Massachusetts, 2001

Heavy Snow in Massachusetts, March 9 to 10, 2001

March 9 to 10, 2001 · NWS BOX · 13 events in 13 counties and zones

A winter storm tracking from the Great Lakes to just south of New England brought heavy snow to much of interior Massachusetts. The highest snowfall totals were found in the higher elevations of central and northeast Massachusetts, where around one foot of snow fell.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 13 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
$3.0 million
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
13

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.

A winter storm tracking from the Great Lakes to just south of New England brought heavy snow to much of interior Massachusetts. The highest snowfall totals were found in the higher elevations of central and northeast Massachusetts, where around one foot of snow fell. Other areas, including Greater Boston, received 4 to 8 inches of snow on average.

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 9, 2:30 PM EST, 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 9, 2:30 PM EST, 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
230 PM EST FRI MAR 9 2001

RECEIVING REPORTS OF SNOWFALL RATES UP TO 11/2 INCHES PER HOUR IN
THE HARTFORD AREA...BURLINGTON CT HAS 6 INCHES OF NEW SNOW.  BACK
EDGE OF PCPN SHIELD IS MOVG THRU EXTREME WRN CT SO ANY +SN SHOULD
END EARLY THIS EVE SWRN ZNS.

OTHER AREA OF HVY PCPN MOVG INTO RI AND SE MA ATTM.  ATMOS WILL COOL
TO YIELD RA DURING LIGHTER PERIODS AND SN WHEN IT COMES DOWN HARD.
FEEL SNOW AMTS OF 3-6 IN BOS-PVD CORRIDOR LOOK GOOD WITH RAPID
DROPOFF TO THE SE...DOWN TO 1-3 CC AND ISLANDS.  PCPN WILL TAPER
DURING THE NIGHT...WITH SOME LEFTOVER -SHSN MOVG THRU SRN AREAS LATE
AS UPR LO MOVES THRU.

HVY SN MOVG INTO NRN MA AND SWRN NH ZNS ATTM...AND SHOULD REMAIN
OVER THESE AREAS INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS.  WILL KEEP FCST OF 6-12
INCHES.

SFC LO BRINGING HVY PCPN TO SNE WILL TRACK ACROSS CC TNGT AND THEN
DEEPEN OVER GULF OF MAINE SAT.  NW WINDS WILL INCR TO GALES SAT.

.BOX...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT
        MAZ002>012-014    NHZ011-012     CTZ002>004
       WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THROUGH TONIGHT
        MAZ013-015>019    RIZ001>004
       GLW ANZ231>235-2O37-250-254-255
       SCA ANZ230-236.

FRANKLIN

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

13 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Western Franklin

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Western Franklin forecast zone
Property damage
$3.0 million
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.583, -72.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Eastern Essex

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Eastern Essex forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.639, -70.868 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Eastern Franklin

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Eastern Franklin forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.583, -72.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Eastern Hampden

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Eastern Hampden forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.135, -72.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Eastern Hampshire

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Eastern Hampshire forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.340, -72.664 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Northern Worcester

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Northern Worcester forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.351, -71.908 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Southeast Middlesex

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Southeast Middlesex forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.486, -71.392 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Southern Worcester

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Southern Worcester forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.351, -71.908 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Western Essex

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Western Essex forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.639, -70.868 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Western Hampden

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Western Hampden forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.135, -72.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Western Hampshire

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Western Hampshire forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.340, -72.664 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Western Middlesex

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Western Middlesex forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.486, -71.392 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Western Norfolk

When
March 9, 3:00 PM EST to March 10, 8:00 AM EST
Where
Western Norfolk forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.171, -71.184 (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

More

Every storm in Massachusetts in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5237896, 5237897, 5237898, 5237899, 5237900, 5237901, 5237902, 5237903, 5237904, 5237905, 5237906, 5237907, 5237908.