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Snowfall Predictions: March Monster

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Crazy late winter weather comes in at full force on Wednesday with — wait for it — up to 15 inches!
 
Everyone get your yardsticks ready because we want some proof this time. 
 
The National Weather Service's lastest forecast is heavy, wet snow with accumulations of 13 to 17 inches, and localized amounts up to 20. The storm system is expected to stall over eastern New York and the Berkshires and dump up to 1 to 2 inches an hour.
 
A winter storm warning is in effect beginning Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. and through Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
Travel will be very difficult to impossible, including during the evening commute on Wednesday. Isolated to scattered power outages possible. Be prepared for significant reductions in visibility at times.
 
Greylock Snow Day is rating the possibility of an early Wednesdy release and a Thursday snow day as  "extremely high."
 
We're giving this one severe storm rating of a full loaf of bread and a gallon of milk.
 
Check iBerkshires for school closings and cancellations.
 
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.
 
"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."
 
The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.
 
The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 
 
"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."
 
The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 
 
"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...
 
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