Biggest snowstorm you ever saw?

[Bob Johnson]

What was the biggest snowstorm you ever saw?

99 blizzard here in Chicago, Illinois. What a storm that was! I was walking outside through it at the age of 10! Got about 21.5 inches total here. Awaiting for another one to :)

[Jason Boggs]

I saw about 21 inches fall in about a 12 hour period back in 1986 near Pampa, TX. I was in Jr high then, and I couldn't hardly see to walk 3 blocks to my house when school got cancelled. I also remember the power was out for about 3 days. I don't remember what day it was, but I do know it was in early March.

Ohh, I almost forgot. I was also in North Georgia back in 93 during the "storm of the century". I think we got 23 inches on that event. I was visiting my brother on spring break and we were planning a fishing trip. Needless to say, the fishing trip was a goner and the electricity was out for 6 days.

[Bob Johnson]

Wow 12 inches. Must have been a great expierence. I am sure u hardly ever see snow there.

[Angie Norris]

Superstorm of 1993...24 inches of the fluffy stuff in my back yard in East TN. First time for thundersnow, too!!!!!

[Bob Johnson]

Ya I remember that one. What a storm it was!

[David Poch]

What was the biggest snowstorm you ever saw?

99 blizzard here in Chicago, Illinois. What a storm that was! I was walking outside through it at the age of 10! Got about 21.5 inches total here. Awaiting for another one to :)

I remember that storm. I remember going to bed that night knowing that it was suppose to snow during the night, waking up to thunder not thinking anything of it. When I woke up and looked outside I knew I wouldn't be going anywhere for a few days. That was the biggest for me so far.

David

[Chris Hayes]

Biggest snowfall that I can remember was the Valentines Day storm of this year. We got about 10 inches of snow here. Some areas recieved a lot more though.

[Brandon Smith]

The largest storm I saw was during the Blizzard of '96. I lived in Frederick, MD at the time and recieved around 36 inches. I was only in 2nd grade and remember snow well over my waist. It was the first time I had ever seen lightning and and heard thunder during a snow storm.

I was out of school for well over a week because the neighborhoods couldn't get plowed out. Normal snow plows were no match for the large amount of snow. During the storm, a Maryland State Highway truck ended up overheating and broke down in our neighborhood simply because the weight of the snow was too much for his engine to handle. It eventually took large front end loaders to dig us out. My dad remembers commuting to DC in the days after the blizzard and seeing actual bulldozers plowing I-270. I'm sure some of you in the DC area have similar stories.

[Jeff Snyder]

The big 1991 Halloween snowstorm in Minnesota... I was taking my little brother trick-or-treating at the time, so it was particularly eventful for me. ~28" of snow at the MSP airport in a couple of days, followed by record cold. This event ranked #3 on the Minnesota state climatologist list of Top 5 Minnesota weather events of the 20th century ( http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/top5/numberthree.htm ). See the Wikipedia entry of this event (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_Blizzard) for more info.

[Dan Robinson]

Around 2 feet during the 93 event in Washington, PA.

[Patrick Martin]

Almost a year ago to the day, the blizzard of 06, 28 inches.
Got snowed into college in 93 with 2 feet, Westfield MA.
The blizzard of 77 (or was it 76, not sure, I was was in grade school), I remember building snow caves and tunnelling through the snow that fell at my parents house in CT.

[John Farley]

Having lived in areas prone to snowstorms all my life, and being a skier, I have seen a lot of big ones. But the two biggest were both last year. Over 3 days at Wolf Creek in Colorado, 3 feet fell. I skied there two days during that storm, including the peak day. (Big mistake. During the heaviest bursts you could hardly see 20 feet.) BTW - Wolf Creek has had 2 storms even bigger than that in the last two weeks! I was there one day between them, but not during. Lesson learned from last year!

Second biggest, and the biggest aside from at ski areas - December 29-31 last year in Santa Fe, NM, around 24 inches.

An honorable mention goes to the St. Louis thundersnow event in 1982, 14-22 inches, depending on location. It started as rain, and turned to snow just as we were going into a movie. During the movie, we started hearing loud thunder. When we came out, there was already 5 inches of snow!

