If you’re going to be shopping this weekend, don’t forget TOYS FOR TOTS!  The annual 22News, US Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots drive begins Monday November 26.  We are in need of NEW UNWRAPPED Toys.  You can drop them off on our 22News lobby Monday-Friday 9:00am-7pm. 

We are located just off Exit 3 of I-391,  at 1 Broadcast Center in Chicopee. Keep in mind that these toys will stay in western Massachusetts.  So, the time and money you invest in a new unwrapped toy, will help a family right here in western Massachusetts.  I’ll see you in the lobby!!!

The Leonid Meteor showers peak late Friday night/early Saturday morning. To be exact, the peak of this shower will be at 4:30am Saturday.  This won’t be a “spectacular” show of shooting stars. But, the sky is clear, so we’ll see some action. I’ve heard up to 20 shooting stars per hour. Enjoy!

While we haven’t seen much (if any) snow around here, this run of cool dry air that we’re in has allowed ski areas in New Hampshire Vermont & Maine to make snow.  Now, a few of them are opening up, before Thanksgiving!  Keep in mind that this early season skiing isn’t for everyone.  The terrain will be limited, but snow is snow!  In New Hampshire; Bretton Woods, Loon and Waterville Valley will open this weekend.  In Vermont; Killington and Okemo are open.  In Maine; Sunday River and Sugarloaf are open.

As for Massachusetts, I get the feeling that if these cool nights continue, a few areas will be open Thanksgiving Weekend.

If you go skiing this week, let me know how the conditions are! And send pictures to reportit@wwlp.com!

Thanks to you for emailing snowfall totals to reportit@wwlp.com:

6.0″ – Monson
6.0″ – Wales
5.0″ – Granville
4.0″ – Hampden
4.0″ – Holland
3.0″ – Brimfield
2.1″ – Enfield, CT
2.0″ – Suffield, CT
1.5″ – E. Longmeadow
0.5″ – West Springfield
Coating – Chicopee
Coating – Goshen

If you live in places like Leverett, Colrain, or Northfield you may not have seen a single flake!  It looked like it was snowing on our radar, but the snowflakes were evaporating before they hit the ground!

So, I was wasting some time on Facebook earlier today, when an old radio friend of mine reminded me that Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend!  With all of the Sandy stuff happening, I totally forgot!

We set our clocks back one hour this Sunday at 2am.  That gives you an extra hour of sleep (or an extra hour of Saturday night fun!).  It takes away an hour of daylight Sunday afternoon.  Sunset on Sunday afternoon will be 4:40pm EST.   This is a great time to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors!

We’ll be reminding you all week!

The USGS is reporting a 4.0 magnitude earthquake, centered a few miles west of Hollis Center, Maine, happened at 7:12 Tuesday evening.  It was felt through western Massachusetts and as far south as southern Connecticut. Here’s a link to the USGS data page for this earthquake.  Enjoy!!!!!

We’re beginning another run of dry and bright weather in western Massachusetts. Skies will be mostly sunny today.  A few scattered clouds are likely this afternoon.  There will be a noticeable breeze from the west.  High temperatures will be in the upper 60s & low 70s. 

Evening temperatures will be in the 60s and 50s.  With mostly clear skies and calm wind, there’s a good chance of scattered frost, especially in rural areas.  Monday’s low temperatures will be in the mid 30s.  It will be another bright day Monday, with low humidity and highs in the mid to upper 60s.

While some “scattered” frost could happen Sunday and Monday night, there is no hard frost in our future, at least for the next 7 days.  Keep in mind our first “killing” frost usually does not happen until mid October.    Adding to the intrigue, the National Weather Service is predicting above average temperatures for our area through December.

Make sure you take some time tonight to check out the “blue moon”!  A blue moon is the second full moon in one month.   Our first August full moon (the full Sturgeon moon) was on August 1st! 

Serendipitously, this blue moon falls on the day of memorial services for Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon. 

Our next month with a blue moon is July 2015!

I know this is not weather related, but please indulge me!  The 2012 Paralympics began tonight with the opening ceremonies in London.  If you get a chance, check out the competition on Paralympics TV.  Speaking of Paralympics TV, western Massachusetts native & paralympic champion, Chris Wadell  was hosting Wednesday night’s TV coverage of the opening ceremonies.  Very cool!

Here are some town by town totals from Tuesday’s flooding rain.

Tuesday Morning Rainfall Reports:

*West Springfield, Mass: 1.17″
*East Longmeadow, Mass: 1.88″
*Palmer, Mass: 1.49″
*Chicopee/Springfield: 1.09″
*Westfield: 1.28″
*Northampton: 0.75″
*Greenfield: 0.43″
*Pittsfield: 0.55″
*North Adams: 0.39″
*Alford: 0.75″

Thanks to you for sending us your reports via reportit@wwlp.com  and to our own Nick Bannin for assembling the data!

Your rain gauge will have cobwebs in it by the end of the week.  We don’t have any rain in our 22News Storm Team Forecast through Sunday!