Wrapping Up the Blizzard, Looking Ahead

The National Weather Service in Taunton has gone through all the observations and has officially declared Tuesday's Nor'Easter a blizzard.  It sure lived up to the hype in Southern New England.  A widespread 2-3 feet of snow fell in Central and Eastern Massachusetts (also NE CT, N RI).

NWS Boston Snow Total Reports 

The Blizzard dropped 34.5" of snow in Worcester which is good enough for 1st place in recorded history!  CBS Boston's weather team puts the storm in perspective

WBZ Weather team top 5 Worcester snowstorms 

The storm was good for 3rd in Providence and 6th in Boston.  This is the greatest recorded January snow in Boston's history.

Cape Cod and SE MA also dealt with strong damaging winds

NWS Boston Wind Gust Reports

Thanks to light fluffy nature of the snow the widespread power outages that were feared never happened.  That said the entire island of Nantucket was without power for a time thanks to 18+ hours of wind gusts over 60 mph, maxing at 78 MPH.  

Major coastal flooding occurred in numerous seaside towns in Eastern MA.  Marshfield was among the hardest hit with over 4 feet of storm surge and 15-20 foot waves.  This constant battering compromised an 80 ft section of sea wall.

Sea Wall breach in Marshfield, MA (image Marshfield Police Twitter)

Safe to say we will talk about the Blizzard of 2015 anytime a major Nor'Easter is forecast to impact Southern New England.  It doesn't compare to 1978 for anyone.  As hard as the Cape and Islands were hit this wasn't as bad as the Blizzard of 2005.  For the interior this was a manageable snowfall unlike the Blizzard of 2005 and the April Fools Day storm.  That said I cannot remember seeing so much snow from one storm.  At the end of the day this was a fun storm to track and observe.  Here's to those in Nantucket and our coastal communities that are dealing with the burden of property damage; we know you will get back on your feet soon.

A few images from Northbridge...

From Brian Paulhus

CBS News requested permission for this photo but I never saw it.  This is from Brian Paulhus as he opened his garage door around 11 AM yesterday.  That's his daughter in front.  Brip you may not have made the Evening News but you made NewEnglandwx.blogspot.com   STATE!

My Parents Back Deck

After the 30th straight hour of snow this is what my parents back deck looked like.  Here were their cars around 11 am

My Parents Front Yard

Finally a cool loop of the storm developing from the GOES13 IR4 satellite thanks to NWS Boston

Friday Snow Chances

It looks like a couple of inches of snow are possible, especially in Northeastern MA on Friday/Saturday AM.  Guidance has been blowing a clipper up in the Gulf of Maine.  It looks like the whole region sees a general 1-3 but totals may be much higher NE Middlesex and Essex counties.  The NWS has a good general idea; but like I said I'm leaning towards higher amounts North and East.  

NWS Boston forecast snow totals Thursday-Saturday 

Maine will really get hammered from this one.  Guidance is suggesting temperatures in the low 30's but I don't really buy it with the deep snow pack and entrenched cold air.  None the less expect two batches of snow.  First is overnight Thursday into Friday with 1-3 inches of snow.  Second would be overnight Friday into Saturday.  Temperatures are going to drop Friday night so the best accumulations would be with the second shot, though that may be too far east for Worcester County.  

I'm off to Long Island for a few days to see Bruins-Islanders so trust the NWS for updates.  weather.gov/box 

There is a threat for Monday PM but its entirely possible this slides Out to Sea.  More on that this weekend.

-Zack Green