A quick winter storm is poised to hit the Northeast on Tuesday, prompting school officials in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to announce closures.
Much of the Northeast is under winter weather advisories or winter storm watches on Monday night as an incoming snowstorm is predicted to deliver widespread amounts of 3 to 5 inches across New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine. School districts often announce delays or closures a few hours before classes are set to start, but occasionally, such announcements can occur the night before if a weather forecast calls for it.
School officials have announced changes to class schedules across roughly two dozen schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as of 6:40 p.m. ET Monday. This is not an all-inclusive list, and it’s possible more schools will announce delays or closures later Monday night or early Tuesday morning.
In Massachusetts, Veritas Prep and Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence have announced that they will be closed on Tuesday, according to a report from Mass Live. Oxford Middle School, Oxford High School and Pioneer Valley Regional will hold early dismissal.
In New Hampshire, nearly more than a dozen schools announced that they would close early before the predicted snowstorm. The list, available here, includes Kingswood Regional High School, Lakeside Academy, Middleton School District, New Durham Elementary School, Crescent Lake School, Effingham Elementary School and James Faulkner Elementary School, among others, according to a report by WMUR 9.
Although the predicted snowstorm will move out of the area quickly and streets will be cleared in the Northeast by Wednesday, National Weather Service (NWS) lead meteorologist Mike Kistner told Newsweek the storm would affect Tuesday’s morning commute. The NWS alerts also reflected the likely impacts on traffic.
“Periods of moderate and heavy snow will combine with low visibility to create dangerous driving conditions,” NWS Gray, Maine, said in the winter storm watch. “The hazardous conditions could impact the Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning commutes as well as holiday travel.”
The hazardous travel in the Northeast comes as millions of Americans are expected to travel this week for the Christmas holiday. AAA projects that 122.4 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home during the holiday period, which typically runs from December 20 to January 1.
Kistner warned that although weather will likely be fine for travel in the Northeast on Christmas Eve and Christmas, wintry conditions could return on Friday, potentially affecting those who are planning to travel home that day. On the other side of the country, the West Coast faces a bomb cyclone storm system set to snarl flights and create hazardous conditions for motorists this week with heavy rain, strong winds and mountain snow.
