Heavy Snow — Eastern Kent, Rhode Island

2020-12-16 to 2020-12-17 · Eastern Kent, Rhode Island

Event narrative

Snowfall ranged from 7.5 to 11.9 inches in eastern Kent County. Some specific totals included 11.9 inches in West Warwick, 8.5 inches in East Greenwich. At T.F Green Airport in Warwick (KPVD) 7.9 inches of snow was measured and a wind gust to 44 mph was recorded on the ASOS at 12:51 PM EST on the 17th.

Wider weather episode

A storm system produced heavy snow, strong to damaging winds, and minor coastal flooding in southern New England. This was a tough storm to forecast. Although it was not deep low pressure and although it passed just south of the 40N/70W benchmark, its precipitation shield was expansive because of a broad 700 mb low over southeast New England, abundant moisture, and a very cold air mass in place. By far, the heaviest snow fell to the north (Laconia, NH) and west (Binghamton, NY), where more than 3 feet fell. But amounts ranged from 10 to 20 inches across much of southern New England. There was some minor coastal flooding at the time of high tide and also a flash freeze in eastern Massachusetts as the storm pulled away to the northeast.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 927960. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.