Heavy Snow in Eastern Essex, Massachusetts

Heavy snow ranged mainly from 10 to 15 inches across eastern Essex County. Some specific amounts included 15.0 inches in Salem (trained spotter), 15.0 inches in Ipswich (trained spotter), 14.0 inches in Beverly (amateur radio), 13.0 inches in Gloucester (trained spotter), 12.3 inches in Danvers (amateur radio), 12.0 inches in Peabody (amateur radio), 11.3 inches in Newburyport (CoCoRaHS), and 10.5 inches in Rockport (CoCoRaHS). Winds gusted to 51 mph at a CWOP station in Rockport at 105 PM EST but generally were gusting to 30 to 40 mph during the afternoon.

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.