Winter Storm — Strafford, New Hampshire

2024-03-23 · Strafford, New Hampshire

Event narrative

Snowfall rates in excess of 1 inch per hour in the morning led to snowfall totals ranging between 2 and 12 inches. Around 1100 AM snow changed to freezing rain and began to rapidly accumulate near sunset. With around 0.50 inches glaze, power outages increased quickly after 800 PM, once the winds picked up with over 30 percent of customers without power during the night.

Wider weather episode

Early on the 23rd high pressure had built into New England, with its main axis settling across The County into Downeast Maine. Meanwhile low pressure was slowly organizing over the Southeast, lifting a warm front into coastal areas of the Northeast. Snow began very early on the 23rd as warm air advection aloft reached New England, and high pressure ensured that cold air damming kept temperatures below freezing across New Hampshire. By daybreak snow was moderate to occasionally heavy for most of central New Hampshire, and warning thresholds were being approached or eclipsed by during the morning hours. By the early afternoon on the 23rd the coastal front was steadily marching westward towards through the coast and towards the Merrimack Valley. While temperatures aloft warmed above freezing, cold air damming remained strong and a narrow zone of surface temperatures remained in the 20s. The result was a quick changeover to freezing rain in a stripe through southeast New Hampshire. As the sun set ice accretion rapidly began and by early evening around one quarter to one third of an inch of ice had built up on power lines and tree branches. Power outages began to quickly increase in number around this time, peaking just after midnight. Farther southeast towards the Seacoast surface temperatures warmed above freezing and rain cut into snow totals. Low pressure deepened along the warm front south of Long Island, and as it swept east early on the 24th precipitation rapidly ended from west to east.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1169366. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.