Monday’s record-setting blizzard, New England’s worst in recent years, has been toppling longstanding snowfall milestones left and right. But one extraordinary blockbuster statistic stands out the most.
T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I., has picked up a whopping 37.9 inches of snow from Monday’s monster nor’easter, according to the National Weather Service in Norton. That total, reported as of Monday night, surpasses the previous all-time snowstorm record of 28.6 inches set during the Blizzard of ’78, the Weather Service said.
The nearly 38 inches is an astounding number considering that on average, the Providence area only sees 34.7 inches during the entire winter season.
Snow was still falling early Monday evening, and the Weather Service said it would release a final report on the airport’s record snow total overnight.
But the records don’t stop there. The airport also broke the snowfall record for Feb. 23, with 35.5 inches of accumulation versus a mere 3.8 inches of snow that fell on that date in 1967.
The severe weather forced T.F. Green Airport to cancel hundreds of flights, and airport officials said Monday night that operations would remain suspended “through Tuesday morning.”
Warwick was one of many locations around the state and across Southeastern Massachusetts that saw accumulations of 2 to 3 feet. About 58 miles to the east, the town of Whitman bested Massachusetts’ single-day snowfall record at 33.7 inches, surpassing Natick’s 29 inches during the April Fool’s Blizzard of 1997.
Monday’s blizzard saw unprecedented bursts of snowfall of up to 4 inches an hour at times from intense and persistent bands of snow that caused accumulations to climb throughout the day across Southern New England.
A concentrated surface-level front that developed over the southeastern part of the region allowed for small bands to repeatedly pop up and traverse over heavy snow zones.
Nice loop of the banding that occured with the #blizzard. Certainly historic storm for RI and parts of SE Mass. Was it memorable/historic for you or just a classic New England snowstorm? https://t.co/ta8tPme7cf
— Dave Epstein (@growingwisdom) February 24, 2026
Some of these bands went through a process of “back-building,” repeatedly developing over the same region as the front provided steady and constant vertical lift of onshore moisture. This lift clashed with cold air, producing prolific snowfall rates with a few heavy bursts of snow.
These snow bands are like dunking a sponge in water and wringing it out, and then repeating the process as the snow bands drift. That’s why there was such high variability in snow totals from community to community.
Marianne Mizera can be reached at marianne.mizera@globe.com. Follow her @MareMizera. Ken Mahan can be reached at ken.mahan@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahantheweatherman.
