Coastal Flood — Eastern Essex, Massachusetts

2013-02-09 · Eastern Essex, Massachusetts

Event narrative

In Salisbury, coastal flooding resulted in structural damage to the ocean side of a building on North End Boulevard. This road was flooded from #170 to #250 resulting in the mandatory evacuation of about 50 houses. A barrier beach was breached and significant beach erosion occurred, damaging dunes and sand fencing. The south end of Atlantic Avenue was impassable with water flowing around and under buildings. In Gloucester, Atlantic Road was flooded and impassable. The Good Harbor Beach walkway bridge was damaged. Significant beach erosion occurred, damaging dunes. The Lane's Cove breakwater was damaged near Dudley Street. In Marblehead, the Marblehead Causeway (Ocean Avenue) and Marblehead Neck were flooded and impassable. In Manchester-by-the-Sea, a pier at Magnolia Beach was damaged. In Newbury, water flowed around and under buildings through the Beach Center parking lot and down a nearby street for about 200 yards. Five to ten houses on Annapolis Way, Dartmouth Way, and Southern Boulevard sustained damage to the foundations and stairs. Significant beach erosion occurred, damaging dunes and sand fencing. A building on Harvard Way sustained damage to the foundation and stairs. In Newburyport, significant beach erosion occurred. In Rockport, numerous streets were flooded and impassable. Water flowed around and under buildings at Front Beach and near Old Harbor. Significant beach erosion occurred, damaging dunes, sand fencing, stairs and railings. A boat ramp at Granite Pier was damaged. In Salem, debris, rocks, and sand were strewn across the parking lot and walkways at Winter Island Park.

Wider weather episode

An historic winter storm deposited tremendous amounts of snow over all of southern New England, mainly from the mid-afternoon on Friday, February 8 and lasting into the daylight hours of Saturday, February 9. What made this an amazing storm was the widespread coverage of heavy snowfall. Most locations received 2 to 2.5 feet of snow! A stationary band of even heavier snowfall persisted from southwest NH through central MA and on to the southwest across central and western CT. In those areas, reports averaged closer to 2.5 to 3 feet! Along the southeast MA coast, average amounts ranged from 1 to 2 feet. Only on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were snowfall totals less than 1 foot (6 to 12 inches). Isolated thunderstorms were common across the entire region during the height of the storm.

A low pressure system advancing from the Great Lakes region combined forces with a very moist low pressure system moving northeast from the Gulf Coast states. Explosive deepening took place Friday evening, February 8, as a low center moved from the North Carolina coast to south of Nantucket. Strong high pressure to the north of New England helped ensure that cold air remained in place over the area. Snowfall gained intensity during the afternoon, but during the night, 2 to 3 inch per hour amounts were common throughout the region. The band of heaviest snowfall, with 3 to 5 inches per hour for several hours, extended from southwest NH to central and western CT. The precipitation started as mainly snow, although a brief period of rain at the onset was common on the Islands. Snow ended in the morning in western and central MA, southwest NH, most of CT and RI, and in the early afternoon across eastern MA. It lingered during the whole afternoon over Cape Cod and Nantucket, aided by some ocean-effect bands of snowfall.

The Blizzard of 2013 also produced a prolonged period of very strong winds Friday night along the MA and RI coasts. Gusts exceeded hurricane force (74 mph) at a few locations. Gale force gusts (to 50 mph) continued on the MA coast through Saturday afternoon. The strong winds, combined with a wet snow, led to extensive power outages from downed trees and wires in southeast coastal MA and in southern RI. Elsewhere, farther inland, the snow became drier and did not cling to trees like it did along the south and southeast coast of New England. Some wind gusts included: 76 mph at Logan Int'l. Airport (Boston, MA), 75 mph at Bedford, MA, 77 mph at Hyannis, MA and 68 mph in Jamestown, RI. Damaging gusts to 60 mph were recorded as far west as Worcester County, MA. Wind gusts of 35 to 50 mph were common elsewhere in southern New England.

In addition, moderate to major coastal flooding occurred, most notably during the time of the high tide Saturday morning along the Massachusetts east coast. At the storm's height near the early morning low tide, the storm surge reached 3 to 4 feet along much of the MA east coast from Boston south. At the time of the mid-morning high tide, the winds had shifted from northeast to north and the surge had dropped to 1.5 to 2.5 feet for most MA east coast locations. However, this was an astronomically high tide given the nearness to the time of the new moon, and waves to 30 feet had built just 15 miles off the coast. Consequently, many coastal roadways were impassable from Salisbury and Gloucester to Marshfield and Scituate on the south shore and on parts of Cape Cod. Water several feet deep was seen flowing into some vulnerable homes in Scituate. Although there was some structural damage, it did not come close to what was experienced during the Blizzard of 1978. Minor tidal flooding occurred along the south coasts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island during times of high tide Friday night and Saturday morning.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 433348. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.