Just when New Englanders thought the demonic grasp of winter was loosening, Mother Nature violently shook the region to its core with a explosive “bombogenesis” storm on Saturday. A clash of diametrically opposed air masses spawned a potent nor’easter that lashed the coast with flooding rains and hurricane-force wind gusts, while blanketing the interior with blankets of smothering snow measured in feet, not inches.
As the storm underwent the process of bombogenesis, rapidly intensifying as it pulled in ample Atlantic moisture, swaths of heavy precipitation fanned out across New England. But there was a drastically sharp cutoff in precipitation types based on mere elevation changes of just a few hundred feet.
“It’s almost like we had two completely different storms raging simultaneously across southern and northern New England,” exclaimed Maura Casey, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine. “With such an extreme gradient in just a small distance, properly highlighting the forecast messaging was critical.”
Indeed, while Bostonians endured aaylashes of horizontal rain and thunderous wind gusts peaking over 60 mph, just 100 miles northwest ski resorts in New Hampshire’s White Mountains were being entombed under over 2 feet of fresh powder. Casey indicated the highest peaks could see as much as 30-40 inches of snowfall by the time flakes stopped flying late Saturday night.
The regionalized extremes extended across the entire reach of the nor’easter’s fury. New York City dealt with an absolute mess as the evening rush commenced, with flooded roadways rendering travel a nightmarish slog under relenting downpours. Coastal flooding washed over beaches and seaside communities, forcing closures of Coney Island’s famed amusement parks as saltwater inundated areas like a mini-tsunami.
Yet in the Adirondack and Green Mountains, an entirely different scene played out – one more reminiscent of January than late March. Whiteout blizzard conditions paralyzed towns as heavy snow pulled down tree limbs and caused numerous power outages. Over 18 inches of snow had already fallen by mid-afternoon in parts of upstate New York and Vermont.
Back downstate, sections of the Staten Island Railway had to be temporarily closed due to flooding overwhelming the tracks and rail corridor. Severe weather statements warned of rampant street flooding happening across New York City’s five boroughs under relentless deluges. The scenario played out in near-mirror image across southwestern Connecticut into the Boston metro area.
As if the volatile storm hadn’t carved out enough chaos already, extremely sharp cutoffs sometimes separated the heaviest snow bands from just rain by mere miles. This made prognosticating precise totals and impacts rather complex according to Casey.
“There’s an incredibly tight gradient between who sees a foot of snow and who might just pick up a coating or mix of rain/snow,” she explained. “It made accurately pinpointing which areas would get hit hardest very challenging with such detailedmes0-scale boundaries present.”
Ultimately, meteorologists nailed the forecast with impressive accuracy despite the complexities. For mountain-dwellers across northern New England, snow depths ranged from a reasonable 6-12 inches in valley elevations up to a truly ridiculous 30 inches atop the highest peaks.
When combined with wind gusts topping 80-90 mph at the loftiest summits, the stage was set for extremely dangerous avalanche conditions to reign through at least early Sunday morning. The Mount Washington Avalanche Center issued a rare “High Danger” avalanche warning and advised no travel in avalanche terrain.
“Massive avalanches will be very likely and could easily bury or destroy homes in their paths,” the center warned of theenne1101ance blanketing the Presidential Range in New Hampshire. “Both natural and human-triggered slides are expected widespread, with many large enough to severely damage or destroy trees and structures.”
While southern New Englanders were spared snow headaches, rain totals exceeded 6 inches in many locales contributing to disastrous flooding. Roads were transformed into raging rivers as storm drains became overwhelmed. In Queens, the Cross Island Parkway resembled a scene from Waterworld, submerged under several feet of muddy floodwaters that forced its temporary closure.
Coastal communities from Connecticut to Cape Cod bore the brunt of the storm’s furious outer banks. Seawalls were no match for the relentless onslaught of battering surf, hurricane-force winds, and record storm surge. Homes were inundated and roads washed away in some of the hardest hit shoreline areas.
“It was like living through the perfect storm combined with a hurricane all over again,” described a shellshocked Nantucket resident who lost her home to the explosive coastal flooding. “Waves were literally crashing through my living room windows as the house filled up with ocean water in just minutes. It was terrifying.”
As the potent nor’easter’s inner core finally pivoted offshore Saturday night, it allowed an eerie calm to prevail once more. However, the scarring effects as well as commutation disruptions from the weather bomb will likely linger for days across the hard-hit region.
Entire communities remain submerged in Massachusetts’ coastal areas, with over 100,000 power outages reported statewide from hurricane-force wind gusts downing utility lines. In Rhode Island, the Herculean cleanup efforts were just beginning as the scope of catastrophic flooding damage came into focus under clearer skies.
New York was in similar triage mode, with all emergency personnel desperating attempting to clear roads, assess structural damage, and restore basic utilities to impacted areas as swiftly as possible. Hundreds of water rescues from trapped vehicles and homes had to be performed at the height of the flash flooding crisis.
Further inland, buried towns and villages worked feverishly to remove several feet of dense snow before the next inevitable refreeze. Nearly every road, business, and school was blanketed under driveways of snow with towering drifts in open areas reaching rooftops in some cases.
At ski resorts like Loon Mountain in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, the paralyzing blizzard could amazingly be viewed as a parting gift from a lion-like winter. Skiers and snowboarders reveled in what could rank as the single biggest powder dump of the entire season across many resorts.
“We were ecstatic to get one last hurrah from Mother Nature before closing up for the season,” exclaimed Loon VP of Marketing Kevin Bell. “Over 30 inches of fresh powder fell, which should allow for some absolutely epic late-season shredding conditions!”
Yet as the skiing world celebrated, neighboring communities just miles away were digging out from an atmospheric bomb cyclone for the ages. The extremes of such opposite weather mirrored the dichromatic nature of New England’s fickle seasons – a rudely blunt reminder from winter that its grip lingers strong even as spring blooms peek through softening soil.
For weary residents impacted by the bombogenesis, cleanup and recovery efforts shift into overdrive with hopes impacts can be mitigated before the pattern reloads. Long-range forecasts offer a glimmer of drier, milder respite through midweek.
However, the streetwise New Englanders profoundly understand that crying “spring has sprung” too early is a rookie move on these Atlantic shores. They’ll remain on guard with snow shovels still within arm’s reach, as ominous weather models potentially hint at Mother Nature reloading with another nor’easter taking aim at the region by next weekend.