[David Wolfson]

I think it was the New Year's Day 1969 blizzard in Northfield (central) Vermont, although technically I didn't experience it because the family was stuck with family in Boston for a few days, where they had a lesser storm. We got back to our Vermont house to find it invisible behind the ten foot banks when the double-bladed grader/plow had cleared the road. The snow on the level was above the window sills (>3') with drifts almost up to the roof of our two story house.

Growing up around Boston through the 50s and 60s, there were quite a few 2'+ storms. If a nor'easter didn't gauge at least a foot the depressing prospect of not missing school the next day reared its ugly head.

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

Most I have snow I have seen, other than getting into a few blizzards with my dad when we would go to Air Force games in Colorado Springs, would be the TX Panhandle storm on Dec 25-27 of 2000. My hometown got 17" and Ama got 21". That snow lasted at least a week on the roads and a month in the shade. First time I ever got to drive on snow as well. The most memorable thing about the storm I remember is going to bed with it snowing and the forecast saying something like 3-6" and waking up with over foot and a few more inches to go. The forecast may have been better than I remember, but I do remember waking up shocked. If you have never heard 17" of snow slide off the roof of a 50+ year old house, it is something like a train passing through the center of the house.

People got stranded on Highway 287 between Ama and Dumas. They sent Humvees out to get them, humvees couldnt make it through it. Here is an article (http://www.amarillo.com/stories/122700/new_snowpm.shtml) on the storm.

[Joel Wright]

Best blizzard I've ever seen was the December '87 blizzard that brought 60mph winds, thundersnow mixed with sleet, and a foot of accumulation. Not all that impressive accumulation by blizzard standards, but it came in a relatively quick fashion. I was in 5th grade at the time, and was totally awestruck by the power of this particular storm.

Best snowstorm I've seen was probably the January '95 storm that deposited 15+" along with thundersnow and bouts of 2"+/hr rates. It had winds that topped 40mph at times, but compared to the above blizzard was tame.

The New Years '99 blizzard was memorable too, but since it was spread out over a two-day stretch it's total accumulation seems a bit less impressive to me. Our particular area got about 14". Never did see any of the thundersnow that was reported with that here, but the heart of the blizzard passed just east of my location (Quad Cities at the time).

[B Ozanne]

Easily the blizzard of 1996, the one that hit the east coast in early January. My town received the highest total in the state with around 29" of snow. The drifting was amazing.

A close second is the February blizzard in 2004, NYC set its daily record. We had thundersnow and 4"+ per hour snowfall rates.

I've seen bigger multi-day 100" events out west but there's nothing like a nor'easter.

[Bob Johnson]

To bad Chicago doesent get snowstorm like you guys do. We don't have a huge body of water to supply amped Moisture. Grr.

[Chris Foltz]

Most I've seen from one storm was the 19.7" that fell over 24 hours in Columbia, MO on January 18-19, 1995. Had several hours of +TSSN and snowfall rates approaching 4" per hour at times. Most amazing thing I've ever witnessed.

[Rob Mitchell]

Biggest snow storm I ever lived through was the Blizzard of '96. I was living on Long Island at the time.

We had 28" of snow on the North Shore of Long Island with that storm. Winds also got pretty high but I can't remember how high. At that point, snow was way more important than wind :)

I think another interesting topic would be...How long (continuous) have you seen snow cover the ground where you lived?

For me, I believe it was the winter of '91-'92 (again, still growing up on Long Island). We had snow cover the ground for 2+ months straight, which I had never seen before and have never seen since. That year, temperatures also got below zero for more than one night which is rare for Long Island. I believe it's also the year that Long Island got two 12"+ snow storms within 5 days of each other. That was the best winter.

-RM

[Gerrit Gulden]

My family I traveled from Southern California where we lived at the time to BridgePort California for Christmas. It was around the year 1997 I believe. We stayed at a Hotel in town and low and behold we would experience our first ever Blizzard. I remember watching the storm come in from the West over a Mountain. It started out with Light snow and we drove around looking for a hill to sled on. By that night the storm finally started dumping close to 1-2 inches per hour. We woke up the next day with close to 2 feet of snow on the ground with winds in the 50-60 mph range and gusting close to 70mph. We learned later that day that the Highway was shut down and the realness of being snowed in was finally real. We traveled to a small store in town to buy some food and I stayed in the car. The car rocked with each gust and the snow was soo heavy that visibility was very close to 0%. All in all, after the storm departed there was over 4 feet of snow and close to 7 feet above 7k feet. When it came time to leave we had to drive with a Caravan of about 100 cars close to 100 miles out of our way to avoid the avalanche area, Basically from Bridgeport california to Nevada and then south to Southern California. It took us about 5 additional hours to get home.

