Significant snowfall was observed earlier this week in the higher elevations of the Rockies, but heavy May snowstorms are not limited to the Mountain West. On May 9-10, 1977, 48 years ago, parts of the Northeast experienced a post-Mother’s Day snowstorm as a low-pressure system moved slowly off the coast. Southern New England, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania’s Poconos received over 6 inches of snow, with snowfall totals rivaling those of a mid-winter storm for the second week of May.
Slide Mountain, New York, received 27 inches of snow, while Norwalk, Connecticut, saw 20 inches. This event set a May snowstorm record in Worcester, Massachusetts (12.7 inches) and Providence, Rhode Island (7 inches). Boston even recorded half an inch of snow, marking only their second measurable May snowfall since 1891.
As is typical for snowstorms occurring either very early or very late in the season, the heavy, wet snow caused damage to trees and power lines. Over 600,000 customers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island were left without power, some for several days, according to the Blue Hill Observatory. Additionally, a trace of snow was reported as far south as southern New Jersey, including New York City, marking the latest in-season trace of snow on record in Central Park.
Forty-three years later, a similar event occurred with snow in southern New England and a trace in New York City on May 9, 2020, although not to the same extent as the 1977 storm. Interestingly, the trace of snow in Central Park five years ago today marked the end of one of the least snowy seasons on record for the area.
For more information on the late-season snowstorm of May 9-10, 1977, contact Jonathan Erdman, a senior meteorologist at weather.com with expertise in extreme and unusual weather phenomena. You can reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook.
