Heavy Snow — Southern Plymouth, Massachusetts

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

Event narrative

Snowfall averaged 6 to 7 inches in southern Plymouth County. In Wareham, a trained spotter reported 6.4 inches. In nearby Plymouth, a CoCoRaHS observer reported 6.6 inches. Winds generally were gusting to 40 to 50 mph. In Wareham at 253 PM EST, a CWOP station had a gust to 47 mph. At the Plymouth Airport (KPYM) at 152 PM, the ASOS recorded a gust to 41 mph.

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 928223. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.