Heavy Snow and High Wind in Rhode Island, March 31, 1997

A low pressure system formed off the New Jersey coast during the early morning hours and intensified rapidly as it moved to a position 60 miles south of Newport, Rhode Island by early evening. Pressure falls of 14 millibars occurred during a 12 hour period. The system then retreated to the south during the evening. Precipitation began occurring from south to north across the state during the morning and began mixing and changing to heavy, wet snow in the northwest portion of the state by late morning and during the afternoon. Over the remainder of the state, rain became mixed with snow during the afternoon and had changed to all snow over most of the state, with the exception of the south coast, by midnight. Increasing northeast winds during the afternoon became strong to gale force with gusts to 30 to 40 mph inland and up to 60 to 70 mph along the south coast. A peak gust to 71 mph from the northeast was recorded at Little Compton during the early evening. The strongest winds with this storm occurred during the late afternoon to early evening, during the time of lowest barometric pressure. The weight of the heavy, wet snow began knocking down tree limbs and power lines and widespread power outages began occurring during the late afternoon and evening across much of the state, except the area from Providence south and southwestward where there were only scattered outages. Highway travel was just about impossible during the evening due to the prevailing blizzard conditions. Snowfall totals by midnight exceeded one foot in northern Rhode Island, with 15 inches at North Foster and 14 inches at Woonsocket. A complete report of this storm will be included in April 1997 Storm Data.