I have great footage of the storm but it is on VHS tape and I havent had the time yet to convert to my pc. I will try to soon.

I can only hope for another storm like that where I live now In Idaho. =)


-gerrit

[Bobbi Andrzejek]

The biggest blizzard I ever saw was the storm in Denver in 1982. It began on Christmas Eve, if I remember correctly. It snowed for 24 hours and we received 48" of snow. You couldn't even see the cars parked out on the road, as they were totally buried. The front door of the house was completely covered and we had to exit through the garage door. Not that there was anywhere to go! LOL! After four days, I finally snowshoed to a 7-11, looking for milk for the two babies in the house. The 7-11 was bare. It was quite an experience.

[Robert Rohloff]

This was the worst storm I have ever seen. I lived in Grand Rapids Michigan and we received 20-30 inches of snow with winds over 50 mph.My house had a hill to the west and on the north along the driveway. The snow drifted 5-10 feet deep. I had a Pontiac Firebird parked infront of the garage. The last thing you could see was the top of the CB antenna.
It took 4 people almost 5 hours to dig enough around it to get it into the garage.

You know it is bad when 4x4's stop, then the snowmobiles would not work the snow drifts were too deep. Vehicles were totally buried. It took tracked vehicles to perform rescues. I walked about 2 miles to the Sheriffs Department where I worked and was there for 3 days.

[Robert Dewey]

December 16th, 2007 in southeastern Michigan. We got 18 inches combined with a northeast wind gusting up to 50MPH. I could hear thunder occasionally, but the near zero visibility limited any visual aspect.

Oh, wait. Hasn't happened yet. Jinx ;)

[Mike Smith]

I am showing my age here -- The February, 1971, blizzard that affected a wide area from ICT to AMA. It is still the all-time record snow for ICT. Here is what OCS says about the 'third biggest weather event in OK history':

3. Blizzard, February 21-22, 1971. Although this snowstorm was confined to a relatively small part of northwest Oklahoma, the storm total of three feet at Buffalo nearly doubles the maximum storm total of any other snowstorm in Oklahoma history. Winds whipped snow into enormous drifts, forcing some people to use second story windows to get out of their homes.

NWS Southern Region says:

March 22-25, 1957 Blizzard

Worst spring blizzard on record.
Responsible for 11 panhandle deaths, numerous injuries, $6 million in damage.

Texas Panhandle reported 30 ft drifts; Oklahoma Panhandle reported 15 ft drifts.
10 to 20 inches of snow reported across the panhandles.

20 percent of the panhandles cattle population was lost in the storm.
Huge drifts stranded thousands of motorists, including snowplows attempting rescues.

True white out conditions, with visibilities reduced to zero at times.

I question the "10 to 20 inches" in the above, as I recall there were reports upwards of 30 inches (seems to be confirmed by OCS's comments) but there were certainly measurement problems with a storm of this intensity.

This storm also caused the "Mississippi Delta Tornado Outbreak" which killed 121.

[Billy Griffin]

I remember growing up in Paducah, KY - I think it was in 1978, we had a 30+ inch snowfall. Can't recall when and exact totals.

[cdcollura]

The infamous blizzard of 1978 experienced first hand as I was a child in Ronkonkoma, New York on Long Island.

http://www.sky-chaser.com/image/stplog/pother04.jpg

This is a picture of my father shoveling the heavy snow from the front door, just so we can get out.

The driveway was another story, the 1977 Cadillac is completely covered except for its rear bumper in the right of the picture. This storm brought 90 MPH winds to New England and snow totals of 3 to 4 feet.

These extratropical storms can have winds as strong as their distant tropical cousins, hurricanes.

[Eric Flescher]

Up until 1973 and when I was younger, we made giant igloos from previou storms . But not like this one.

Providence and New ENgland were hit with a massive stormstorm after I left after graduating URI in 1973. The sun shut down everything I think for days and no cars could go anywhere . People had to walk.

If you know the year if it was other then 1978- let us know

[Dustin Wilcox]

I remember the winters when it snowed 20 inches almost every week, couldn't even get out your front door. I had to walk to school too, up hill both ways.

