Low pressure passing well south of New England brought a slushy, wet snow to much of central and northeast Massachusetts. Around 6 inches of accumulation was observed from northern Worcester County into Middlesex and Essex Counties.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS BOX wrote it up.
Low pressure passing well south of New England brought a slushy, wet snow to much of central and northeast Massachusetts. Around 6 inches of accumulation was observed from northern Worcester County into Middlesex and Essex Counties. The precipitation began as snow, then changed to rain for a time, before switching back to snow during the overnight and early morning hours. The heaviest snow fell between midnight and 6 am, when radar showed a nearly stationary band of snow coming in off the ocean and extending inland across the Merrimack Valley. Accumulations tapered off dramatically farther to the south, with amounts of 1 to 3 inches common in the immediate Boston area.In Leominster, the weight of the snow caused the roof of a small stand-alone garage to cave in. No injuries were reported.Officially, total storm accumulations were 5.0 inches at Worcester Airport and 1.3 inches at Logan International Airport in Boston. Other storm totals included 7 inches in Ashburnham, Hopkinton, and West Newbury; and 6 inches in Gardner, Lancaster, Natick, North Andover, and Newburyport.
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 Feb 1, 4:41 PM EST, 4 hours 19 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 441 PM EST SAT FEB 1 2003 .SHORT TERM (TNGT THRU SUN NGT)... SAT PICS AND SFC OBS SHW LOW REALLY STARTING TO DEEPEN E OF DELMARVA. KBOX RADAR SHWS PCPN SHIELD MVG INTO SE PART OF FA AREA...WITH OTHER SPOTTY PCPN STARTING TO POP UP ELSEWHERE. MOST ASOS STNS SHOW TEMPS JUST ABV FRZG IN MOST AREA...HOWEVER MESONET DATA STILL HAS SOME SPOT AT OR BLW FREEZING. WNDS ARE N TO NE AND THIS SHLD CONT THIS EVE THEN WNDS COME ARND TO THE N AND NW BY SUN AM. SFC LOW IS FCST TO BOMB AS IT MVES NE...THEN DOES A LITTLE LOOP E OF THE CAPE EARLY SUN AM AS IT GET PULLED UNDER THE UPR SYS. THIS LKS TO BE A MESSY TOUGH FCST AS PCPN SHIELD SHLD CONT LFTG TO THE N AND FILLS IN TO THE W. P-TYPE VRY TRICKY WITH SFC TEMPS CLOSE TO FREEZING. HV LEAN HEAVLY ON GFS FOR THIS FCST. BASED ON PARTIAL TCKNESS FCST...WILL GO WITH MOSTLY SN OR SN/IP WRN FA...FZRA IN THE CNTRL PART OF FA INCLUDING SE NH...ORH CNTY AND NE CT...AND MOSTLY RAIN E ZONES TO START. ALL BUT THE SE COAST...CAPE AND ISLANDS SHLD MIX WITH AND CHG TO SNOW LATE TNGT OR EARLY SUN AM AS DYNAMIC COOLING AND THE PCPN COOL THE LOW LEVELS. WRN ZONES SHLD NOT GET ENOUGH SNOW TO WARRANT AND ADVISORY...AND RIGHT NOW WL NOT FCST ENOUGH SNOW ON THE BACK SIDE FOR AND ADVISORY IN THE E. WL GO WITH ADVSY FOR CNTRL ZONES MENTION ABV FOR FREEZING RAIN AND SNOW COMBINATION. FOR SUN...SNOW WL LINGER ALNG THR COAST THRU PART OF THE AM WITH RAIN DOWN ALONG THE S COAST...CAPE AND ISLANDS. MAY SEE AN INCH OR 2 BFR SNOW ENDS EARLY AFTN. TEMPS NOT MOVING MUCH DURING THE DAY. WL CONT WTIH CLRG SUN NGT. MARINE...LOW DEEPNS TO 979 LOW BY THE TIME IT REACHES NOVA SCOTIA SO WILL CONT WITH GALE FOR ALL OUTER WATERS...STRONG SCA FOR BOS HARBOR AND NARR BAY. SYS .LONG TERM... RELATIVELY QUIET WX MON AHD OF NEXT SYSTM. CLDS WL INCRS LATE IN DAY THOUGH. A WARM FNT WL DVLP S OF SNE MON AFTN/NGT CAUSING WNDS TO TURN ELY. BIG DISCREPANCY IN MDL TEMPS WITH NGM/AVN IN LOW-MID 40S BUT ETA IN MID 30S MON AFTN. OPTED FOR UPR 30S TO NR 40... COOLER THAN CURRENTLY FCST. GFS CONTS WITH STG SFC LO TO OUR W TUE WITH ALL OF SNE IN WRM SCTR. ETA HAS COME ARND A BIT MORE TO THIS SCENARIO...WITH OH VLY SFC LO MOVG NE AND CONSOLIDATING OVR ERN NY STATE TUE WITH WRM FNT MOVG AT LEAST HALF WAY THRU SNE. AHD OF THIS FNT...LOOKS LIKE A PERIOD OF FRZG RAIN...ESPCLY WRN HALF OF SNE. SFC TEMPS MAY DIP TO UPR 20S WHILE H8 TEMP WARMS ABV 0C AND PCPN MOVES IN. QPF SHUD BE IN THE 0.1 TO 0.2 INCH RANGE...ADVISORY COULD BE REQUIRED. BUT