Massachusetts
White Christmas chances rise in western Massachusetts
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – There is a chance for snow leading up to Christmas.
In western Massachusetts, the chances for a white Christmas go up the farther north you are or the closer you are to the Berkshires. In Springfield, the chance for at least one inch of snow on Christmas Day is around 40 to 50 percent.
In Pittsfield, the chances are over 75 percent. In the extreme northwest corner of Massachusetts, near North Adams, the historical chance for a white Christmas is over 90 percent. So, it definitely helps your chances for snow if you’re in one of the higher-elevation areas.
How much snow is expected Tuesday
Light snow will begin on Tuesday around sunrise and continue on and off for much of the day until the evening. A minor accumulation is expected in the Pioneer Valley with a few inches in the hills and Berkshires. Slick roads and sidewalks are possible, especially if not treated. High temperatures will be in the low to mid-30s.
What’s the chance of a white Christmas in western Mass?
As of right now, the chances for a white Christmas this year are definitely higher than in the past few years, with some snow on Tuesday. Of course, the best chance for the snow to stick around until Christmas Day without melting will be back in the Berkshires.
December 25 2025 12:00 am
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day both look dry and comfortable.
Local News Headlines
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Download the 22News Plus app on your TV to watch live-streaming newscasts and video on demand.
New England Travel
The glass house perched on 7 private, wooded acres deep in the Berkshires.
Courtesy of Airbnb Community
If you’ve ever scrolled Airbnb and found yourself saving a listing out of wanderlust, welcome to the wish list industrial complex.
Airbnb this week named the most wishlisted properties across all 50 states, and the Bay State’s winner might surprise you. Massachusetts’ top honoree isn’t a shingled cottage on the Cape or a waterfront Nantucket mansion. It’s a mid-century octagonal glass house perched on 7 private, wooded acres in Otis, deep in the Berkshires. And it has a quirkier origin story than you’d expect.
The Mid-Century Glass Octagon was built in the 1970s as a kit house by the owners who had purchased the surrounding land as a private ski hill for their friend group, current owner Katherine Auleta said. It was originally off the grid, heated by a single wood stove, and lit by candelabras hanging from the rafters. By the time Auleta, a former New York fashion photographer, became the third owner, the home had been updated by its previous occupants but had drifted into what she described as “twee” territory — lots of colors, lots of little bird things everywhere.
Auleta stripped the interior back, leaned into the boldness of the octagonal structure, installed a mid-century fireplace gifted by a friend, and lined a shelf with photography books hauled up from her old New York City apartment. The result is a 4.95-star, 463-reviewed juggernaut — one of the most-loved homes on Airbnb, per its listing — that regularly books out at a pace that has guests telling her they’ve been trying to lock in dates for years.
“It’s a special home to me, and I love sharing it with other people,” said Auleta, who now lives on an island off Vancouver and manages the property remotely.
Getting to its lofty, wishlisted perch required some guest-driven compromises. Auleta resisted adding air conditioning (the home’s wraparound slatted windows were designed for natural airflow, she said) but eventually relented.
“That’s what people were asking for, so I did it,” she said. “Your guests are your best teachers, in a way.”
The hospitable philosophy extends to every touchpoint: linen bedding, organic bath products, and a hospitality instinct she traces back to a $3-a-night bamboo hut she once stayed in near Lombok, Indonesia, where French linens and a ceiling fan made a $3 stay feel like luxury.
Guests typically come from Boston, New York, and around the region — often for a romantic weekend, sometimes to get engaged — and they usually bring their groceries, light the fireplace, and stay put.
“The people that really get into the place are the people that are coming to unplug,” she said.
Other New England honorees on Airbnb’s wish list roundup include a modern treehouse with hot tub and water views in Georgetown, Maine; a converted silo house on a Litchfield Hills estate in Connecticut; a tiny cabin retreat in Woodstock, New Hampshire; a tiny eco-cottage with lake views in Smithfield, Rhode Island; and a treehouse with sauna and stream access in Hardwick, Vermont. Consider these wishlisted homes proof that the folks looking for a Northeast getaway increasingly want something off the beaten path for true R&R.
Address Newsletter
Our weekly digest on buying, selling, and design, with expert advice and insider neighborhood knowledge.
Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags as part of a broader $3.6 billion environmental bond bill.
State leaders estimate more than 2 billion plastic bags are used across Massachusetts each year, many of which end up as litter.
Shoppers spoke with NBC 10’s Martha Konstandinidis about the potential ban. (WJAR)
If approved, stores would no longer provide plastic bags at checkout. Shoppers would need to bring reusable bags or pay at least 10 cents for paper bags.
Under the proposal, half of that fee would go toward a state Plastic Environmental Protection Fund, while the remaining portion would stick with retailers.
More than 160 communities in Massachusetts, including Boston, already have local plastic bag bans in place. Shoppers in Seekonk had mixed reactions to the proposal.
“It’s kind of environmentally better, but they shouldn’t be charging people for the bags,” said Bill Joyal.
Some shoppers supported the change, citing environmental concerns.
“That’s a great idea. There’s too much plastic in the environment,” said John Kochanski of Rumford. “I use cloth reusable bags.”
Still, some worry about added costs at checkout.
“Now we’ve got to pay for the bags when the prices for the food you’re shopping for are already too expensive,” said Frank Formisano of Seekonk.
A worker putting items in a paper bag. (FILE)
In Rhode Island, the state has already implemented a similar statewide plastic bag ban in 2024, along with a paper bag fee.
