A complex low-pressure system brought more snow to an already blanketed Maine.

A slow-moving Norlun-type trough brought as much as 18 inches of snow to southern Maine. This Norlun trough is also know as a Northern New England Inverted Trough.

These events bring a snowfall that usually exceed HPC guidance. The precipitation that falls from these systems is convective in nature and usually comes in bands off the ocean; the heavy snow bands roughly aligned with the trough axis in this event. These events present difficulty for snowfall total forecasting due to its convective nature. Convective systems in the summer can leave a half-inch of rain in one place and nothing at all 20 miles away; winter convective systems can sometimes bring thunder and lightning. This winter featured several "Thundersnow" events, but no known occurrences during this storm. The persistent southeast winds brought much snow over the foothills and mountains as the elevation gave some extra lift to the air at the surface; this extra lift results in enhanced snowfall totals in these areas.

This event was interesting in many ways. One thing I did notice in the surface observations over PA during the evolution of this event was a fairly long line of weak but opposed winds. This will be an interesting case from which to judge future events for sure.