Winter storm dumps over 20 inches of snow on Virginia

The heaviest snows are now over for the very wet Winter Storm Saturn, which dumped 6+" of snow on fourteen states this week, from North Dakota to Virginia. The deepest snows fell in the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia and eastern West Virginia, where a number of locations received over twenty inches. The top snow-getter was Franklin, West Virginia, with 24". At least three more states will join the 6+" snow club on Thursday, as Boston, MA, Providence, RI, and New London, CT are all expected to get 4 - 8" of snow. A mere 0.2" of snow fell at Washington D.C.'s Reagan Airport, despite predictions early in the morning that the city would receive 8 - 10" of snow. The storm, dubbed "Snowquester" by the Washington Post, is now being called "Noquester" after the forecast bust. Western suburbs of D.C. just twenty miles from the city got up to 6" of snow, though, with 3.3" recorded at Dulles Airport.


Figure 1. MODIS satellite image of Winter Storm Saturn/Snowquester at 2:55 pm EST March 6, 2013, from NASA's Aqua satellite. Image credit: NASA.

According to NOAA's latest storm summary, here are the top snowfall amounts for the fourteen states that received 6+" of snow:

...IOWA...
NEW HAMPTON 8.6

...ILLINOIS...
LA GRANGE PARK 11.0

...INDIANA...
NORTH WEBSTER 11.0

...MARYLAND...
FROSTBURG 12.5

...MICHIGAN...
SAWYER 9.5

...MINNESOTA...
BIGFORK 13.2

...MONTANA...
ROCKY BOY 24.0

...NORTH CAROLINA...
BRYSON CITY 6.0

...NORTH DAKOTA...
LANGDON 15.0

...OHIO...
BELLEFONTAINE 9.0

...PENNSYLVANIA...
NEW KENSINGTON 12.0

...VIRGINIA...
FISHERSVILLE 20.3

...WISCONSIN...
INDEPENDENCE 9.0

...WEST VIRGINIA...
FRANKLIN 24.0

Coastal flooding in Delaware floods Highway 1; flooding in Massachusetts a concern
The storm brought high winds and a storm surge of 2 - 4' to the shores of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, causing moderate flooding to many of the beaches battered by Hurricane Sandy in October. The top wind gust was 64 mph at Tuckerton, NJ. The streets of Sea Bright and Highlands in New Jersey flooded during high tide Wednesday, and a 4.1' storm surge hit the Delaware coast near Lewes, driving water levels to 2.8' above the high tide mark. The storm surge, topped by high, battering waves, caused severe erosion and broke through a barrier dune north of the Indian River Inlet Bridge, inundating the coastal highway, Route 1, between Dewey Beach and Bethany Beach. As the storm moves eastwards, it will bring moderate flooding during the Thursday evening and Friday morning high tide cycles along large portions of the Eastern Massachusetts coast. Sandwich Harbor and Nantucket Island are both predicted to receive major coastal flooding on Friday morning, with storm surges of up to 3.8' and waves offshore of up to 29'. Winds gusts of 68 mph were observed at Hyannis and Harwichport on Massachusetts' Cape Cod this Thursday morning.


Figure 2. Coastal flooding on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, in Norfolk, Virginia, thanks to Winter Storm Saturn. Image credit: Martin Cornick.


Figure 3. Coastal flooding prediction made at 5 am EDT Thursday March 7, 2013 for the Friday morning high tide cycle. Sandwich Harbor and Nantucket Island are boost predicted to receive major coastal flooding, with storm surges of up to 3.8' and waves offshore of up to 29'. NWS Boston.

We'll have ongoing coverage this week of Winter Storm Saturn in our Winter Storm Section. You can track current storm surge levels using our wundermap with the storm surge layer turned on.

Jeff Masters