The winter storm that blasted areas from the northern Worcester Hills to parts of the Worcester Metro is now done and we close the books on that storm.
So why did areas near and south of the Mass Pike see less snow than what I forecast. Very close analysis of the data reveals that a small separate area of low pressure formed over Connecticut during Monday night and Tuesday morning. This was separate from the coastal storm that moved near the Cape. The Connecticut low pressure system set up a bit of a milder flow across areas immediately to its east, which were areas near I-84, I-395 and Route 146. This led to a much longer delay in the change from rain to snow and thus caused much of the precipitation from this storm to be "wasted" as rain while areas just north from Worcester and points north snowed like anything.
Once that low pressure system over Connecticut weakened and dissipated, it allowed the coastal storm to pull in that cold air and allowed it to wrap in moisture into areas that didn't really snow. This led to a burst of snow that added up to 3 to 5 inches or so between about 6 pm and 9 pm this evening. You can actually see that with the map attached to this post. One thing that absolutely stands out is that the line between areas that received relatively minor snow amounts and areas that received a ton of snow matched up with I-84, the Mass Pike and I-290/I-495.
Not an easy forecast at all and lots of frustrating and aggravation on my end trying to forecast it. I'm more than happy that this storm is now done!
