Strong Wind — Eastern Hampshire, Massachusetts

2020-12-25 · Eastern Hampshire, Massachusetts

Event narrative

Winds generally gusting to 40 to 50 mph. In Belchertown at 602 AM EST, a tree was down on Route 9 at Wilson Road and at 626 AM EST a tree and wires were down on Warren Wright Road. In Northampton at 730 AM EST, a large tree limb was down on River Road.

Wider weather episode

An anomalously deep, full-latitude mid-level trough over the Mississippi Valley caused a strong frontal system to move up the Appalachians. It brought strong to damaging winds, heavy rain with minor flooding, and well above normal temperatures to southern New England early on Christmas Day. Winds generally gusted to 40 to 60 mph, except 65 to 70 mph along the southeast Massachusetts coast. South winds were blowing more than 100 mph only 2000 feet above the ground in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but despite temperatures in the lower 60s there, a surface inversion was strong enough to prevent these very damaging winds from reaching the surface. Two to four inches of rain fell across the region, with the highest totals from central Rhode Island northwestward across northern Connecticut and portions of western and central Massachusetts.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 928708. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.