Heavy Snow — Southeast Middlesex, Massachusetts

2020-12-16 to 2020-12-17 · Southeast Middlesex, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Heavy snow generally ranged from 12 to 16 inches across southeast Middlesex County. Some specific amounts included 16.0 inches in Waltham (trained spotter), 15.0 inches in West Newton (public), 14.6 inches in Winchester (CoCoRaHS), 14.5 inches in Melrose (CoCoRaHS), 14.5 inches in Wakefield (trained spotter), 13.5 inches in Somerville (CoCoRaHS), 13.3 inches in Lexington (public), and 12.0 inches in Cambridge (CoCoRaHS). Winds generally were gusting to 30 to 35 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 928440. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.