Heavy Snow — Western Norfolk, Massachusetts

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

Event narrative

Heavy snow generally ranged from 9 to 15.4 inches in western Norfolk County. Some specific amounts included 15.4 inches in Sharon (public), 13.2 inches in Randolph (trained spotter), 13.0 inches in Walpole (amateur radio), 13.0 inches in Wrentham (amateur radio), 12.0 inches in Foxboro (NWS employee), 11.8 inches in Norwood (CoCoRaHS), 11.5 inches in Dover (amateur radio), 11.5 inches in Millis (CoCoRaHS), 10.0 inches in Franklin (amateur radio), and 9.6 inches in Medway (public). Winds generally were gusting to 20-30 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 928441. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.