Dave Hayes knows which way the winds blow

In “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Dylan famously sings “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”

Well you definitely do need one to know what the hell the weather is going to be in your small piece of the Valley.

That’s because it may be raining in Leverett, but not in Amherst, the next town over. Or they might get 6 to 8 inches of snow in Shutesbury, another neighboring town, but maybe only a few flakes here. Rain, snow, clouds, wind all depend on where a front is coming from and what it does when it hits the Valley’s surrounding foothills. Add the Connecticut River, running the full length north to south, into the mix and who the heck knows what we’re in for?

Dave Hayes the Weather Nut, that’s who.

Now Dave is not an actual meteorologist, he just plays one of Facebook. I actually don’t know what Dave does for a living, but I do know he’s a great bass player.

I also know that whenever I need to know what the forecast is, I go to Dave’s page because he explains in great detail what the weather will be and why. And – this is the most important part – he breaks his forecast down into geographical sections because he knows how different the weather will be from Southern Vermont to the foothills east and west to Southern Connecticut.

His forecasts also are delivered with humor and even wisdom. After one particularly gray period of days, he started his forecast like this: YELLOW-WHITE ORB REPORTED IN THE SKY... THE PEOPLE STAND IN AWE AND AMAZEMENT...

Beyond that, you get a full weather forecast that includes both meteorological speak and bulleted easy-to-digest nuggets plus graphics that would please any weather nerd.

He never disappoints in giving you exactly what you want – a complete breakdown of the weather in your area:

--I still think 1-4" is a good bet in the high terrain of southern VT, the northern

Taconics, northern Berkshires and western Franklin County and northwestern

Hampshire County. 

--Otherwise a coating to an 1" or so should do it for the rest of the region

(central/southern Berkshires, Litchfields, southern/central Taconics, southwest NH,

rest of WMass, CMass, with little to none in northern CT)

In an area where you never know which way the wind will be blowing on any given day, we have Dave the Weather Nut to fill us in.