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Norlun Trough brings localized areas of heavy snow to parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-19 Infrared Window (10.3 µm) image at 0901 UTC, with a plot of the Surface Pressure (red) and Surface Frontal (beige) analysis at 0900 UTC on 07 February [click to enlarge]

As a low pressure system was located off the US East Coast on 07 February 2026, a so-called “Norlun Trough” (named after meteorologists Nogueira and Lundstedt) or “inverted trough” extended northwestward from the offshore low center to southern New England (above).

10 hours of 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Infrared images (below) showed the development of convective cloud bands (brighter shades of green) within the area of surface convergence in the vicinity of the Norlun trough. Surface convergence was also enhanced by an approaching arctic cold front (which eventually merged with the Norlun trough). These convective cloud bands helped to enhance snowfall rates.

1-minute GOES-19 Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images with 15-minute / hourly METAR surface plots and 3-hourly analyses of Surface Pressure (red) an Surface Fronts (beige), from 0901-1900 UTC on 07 February [click to play MP4 animation]

5 hours of 1-minute GOES-19 Infrared images that included County outlines and County names (below) helped to identify the areas where the highest snowfall accumulations occurred (which as of 2002 UTC included 13.0″ in Essex County in far northeastern Massachusetts, 9.8″ in Washington County in far western Rhode Island and 8.0″ in Windham County in far eastern Connecticut).

1-minute GOES-19 Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images that included County outlines/names, with/without 15-minute / hourly plots of METAR surface data, from 1201-1700 UTC on 07 February [click to play MP4 animation]

A map of final Snowfall Totals on 07 February is shown below, depicting the highly-localized maxima across northeast Massachusetts, southeast Connecticut and southwest Rhode Island. These final snowfall totals included additional accumulation (after 20 UTC) from ocean effect snow.

Map of Snowfall Totals on 07 February (courtesy NWS Boston) [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-19, Winter weather