SHUD RMN BLO WRNG CRIT. A CLOUDY...RAIN SHOWERY DAY CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE WARM SECTOR WITH TEMPS IN THE 40S TO NEAR 50 SE PTNS AND UPR 30S TO NEAR 40 NW PTNS. A STRONG CDFNT ASSOCD WITH THIS SYSTEM WL MOVE ACRS THE AREA LATE TUE AFTN/EVE...THEN BACK TO THE DEEP FREEZE WED THRU FRI. LOW TEMPS WED NGT AND THU NGT ARE FCST TO DROP BACK INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS NW AND TEENS SE ONCE AGAIN. MARINE WISE...SLY FLOW AHD OF FNT MAY REACH 20-30 KTS WITH STGST WNDS ABV SFC. PLAN ON PSBL GALES 25-35 KTS IN WLY CAA LATE TUE NGT AND ESPCLY WED. .BOX... CT...WSW FOR FREEZING RAIN CTZ004. MA...WSW FOR FREEZING RAIN MAZ005-012. NH...WSW FOR FREEZING RAIN NHZ012. RI...WSW FOR FREEZING RAIN RIZ001. MARINE...GLW SUN ALL BUT SCA BOS HARBOR AND NARR BAY. JN..SHORT TERM/GF..LONG TERM
CTZ002>004-MAZ002>024-NHZ011-012-RIZ001>007-021115- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 625 AM EST SAT FEB 1 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE... MASSACHUSETTS EAST OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY...NORTHEAST CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND. .DAY ONE...TODAY THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF FREEZING DRIZZLE THIS MORNING ACROSS INTERIOR MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. IN ADDITION... AREAS OF FOG IS EXPECTED TO REDUCE VISIBILITY TO NEAR 1 MILE AT TIMES THIS MORNING. THIS COMBINATION OF FREEZING DRIZZLE AND FOG COULD LEAD TO SLOWER TRAVEL THIS MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A LOW PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO TRACK FROM THE MID ATLANTIC COAST TO WELL SOUTH OF NANTUCKET TONIGHT. THE RAIN-SNOW LINE SHOULD GET AS FAR INLAND AS WILLIMANTIC...WORCESTER...LAWRENCE AND MANCHESTER. THESE AREAS SHOULD EXPECT TO SEE THE SNOW TO CHANGE TO RAIN...WITH POCKETS OF FREEZING RAIN IN DEEPER VALLEYS. LOCATIONS NORTH AND WEST OF THIS LINE INCLUDING HARTFORD...SPRINGFIELD...ORANGE AND KEENE CAN EXPECT A WINTRY MIX OF SNOW AND FREEZING RAIN. THIS LOW PRESSURE IS FORECAST TO HEAD TO THE MARITIMES SUNDAY. THIS WILL BRING COLDER AIR BACK INTO SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND...RESULTING IN A CHANGE TO ALL SNOW BEFORE THE PRECIPITATION ENDS SUNDAY MORNING. AS MUCH AS 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW MAY ACCUMULATE IN NORTHWEST MASSACHUSETTS AND THE MONADNOCKS OF SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE BY SUNDAY MORNING...WITH UP TO AN INCH ELSEWHERE. THE FREEZING RAIN MAY ALSO PRODUCE UP TO ONE TENTH OF AN INCH OF ICING. EVEN THOUGH THESE AMOUNTS OF SNOW AND ICE ARE EXPECTED TO BE MINOR...IT ONLY TAKES A SMALL ACCUMULATION TO MAKE UNTREATED ROADS SLIPPERY. IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO TRAVEL TONIGHT OR EARLY SUNDAY YOU MAY WANT TO ALLOW EXTRA TIME. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES MAY BE ISSUED FOR PARTS OF SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND LATER THIS AFTERNOON...WHEN THE EXTENT AND DURATION OF THE ICING POTENTIAL BECOMES BETTER DEFINED. A PERIOD OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE MONDAY AS A WARM FRONT MOVES NORTH ACROSS THE REGION. THE BEST CHANCE OF ANY FREEZING RAIN WOULD BE IN NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE. A GALE WARNING MAY BE REQUIRED SUNDAY FOR WEST WINDS OF 30 TO 40 KNOTS. GALES MAY ALSO BE REQUIRED ON TUESDAY FOR SOUTH WINDS OF 30 TO 40 KNOTS. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. FOR WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORY THRESHOLDS, PLEASE REFER TO THE FOLLOWING LINK (ALL LOWER CASE): HTTP://WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/ER/BOX/WARNINGCRITERIA.SHTML . BELK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Massachusetts in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Massachusetts, February 2003
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: 5340266, 5340267, 5340268.