Five Things You Need to Know Today: Nov. 23

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 23. Here are five things you need to know:

1. Storm: Wednesday will be a rainy day with temperatures into the 40s. Also, watch out for the wind, with gusts forecasted to get to 30 miles per hour.

2. Early Release: While Wednesday is typically an early release day at the schools, students will get out about 90 minutes earlier than a typical early release day on Wednesday. Elementary schools get out at 11:15 a.m. and the and gets out at 12:05 p.m. Lunch will not be served.

3. Library Hours: will close early on Wednesday at 5 p.m. – versus the usual 8 p.m. closing time – for Thanksgiving Eve. The library, as well as all other government offices, banks and most local businesses will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.

4. No. 1 Travel Day: More people supposedly travel today than any other day of the year. If you are headed to “Grandma’s house” on Wednesday, there’s all sorts of great tools to check on travel conditions. The state Department of Transportation has a great list of all the resources available to travelers to find out where backups are hapenning or there are flight delays. It also includes a link to the ever-popular live highway traffic cameras.

5. New MBTA schedule: A quick reminder for Boston-bound commuters that a slightly modified MBTA commuter rail schedule was put in place beginning last Monday. The change affects three inbound trains from and six outbound trains each weekday. The changes range from 3-5 minutes for arrival and departure times to account for ongoing problems with the railroad bridge over the Saugus river. The new schedule is in effect until further notice.

To find out what is going on today in Hamilton and Wenham, check out our events listings.