National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Overview

A moisture rich and long duration coastal storm producing all precipitation types including soaking rain, heavy snowfall rates, sleet and freezing rain impacted eastern NY and western New England beginning the evening of Friday March 22 and continued through the evening of Saturday March 23. A snow band producing moderate to heavy snow with snowfall rates reaching 1-2" per hours persisted across the Mohawk Valley, southern Adirondacks and Lake George/Saratoga region into the higher elevations of southern Vermont resulting in the first widespread double digit snow event of the year. A few locations in southern VT even eclipsed 30 inches due to upslope enhancements. While a period of snow initially started across the Schoharie Valley and Capital District the night of Friday March 22, it transitioned to sleet/freezing rain before or around daybreak on Saturday March 23. Steady freezing rain continued throughout the morning into the early afternoon as air temperatures remained at or just below freezing. Few areas changed over to plain rain in this region as temperatures did not budge. While ice stopped accreting on many road surfaces by late morning and early afternoon, ice continued to accrete across elevated surfaces including trees. Given the the prolonged nature of steady to even moderate freezing rain and temperatures persisting around nearly ideal temperatures for efficient ice accretion, the weight of the ice resulted in tree limbs and even some tree breaking and falling. This led to numerous power outages that lasted for over 24 hours in some spots of the Capital District. After an impressive 0.50 - 0.75 inches of flat ice accreted, freezing rain changed back to a burst of moderate to heavy snow during the late afternoon hours on March 23 producing an additional quick 2 - 4 inches before ending in the evening.

Farther south in the mid-Hudson Valley, eastern Catskills, and Litchfield Hills plain rain or mixed rain/freezing rain occurred. Some light ice accretions occurred across the eastern Catskills. In Berkshire County, initial snow/ice mix transitioned to plain rain in some valley areas but higher elevations remained a wintry mix through much of the event. A light amount of snow, then ice occurred across the Litchfield Hills into early morning before changing to all rain through the rest of the event. With rainfall totals near or in excess of 3 inches across the mid-Hudson Valley and Litchfield Hills, rises above minor flood stage occurred, necessitating river flood warnings on the Housatonic and Still Rivers in northwestern Connecticut.

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