National Weather Service meteorologists at the forecasting center in Taunton, Mass., saw Rhode Island's lack of snow in the persistent storm as an interesting phenomenon.
Meteorologist Benjamin Sipprell explained his theory Friday evening that terrain and temperature, plus the prevailing curve of moisture-laden air created the minimal snow pocket in the Providence area.
The plume of moisture from the Atlantic was sent upwards when it hit the coastal plain of Massachusetts, he said.
But Rhode Island's terrain slopes down into Narragansett Bay. Without the lift into colder elevations, moisture-bearing air didn't condense and freeze as it did over the rest of New England.
The plume, Sipprell said, "was more oriented in eastern and central Massachusetts, curling down into the Connecticut Valley south and west." In other words, it was carried around, not into, the Providence area.
At the same time, the temperature in Rhode Island hung right around freezing. Snow that forms at freezing tends to disappear quickly in warmer temperatures on the ground. "It was difficult for this type of snow to accumulate." Sipprell said.
Supporting his theory, the higher elevations in north and northwestern Providence County produced up to a foot of snow.