Winter Storm in Connecticut, March 5 to 6, 2001

A complex and slow-moving coastal storm affected much of southern Connecticut from Sunday March 4th through midday Wednesday March 7th. This storm was accompanied by a mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain through the early portion of the event, and mainly heavy snow for the remainder of the event. Gusty winds and minor to moderate coastal flooding and beach erosion also occurred along portions of coastal Connecticut.On Sunday March 4th, a strong low pressure system moved east across the Tennessee Valley, while a new low slowly developed off the Mid Atlantic coast. The precipitation shield accompanying this complex storm system moved north and reached southern Connecticut in the form of spotty light snow and sleet by Sunday afternoon. The precipitation intensified Sunday night and early Monday, but as warmer air moved into the region aloft, the snow changed to a mixture of sleet, freezing rain and rain by Monday morning.During Monday March 5th, the new low pressure system off the Mid Atlantic coast began to intensify rapidly. This spread heavy precipitation across southern Connecticut from the southeast by Monday afternoon and evening. As colder air was drawn into the storm's circulation, the precipitation changed to heavy wet snow by Monday evening. Snow fell at the rate of two to three inches per hour for around 3 hours during Monday evening across most of southern Connecticut.Bands of very heavy wet snow continued through Monday night and into much of Tuesday, as the low slowly drifted north off the eastern end of Long Island. This coastal low then became nearly stationary during Tuesday, and even retrograded slightly to the southwest during Tuesday afternoon. This allowed periods of heavy wet snow to continue across most of southern Connecticut through Tuesday evening. The storm finally began to retreat east off the New Jersey coast Tuesday night and Wednesday, allowing the snow to taper off and end by midday Wednesday March 7th.The combination of very heavy wet snow and strong winds with this prolonged coastal storm produced numerous power outages across southern Connecticut. In addition, many schools and businesses were closed for several days due to the hazardous nature of this storm. Here are some storm total snowfall amounts: For Fairfield County: 4 inches at Stamford, to 16.8 inches at Danbury.For New Haven County: 9 inches at West Haven, to 17 inches at Prospect.For Middlesex County: 14 inches at Old Saybrook and 14.3 inches at Haddam.For New London County: 5.5 inches at Groton, to 16.8 inches at Colchester.