Heavy Snow in Massachusetts, March 26 to 27, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in Massachusetts, March 26 to 27, 2001
Start: 2001-03-26T16:00
End: 2001-03-27T03:00
Location: Massachusetts

March 26 to 27, 2001 · NWS BOX · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

A small but fast moving storm brought heavy snow to southeast Massachusetts, as it moved off the coast south of Long Island. Snowfall totals of 5 to 10 inches were widely reported from the southern suburbs of Boston to Cape Cod.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $250,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

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 BOX wrote it up.

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 Boston/Norton, MA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 26, 3:15 PM EST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 26, 3:15 PM EST, 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
315 PM EST MON MAR 26 2001

DISC:  CURRENT MSAS MSLP DOES NOT INDICATE ANY ORGANIZED SFC LOW...
BUT THERE IS AN INVERTED TROF EXTENDING FROM WELL OFF THE MID
ATLC COAST NWWRD INTO EASTERN CT (BEST PRES FALL REGION OVER RI).
MOST ORGANIZED AREA OF SNOW IS NOW IN THIS LOCATION DRIFTING EAST.
BACK EDGE OF SOLID AREA APPEARS TO BE HEADING E OF NYC AND NOT
LOOKING FOR MORE THAN 4 TO 6 HOURS LEFT BEFORE ANY SIGNIFICANT
WIDESPREAD ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL WILL TAPER OFF.

XPCTNG THIS SNOW TO EXPAND NORTH AND EAST...COVERING PART OF
NORTHERN CT AND SPREADING THROUGHOUT RI AND EASTERN MA.  AT THE
SAME TIME...UPPER VORT MAX ROTATING DOWN INTO SRN NEW ENGLAND WILL
WORK IN COMBINATION WITH SFC CONVERGENCE TO ENHANCE SNOW ACROSS
NORTHERN ZONES.  THIS SNOWFALL WILL LIKELY BE MORE CONVECTIVE IN
NATURE...I.E. MORE SCATTERED AS EXHIBITED BY REFLECTIVITY ON KALY
WSR-88D.

LOW PRES DEVELOPS WELL S AND E OF THE AREA LATER TONIGHT WITH
WEAKNESS (REFL OF UPPER S/W NRG) EXTENDING BACK INTO ERN MA.  THIS
WILL PROLONG SNOW SHOWERS ACROSS THIS REGION UNTIL LATE TONIGHT.

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE...REALLY NOT EXPECTING MORE THAN A COUPLE
INCHES OF SNOW. SNOW WILL MELT ON INTERSTATES...BUT AS THE SUN
SETS...IT SHOULD BEGIN TO COAT SECONDARY ROADS...BRIDGES AND
OVERPASSES...SO THE EVENING RUSH WILL LIKELY BE A BIT SLIPPERY IN RI
AND CT AND PARTS OF SERN MA.  ALSO...DUE TO THE SOMEWHAT BANDED
AND/OR SCATTERED NATURE OF SNOW...SOME LOCATIONS MAY RCV LOCALLY
HIGHER AMOUNTS UP TO 3 INCHES OR SO.   UPPER TROF PASSES THROUGH
TUE MORNING AND PSUNNY MAYBE EVEN MOSUNNY CONDITIONS AND NW FLOW
WILL PREVAIL.

NEXT UPPER DISTURBANCE WILL CROSS THE AREA WED MORNING.  ETA
SHOWING NO PCPN...HOWEVER VORT LOOKS STRONG ENOUGH TO PRODUCE CHC OF
SNOW SHOWER OR FLURRIES NORTH ZONES.

LR:  NEXT WX EVENT COMING UP LATE THU THROUGH FRI NIGHT AS LOW PRES
EXPECTED TO LIFT UP THROUGH OHIO VALLEY INTO ERN GREAT LAKES BY FRI
AFT.  LOW HEADS INTO NNE FRI NIGHT.  PCPN LIKELY TO OCCUR ALONG THE
WF AND IN ADVANCE OF THE CF FRI NIGHT.  AVN PAINTING 1+ INCHES OF
QPF FOR THE ENTIRE EVENT WITH SFC TEMPERTURES RISING THROUGH THE
50S.  IF THIS SCENARIO IS CORRECT...THIS WILL AGGRAVATE ALREADY
FULL RIVERS AND STREAMS DUE TO COMBINATION OF ADDITIONAL SNOWMELT
AND QPF.

.BOX...RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS FOR SMALL RIVERS AND STREAMS
       IN NORTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS SEE BOSFLSBOS RWUS42
       AND BOSFFSBOS RWUS32
       SCA LATE TONIGHT ANZ232>235-237-254-255

DCY

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Western Norfolk

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Western Norfolk forecast zone
Property damage: $250,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.171, -71.184 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Barnstable

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Barnstable forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.684, -70.274 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Eastern Norfolk

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Eastern Norfolk forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.171, -71.184 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Eastern Plymouth / Also Part of Norfolk

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Eastern Plymouth / Also Part of Norfolk forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.079, -70.960 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Northern Bristol

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Northern Bristol forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.757, -71.088 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Southern Bristol

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Southern Bristol forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.757, -71.088 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Southern Plymouth

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Southern Plymouth forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.987, -70.737 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Western Plymouth

When: March 26, 4:00 PM EST to March 27, 3:00 AM EST
Where: Western Plymouth forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 41.987, -70.737 (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 Massachusetts in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Massachusetts, 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: 5237915, 5237916, 5237917, 5237918, 5237919, 5237920, 5237921, 5238006.