Winter Weather — Western Hampden, Massachusetts

2015-02-14 to 2015-02-15 · Western Hampden, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Four to five inches of snow fell across western Hampden County.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure off the Delmarva peninsula intensified rapidly as it moved northeastward. Its path just southeast of Nantucket brought heavy snow to all of southern New England and blizzard conditions and coastal flooding to coastal areas. Near blizzard conditions occurred across much of eastern Massachusetts.

This was the latest in a series of snowstorms that piled nearly 60 inches of snow on the city of Boston in barely three weeks. This amount of snow in such a short amount of time wreaked havoc on much of eastern Massachusetts. School and work for some employees were delayed or even cancelled, plowing and shoveling became nearly impossible, and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority reduced or even cancelled services more than once during the winter snow blitz. The MBTA commuter rail and subway lines were plagued with delays and cancellations that lasted until the end of March.

The large amount of snow, combined with wintry, frigid temperatures resulted in snow piling up on roofs and numerous (250) roof collapses were reported to emergency management and to the National Weather Service in the days after this snowstorm. Fortunately no injuries to humans were reported. However, a large amount of snow fell off a Boston-area ice rink roof, burying a man and knocking down four others. No one was seriously hurt, but two of the people were taken to the hospital for evaluation. In barn collapses in Stoughton and Andover, a total of 40 horses were trapped and rescued. In another barn collapse in Westford, two horses died.

In another who would have guessed scenario, a falling icicle ruptured a gas line causing an explosion at the Duxbury House, an Alzheimer's care facility in Duxbury. No one was injured.

There were several indirect fatalities related to the snow. These include: a 57 year old man who died shoveling snow, a 57 year old woman hit by a snow plow, and a 60 year old man hit by a snow plow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 560711. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.