Heavy Snow — Western Hampden, Massachusetts

2020-12-16 to 2020-12-17 · Western Hampden, Massachusetts

Event narrative

While no reports were received from the hill towns in western Hampden County, per se, we are estimating that heavy snow on the order of 10 to 20 inches fell, based on reports from surrounding areas. Winds generally were gusting to 20 to 30 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 928434. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.