Massachusetts, 2011

Winter Storm in Massachusetts, October 29 to 30, 2011

October 29 to 30, 2011 · NWS ALY · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

An early season Nor'easter dumped heavy wet snow on the Berkshires. The storm tapped both Atlantic and subtropical moisture.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 ALY wrote it up.

An early season Nor'easter dumped heavy wet snow on the Berkshires. The storm tapped both Atlantic and subtropical moisture. Snowfall rates were as high as 2 to 4 inches an hour in mesoscale snowbands. Snowfall amounts ranged from a foot to over 2 feet across the higher terrain of the northern Berkshires. At 5:30 pm EST Saturday October 29th, the Massachusetts State Police in Berkshire County declared all roads impassable. Power outages occurred as trees and wires came down due to the heavy snow. Both National Grid and Western Massachusetts Electric reported most of the power outages were concentrated below the Massachusetts Turnpike.

A colder air mass was brought into the region on Thursday, October 27th, as an area of low pressure moved eastward along a frontal boundary to our south. This weak system produced our first snowfall of season. Low pressure began to develop along the southeast coast Friday night. The low tracked along or just north of the Gulf Stream and rapidly deepened and intensified (cyclogenesis) as it moved northeastward on Saturday, October 29th. The storm passed just southeast of Cape Cod early Sunday morning, October 30th, then headed northeastward into the Canadian Maritimes during the day.

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 Albany, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 28, 5:54 PM EST, 17 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 28, 5:54 PM EST, 17 hours 36 minutes before
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The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Southern Berkshire

When
October 29, 11:30 AM EST to October 30, 4:30 AM EST
Where
Southern Berkshire forecast zone
Reported by
Broadcast Media
Coordinates
42.371, -73.206 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Northern Berkshire

When
October 29, 12:00 PM EST to October 30, 4:30 AM EST
Where
Northern Berkshire forecast zone
Reported by
Broadcast Media
Coordinates
42.371, -73.206 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm
A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Massachusetts in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Massachusetts, October 2011

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 350397, 350398.