There are only two snow storms that stick out in my mind here in E NE and both were unusually early winter storms, one was on Halloween I don't remember the exact year but I would guess I was 5 or 6 so about 1992, it snowed so much that the town called off Halloween (yeah I guess they can do that). The other was the blizzard of 1997 another late October Storm, I recall going to bed knowing there was a chance of snow, though the forecast wasn't for a lot of snow, I then remember being the first one up as I wanted to see how much it snowed, I recall walking down the stairs to a Jaw dropping scene, almost every single tree was touching the ground as over a foot of real heavy snow fell on trees that still were holding most of their leaves, the damage from that storm can still be seen in many of this areas trees. I don't recall even seeing any snow in October since that storm.

Some Pictures of the Storm's impact on Lincoln here, it was actually a little worse near my hometown. All that snow fell over night.
http://www.journalstar.com/shared-content/gallery/?galleryid=7&gallery_page=3&album_page=0&albumid=804&mediaid=9068

[Tom Pastrano]

Sounds funny, but growing up as a kid we had a freak storm in South Texas. Snow started to appear in the forecast a couple of days before but was only suppose to be a dusting. It started snowing and didn't stop for 2 days. We got a total of 15 inches of snow at my house. On top of the snow, there was one inch of ice. I remember all the dogs were able to walk on top of the snow because the ice was so thick. The grass was still green and it was a preculiar site to see all the palm trees with all the snow on them.

[jladue]

I can't say what the biggest snow event I witnessed was. Let me make a list of notables:

1. Feb 5-7, 1978. I was growing up in Poughkeepsie, NY at the time and remembered Junior High closed for two days. That's a big deal for the Hudson Valley. I think we got 24" but it was difficult to tell with the blizzard conditions. What was great about that storm was that it was preserved for a month afterward due to persistent cold.

2. January 20-25, 1985 lake effect at Oswego, NY. I may be cheating here but I cannot remember more severe winter storms than a good lake effect band. Most of the 36" fell in 18 hours, two feet in 7 hours. Winds gusted to 70 mph in town, temps were near 0 F, and there was occasional lightning.

2a. A friend and I chased a similar event in January 18-20, 1994 from the DC area. This event featured the same kind of ridiculous conditions. The 70 mph winds dropped down to nearly dead calm when the center of the band went overhead. Oswego got 27" overnight but the town of Mexico got 42" in about 12 hrs. There was an anvil over the band, lots of lightning, and occasional vortices traveling down the band center. The snow was statically charged and stuck to everything. Even at 0 F, the snow was great snowball making material.

3. Another friend and I chased the Oct 25, 1997 blizzard in west KS. We stopped in GCK and scoped out a motel to stay in before we toured the town in the blizzard. There was nothing like X-country skiing downwind through a golf course being propelled by sustained 50 kt winds. Of course we had to ski upwind for the return. I believe GCK's obs were sustained 50kt with snow thunder. We wound up with perhaps 15" of snow. Just a little further west, Syracuse KS got buried by 20' drifts. We were the furthest west that one lane was opened on Rt 50 amidst vehicular carnage.

[Miriam Lawrence]

Last winter's blizzard here in Vermont dropped 31" in our area... here are our truck and minivan to give you an idea. We had 5 foot drifts against our house--took us the better part of a day to dig out enough to even get from the house to the driveway.


The blizzard of '96 in Baltimore was quite something, too. What's funny is the difference in reactions. Here in Vermont, we got 3 feet and people's most extreme reaction was, "Uh, yeh-up, that's a lot of snow." Down there, they hear there's going to be a few inches of snow and there's a run on every store, good luck finding milk or bread!

[Mike Peregrine]

I LOVE the pic of the dog catching the snowball.

The biggest in recent memory was in December, 1992 in NYC. It was between 15-20" with lots of cool drifts. '96 was the next big one there, but I missed that one. And then '02. The big snows in eastern cities are really cool. Everything is so quiet and peaceful - and beautiful. I lived there for two great snow events and remember them dumping the snow into the East River to get rid of it on the streets. It's great because it totally transforms the city.

[Michael Towers]

To bad Chicago doesent get snowstorm like you guys do. We don't have a huge body of water to supply amped Moisture. Grr.

