Storm Event Summary and Preliminary Analysis of the March 31 / April 1 1997 Blizzard

A weak storm system tracked across the Mid Atlantic on Sunday March 30 and early Monday, March 31. As the storm moved off the coast an intense upper level disturbance (shortwave) triggered rapid cyclogensis and eventually bombogenesis. With temperatures near freezing the precipitation initially fell as rain. As slightly colder air moved into the system along with dynamic cooling produced by intense vertical motions, the rain changed to a heavy wet snow. The storm dumped heavy wet snow across the Northeast and New York from Monday afternoon March 31 through the morning of Tuesday April 1.

Infared satelite imagery of the Blizzard that dumped 2 to 3 feet of snow across the Catskills and Interior New England. The Infared imagery is from GOES 8 from 2232 UTC 3/31/97 through 0432 UTC 4/1/97.

This storm will go down in the record books. Widespread one to two foot snow totals have been measured from northeastern Pennsylvania to southeast New Hampshire.

In Rhode Island, Burrillville reported over 26 inches of snow with 5 foot drifts! Over 30 inches of snow was reported in the northern Catskills of New York. In southeast New York, Carmel and Brewster reported 18 inches, Peekskill had 10 inches, and Newburgh reported 5 inches. In the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, 18 to 23 inches of snow was measured. Over two feet (27 inches) fell at High Point, NJ.

A wind gust to 72 mph was observed at the Blue Hill observatory in Massachusetts and a peak wind of 55 mph was observed in downtown Providence, RI.

The storm produced two to three feet of snow across parts of eastern New York state, northeastern Pennsylvania, and southern and central New England.


Heavier Snowfall Totals in the Northeastern U.S.:

37 Inches at Jewett ............. in East Central New York State
35 Inches at Platte Cove ........ in East Central New York State
33 Inches at Milford ............ in Central Massachusetts
30 Inches at Hopkinton .......... in Eastern Massachusetts
30 Inches at Shrewsbury ......... in Central Massachusetts
30 Inches at Ski Windham ........ in Southwestern Vermont
29 Inches at Prattsville ........ in East Central New York State
28 Inches at Broome ............. in East Central New York State
28 Inches at Burrillville ....... in Northern Rhode Island
28 Inches at Gilboa ............. in East Central New York State
27 Inches at Jaffrey ............ in Southern New Hampshire
26 Inches at Berne .............. in East Central New York State
26 Inches at West Townsend ...... in Eastern Massachusetts
25 Inches at Westerlo ........... in East Central New York State
24 Inches at Christiana ......... in Central Pennsylvania
22 Inches at Worcester .......... in Central Massachusetts
20 Inches at Taunton ............ in Southeastern Massachusetts
18 Inches at Brewster ........... in Southeastern New York State
18 Inches at Carmel ............. in Southeastern New York State


500 mb heights at 00 UTC on 04/01/97.


850 mb heights at 00 UTC on 04/01/97.


Surface Pressure in mb at 00 UTC on 04/01/97.


200 mb Potential Vorticity on 04/01/97. (units *10**7)