Winter Storm — Orange, Vermont

2024-03-09 to 2024-03-11 · Orange, Vermont

Event narrative

Heavy wet snow accumulated on the night of March 9th that led to power outages across the region. Additional snowfall, more powdery, fell during the night of March 10th through midday March 11th. Storm total snowfall was 8-12+ inches. Some specific snowfall totals include the higher terrain: 13 inches in Braintree, 12 inches in Willamstown, 9 inches in Randolph.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure across the Carolinas during the afternoon of March 9th moved slowly northeast along the coast across southeast Massachusetts during the morning of March 10th and lingered along the Maine/Nova Scotia border through the early morning hours of March 11th.

The impactful weather occurred in two phases. The first phase occurred during the evening and overnight hours of March 9th with valley rain and elevated mountain wet and heavy snowfall, especially in the central and southern Green Mountain communities. The heavy wet snow greatly impacted the higher terrain and resulted in numerous tree damage, power outages (>30,000 outages) and travel disruptions. Snowfall was less prevalent in the valleys. The second phase occurred during the evening on March 10th through early afternoon on March 11th with northwest upslope enhanced snowfall across the northwest slopes of the central and northern Green Mountains as well as some interior valleys. This, combined with wind gusts in excess of 30 mph led to numerous travel disruptions. During the afternoon hours as the snow waned, northwest winds increased with frequent gusts in excess of 40 mph which led to delays in power restoration.

Storm total snowfall from the evening of March 9th through the afternoon hours of March 11th ranged from 2 to 5 inches across the valley floors of the Champlain and the mid to lower Connecticut River valleys, 4 to 8 inches in elevations above 1000 feet and 10 to 18+ inches in the higher elevations (1500-2000+ feet), especially the northwest slopes.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1155713. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.