Sure we do, but not on a frequent basis. Most of the snows we get are the 1-3 inch variety, storm totals of a 12”+ happen about once every 15 years on average. And we’ve had some whoppers, 3 in my lifetime. I was too young (2 years) to remember the first, the 1967 blizzard that dropped 23 inches and paralyzed the city.

http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/disasters/snowstorms.html


Officially, the biggest snowstorm I saw and remember was the 1999 New Years storm that dumped 22 inches. But while that was the biggest, it was not the worst. The Blizzard of ’79 was an historic event in Chicago weather and also Chicago politics. The season already had seen more than the annual average of 39” on Jan. 12, with about a foot blanketing the ground in my NW suburban town. The forecast called for 2-4” of snow, the only meteorologist I recall who predicted the blizzard was John Coleman, known more for his irreverent style than his forecasting acumen. In true John Coleman style, he predicted an “Oklahoma Hooker” would bury Chicago, the term referring to the track the storm would take as the Low hooked sharply NE as it moved beyond Oklahoma. So caught mostly by surprise, the area received 20”+, followed quickly by an arctic snap that dropped temps below 0. The city was unprepared, the aftermath created problems so serious and vast that the mayor lost his job in the election the following month. Ever since, snow preparedness had been a top priority for all local governments, lol. School was closed for a week, then closed again shortly thereafter as another snowstorm hit the area. This was on top of days lost due to previous snows. I was looking at the school year ending in July had we been forced to make up the lost days, but the school district deemed the bad weather an “Act of God” and decided not a single day would have to be made up. Yep, that’s right, a school district using the term “Act of God”, it sure was a different world back then.

On a note to the 1999 storm, forecasters indeed predicted a major storm would hit, but took the conservative-as-usual approach with most calling for 8-12”. By that time John Coleman had moved on to Milwaukee, but like a blast from the past he appeared on a local talk-radio show a couple days before the storm. The hosts had recalled how he was the only weatherman back in ’79 (that’s what we called them back then, not meteorologist but “weatherman”) that predicted the blizzard and they wanted his assessment of the upcoming storm. Like a blast from the past, good ‘ol John proclaimed that once again an “Oklahoma Hooker” was coming to Chicago, with storm totals perhaps exceeding those from the storm in ’79. The hosts laughed at him but not at his prediction, and sure enough he was right again. You gotta like a weatherman with good humor and the stones to predict a big one. John, by the way, went on to found The Weather Channel.

[Dick McGowan]

1989?? On Thanksgiving day in Garden City, I think we had 26" of snow! I was sledding off of our roof. Then in 1998, I was in Dighton, KS, where there was a cold rain, drove 10 miles south, and it was sleet, got to K-156 highway, and it was a complete blizzard. Took me 2.5 hours to get to Garden City, 52 miles away (most of the driving was just 24 miles). I'm not sure on the total, but it was a lot! I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me, and saw about 15 vehicles flipped over, or stuck in the ditch, I even helped one lady who was stuck about 10 m. east of GCK. I watched several ambulances/emergency vehicles heading that way, and were sliding around also. I could only do about 10-20 mph!

[kevinv]

in 1976 in cornwall ontario canada. i was in grade 2 or 3. in the morning i went to school. could hardly see. in the afternoon, my parents kept me home because the snow diftws were so high, you could hardly see across the street.

i also rember that the 401 hyway was closed to snow. never seen that again until the icestorm of 98. 6 days no power in 98.

[Maggie Kahman]

The worst snowstorm I have ever witnessed is probably the blizzard of '97. We had almost 3' of snow in our yard alone, not to mention the almost 6' snowdrifts. We literally were snowed in, we could not get out of our house!

[Nathan Edwards]

I had the pleasure of taking off from Boston Logan International Airport late at night on April 1st 1997. I think I was on one, if not the last flight to depart that night before they closed the runways. I love flying and usually don't get scared but that day I was very nervous. I think about 2 foot of snow had fallen with winds gusting to 50mph when we finally taxi'd.

Certainly that snow storm was much worse than anything I've experienced here in the UK. We just don't seem to get decent snow events here these days.

[Matt Chatelain]

12-29-06 Blizzard in the far western Oklahoma panhandle in Boise City. 18 inches with huge drifts. I'll never forget seeing a drift on a building that was about 10 feet high. The event crippled SE colorado and Cimmeron county OK for 3 weeks.