Heavy Snow — Southern Bristol, Massachusetts

2020-12-16 to 2020-12-17 · Southern Bristol, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Heavy snow averaged 5 to 6 inches across southern Bristol County, but ranged from a low of 3.7 inches in Dartmouth (CoCoRaHS) to a high of 7.6 inches in Somerset (CoCoRaHS). Other reports included 6.2 inches in Fairhaven (amateur radio), 5.8 inches in Acushnet (amateur radio), and 5.0 inches in New Bedford (amateur radio). Winds generally were gusting to 35 to 40 mph, with a peak wind gust of 43 mph recorded by a CWOP station on West Island in Fairhaven at 201 PM EST.

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 928217. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.