Lawmakers on Beacon Hill have passed similar proposals before, but they have not become law. The current bill also includes funding for climate resilience, clean water projects and infrastructure upgrades.
The proposal was up for debate in the Senate on Wednesday. If it passes, it would still need approval from the House and Gov. Maura Healey before becoming law.
The letter emphasized that sharing non-consensual explicit deepfake images is a crime in Massachusetts and that school leadership must work to stop their spread.
State officials issued the guidance after a Globe report last week found that Massachusetts schools have failed to implement policies to address sexual harassment and Artificial Intelligence.
The Globe analysis found that AI-generated sexual harassment is addressed in nine of 113 school district policies posted on the website of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Only five mentioned that disciplinary action would be taken against students who used AI to create harmful images of others.
Wednesday’s letter reminded local school officials that deepfakes can trigger mandated reporting requirements for teachers and other staff who are required to notify authorities when they believe a child has been harmed. It also offered a list of resources on sexual harassment, cyberbullying, digital literacy, AI, and more.
Last August, state education officials issued guidelines for the responsible use of AI in classrooms, but they did not give specific guidance on the technology and sexual harassment until now.
The Globe reported last week that Megan Mancini had spent months looking for justice after a fake AI-generated naked image of her daughter Grace circulated the hallways of Hingham Middle School last fall. And for a long time, nothing came of it.
The eighth-grade boy who created them was not punished by the school district. Mancini said Hingham administrators also refused her requests to address the problem in the student handbook.
After Mancini went public with her story, Governor Maura Healey contacted her. Mancini said she finally felt heard.
In a phone call on Thursday, Mancini said the governor told her she was “appalled” by Hingham Public Schools inaction and “couldn’t understand why nothing has been done.”
Healey explained that the issue hit close to home, Mancini said, because she and her partner are raising children at a time when AI generated images are flooding schools. The governor’s office confirmed that Healey spoke with Mancini.
“It’s both terrible and totally unacceptable that young people today are living with the fear that their classmates might create and distribute AI-generated nude images of them,” Healey said in a statement. “They and their parents deserve to know that, if that happens, their school and community officials will take it seriously and that it would be investigated with perpetrators held accountable just like any other crime.”
The governor urged parents and young people to have conversations about deepfakes so people understand that these AI creations are wrong, illegal and harmful.
Deepfake nude pictures of teens are not unique to Massachusetts.
In the last school year across the county, 15 percent of students reported seeing sexually explicit deepfakes of someone associated with their school, according to a recent report by the Center for Democracy and Technology.
For as little at $4.99, a teen can upload a headshot of a classmate and generate a deepfake image in an instant. The websites that create them are rapidly multiplying. Hundreds are now available even when mobile app stores ban them, according to the social network analysis company Graphika.
Some students are creating multiple explicit images of their peers and sharing them online.
Last month, school administrators at the Pentucket Regional Middle-High School in West Newbury learned that a student created a social media account featuring “inappropriate images” of classmates that they speculate was created using AI.
“The account was identified by a student, who promptly reported it to school officials,” principal Brenda Erhardt, said in an email sent to parents and shared with the Globe.
The Essex County District Attorney’s office confirmed that they are investigating the allegations. No charges have been issued and the office would not provide additional information.
The student handbook for the Middle-High School does prohibit using “technological methods” for sexual harassment, but doesn’t explicitly mention AI. Neither does a policy posted on the district’s website on the appropriate use of digital technologies.
The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Across the country, less than one-quarter of teachers said their school had policies for how to address deepfake images, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology.
In Hingham, state Senator Patrick O’Connor also communicated with Mancini, the mother of middle school victim of an AI deepfake.
“The increased misuse of social media and AI technology is something that concerns me,” wrote O’Connor, from Weymouth, in an email.
O’Connor said he was supporting legislation to tighten laws combating for child pornography and AI.
Mancini and other mothers in Hingham are pushing the school district to address sexual harassment and AI in the student handbook.
“I’ve been saying this all along, the school needs to act,” Mancini said “I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
Material from prior Globe coverage was used in this story.
Mariana Simões can be reached at mariana.simoes@globe.com. Follow her on X @MariRebuaSimoes.
Newly appointed Florida Panthers President of Business Operations excited organization’s future
Georgia Tech planning to buy North Avenue property from Coca-Cola for over $31 million
Judge rejects Trump DOJ’s bid to block Hawaii climate lawsuit
Idaho DMV offers new America 250 plate
OCC moves to block Illinois ban on swipe fees on taxes, tips
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Video: A Look at the Plans for Trump’s ‘Triumphal Arch’
First-ever moratorium on AI data centers passes Maine legislature
Flights hit by Iran war? Europe’s handiest rail networks revealed
3 things to know about naval blockades as U.S. begins patrols in the Strait of Hormuz
Video: What the Iran War Means for China
-
Ohio2 days ago‘Little Rascals’ star Bug Hall arrested in Ohio
-
Georgia1 week agoGeorgia House Special Runoff Election 2026 Live Results
-
Arkansas6 days agoArkansas TV meteorologist Melinda Mayo retires after nearly four decades on air
-
Pennsylvania1 week agoParents charged after toddler injured by wolf at Pennsylvania zoo
-
Culture1 week agoCan You Name These Novels Based on Their Characters?
-
Austin, TX1 week agoABC Kite Fest Returns to Austin for Annual Celebration – Austin Today
-
Austin, TX1 week agoAaliyah Crump plans to transfer from Texas: report
-
Politics2 days agoDem fundraising giant in the hot seat as GOP lawmakers demand answers over dodged subpoena