Heavy Snow — Eastern Norfolk, Massachusetts

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

Event narrative

Heavy snow generally ranged from 12.0 to 16.5 inches in eastern Norfolk County. Some specific amounts included 16.5 inches from the Cooperative Observer atop the Blue Hill in Milton, 13.4 inches in Quincy (public), 13.0 inches in Weymouth (trained spotter), 13.0 inches in Braintree (trained spotter), and 12.0 inches in North Weymouth (amateur radio). Winds generally were gusting to 30 to 35 mph. At 251 PM EST on the 17th, the ASOS at the Blue Hill Observatory in Milton (KMQE) recorded a gust to 36 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 928442. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.