Heavy Snow — Western Hampden, Massachusetts

2017-03-14 · Western Hampden, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Very heavy snow fell throughout much of the day in western Hampden County.

Snowfall totals were mainly in the 12 to 18 inch range, but up to 21.5 inches was reported for the town of Granville by the broadcast media.

Wider weather episode

A major winter storm moved up the east coast, hugging the southern NJ coast then moving rapidly northeast across southern Rhode Island and interior southeast Massachusetts. The storm dropped 12 to nearly 20 inches of snow across much of western, central, and northeastern Massachusetts, with lesser amounts in the southeast, where a changeover to rain occurred in the late morning and early afternoon. Cape Cod only received 1 to 2 inches before changing to rain, with temperatures rising into the 40s. Snowfall rates of 3 inches per hour were observed in western MA. Damaging winds pounded Cape Cod and the Islands...with gusts to hurricane force. High winds also occurred along the coast, especially over Cape Ann. Lawrence, in Essex County, was the only ASOS site to officially reach blizzard conditions. Gusty winds to 30-50 mph were common in the interior. Thunder-snow also occurred in northeast MA during the height of the storm. The snow changed to rain over Cape Cod early in the morning, but didn't change in Boston until 2:45 PM local time, after most of the snow had occurred. Snow lingered in western and central sections into the late afternoon/early evening.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 683071. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.