13 million this year but still far below the hoped for $60 million. 
 
Karhan said the class was broken into four groups and the students were provided a submission letter from Rural Schools Advocacy. The students used the first paragraph, which laid out the funding facts, and then did research and wrote their own letters. 
 
They will submit those with a school picture to the governor. 
 
View Full Story

More North Adams Stories