Heavy Snow in Connecticut, March 9, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in Connecticut, March 9, 2001
Start: 2001-03-09T15:30
End: 2001-03-09T16:00
Location: Connecticut

March 9, 2001 · NWS OKX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

On Friday March 9th, a developing low pressure system moved across southeast Canada. A cold front trailing from this low moved east across southern New England during the morning.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS OKX wrote it up.

On Friday March 9th, a developing low pressure system moved across southeast Canada. A cold front trailing from this low moved east across southern New England during the morning. This front, combined with low level moisture transported by easterly winds off the nearby Atlantic Ocean, produced a band of wet snow across portions of southern Connecticut. This front moved off the New England coast by Friday afternoon, allowing the snow to taper off and end by Friday evening. Heavy wet snow occurred mainly across the area's higher terrain. Here are a few snowfall measurements:In Northern Fairfield County, 8.8 inches was measured at New Fairfield.In Northern New Haven County, 7.0 inches was measured at Prospect.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 9, 1:55 PM EST, 1 hour 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 9, 1:55 PM EST, 1 hour 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
155 PM EST FRI MAR 9 2001

SHORT RANGE DISC: A SFC LOW PRES SYSTEM IS FORMING SOUTH OF LONG
ISLAND. AS THE UPPER LVL LOW DROPS SEWD ACRS CNTRL NY AND PA...THE
WRN EDGE OF THE COMMA CLOUD SYS WILL /SLOWLY/ MV NEWD. AT 17:31Z...
THE BACK EDGE EXTDED FM THE NY/MA BDR SSEWD ACRS WRN CT
THEN SEWD ACRS ERN LONG ISLAND.

CONCERNING THE POTENTIAL FOR HVY PRECIPITATION...THE AXIS OF
HEAVIEST PRECIP WILL REMAIN NORTHWEST OF THE LOW CENTER. AS SHOWN BY
THE OKX RADAR...THE AXIS EXTDED FM NCNTRL CT SSEWD ACRS ERN LONG
ISLAND. THIS WILL VERY SLOWLY SHIFT EAST...PASSING OVR ERN CT FM 21Z
TO 00Z. EVEN THOUGH HVY WET SNOW IS FCST ACRS CNTRL AND ERN CT...WET
AND WARM ANTECEDENT CONDITIONS WILL HOLD SNOWFALL AMTS DOWN.
SNOWFALL RATIOS ARE ALSO ARND 5:1. I PLAN TO EXTEND THE WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR INTERIOR SOUTHERN CT THROUGH THIS EVE. THE
HEAVIEST SNOWFALL WILL OCCUR ACRS HIGHER TERRAIN...WHERE MINIMAL LOW
LVL WARMING HAS OCCURRED.

AS THE SYSTEM CONTS TO DEEPEN OVERNGT...SNOW WILL WRAP AROUND THIS
SYS...WITH INTERIOR SRN CT PICKING UP 1 TO 2 INCHES. A LIGHT
SNOWFALL OF 1 INCH OR LESS IS FCST FOR LONG ISLAND AND NYC OVERNGT.

CONCERNING THE POTENTIAL FOR HIGH WINDS...ALTHOUGH STRONG WINDS DVLP
ON THE BACK SIDE OF THIS SYSTEM...THE 12Z BUFKIT HRLY FCST SOUNDINGS
SHOW THAT ADVISORY OR WARNING CRITERIA WIND DOES NOT MIX DOWN TO THE
SFC. NW WINDS FM 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS ARND 35 MPH WILL OCCUR THRU
SAT. I WILL CONT THE SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ALL COASTAL WATERS FOR
25 TO 30 KT WINDS.

TRANQUIL WX ALONG WITH *** ABOVE NML TEMPS *** WILL ARRIVE BY SUNDAY.

.OKX...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY...CTZ006>008 THROUGH THIS EVENING.
       SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY...ANZ350-353-355-330-335-338.

GC

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Northern Fairfield

When: March 9, 3:30 PM EST
Where: Northern Fairfield forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.285, -73.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Northern New Haven

When: March 9, 4:00 PM EST
Where: Northern New Haven forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.443, -72.965 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Connecticut in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Connecticut, March 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5239865, 5239866.