Heavy Snow, Rain And Strong Winds Hit Parts Of Massachusetts Saturday
BOSTON (CBS) — A rapidly intensifying coastal storm produced heavy rain, strong winds and heavy, wet snow to the area on Saturday.
As the storm center pulls away, precipitation will taper off from west to east tonight with clearing skies overnight.
Additional accumulation will be generally be limited and the strongest winds will also subside. Dry and cooler weather will move in for the second half of the weekend.
RAIN
This storm had it… as forecast… a widespread 1-3" soaker drenched the area. We knew days ago, the hardest question facing us would be out much of that liquid precipitation would actually stick/accumulate as snow.
TEMPERATURES
For a blockbuster snowstorm, you need cold air. There just wasn't enough this time around. The track of this storm was very close (passed over the Cape and Islands) and ocean temps are still 50 degrees. We had mild air flowing in off the ocean making the transition to any snow nearly impossible for coastal MA until late in the day when the storm center was to the East.
Sure there was some cold air aloft that worked its way down through central and eastern MA late morning through the afternoon, but surface temperatures stayed above freezing. Hard to get snow to stick and accumulate with temps above 32 degrees. You need heavy snowfall in order for that occur, or go up in higher elevation where the temps are just a few degrees cooler… and cold enough to accumulate.
SNOW
SO yes, it did snow after all… but most areas saw totals on the lower end of the predicted range. It was a heavy, wet, pasty snow that led to slippery roads and weighed down power lines and tree branches. There were several power outages reported.
However, the area expected to perform the best… did. Higher elevations of Worcester county into parts of NH saw 6-10" of snow.
WIND
Strong, powerful winds were reported. Winds did kick up as this storm deepened and passed our area. Eerily similar to the eye of a hurricane the center of this storm passed over Cape Cod with calm conditions and sunshine this afternoon.
However, numerous wind damage reports came in during the afternoon and evening, especially over southeastern MA. Provincetown reported a wind gust of 71 mph after the center of the storm passed through.
