Remembering New York's "Snowmageddon" of Winter 2011

 

 

Between Dec. 26, 2010 and Feb. 2, 2011, a mere 39 days, New York received an incredible 57.6" inches of snow - more than double a typical winter's snowfall.  Although the bulk came from two blizzards, 20" on Dec. 26-27, 2010 and 19" on Jan. 26-27, 2011, an additional 17" fell in the four weeks between those storms:

 

In Just 39 Days …
	Snowfall
Dec 26-27, 2010	20.0"
Jan 7 2011	1.7"
Jan 11-12, 2011	9.1"
Jan 18 2011	1.0"
Jan 21 2011	4.2"
Jan 25 2011	1.0"
Jan 26-27 2011	19.0"
Feb 1-2 2011	1.6"
TOTAL	57.6"

 

What's more, in the 12 months between February 2010 (when 36.9" fell, making it the snowiest month on record) and January 2011, a total of 93 inches of snow fell.  However, in the following two winters just 20 inches fell (until the snowstorm of Feb. 8-9, 2013 dumped 11.4").

Despite the huge amount of snow that fell in this 5-week period, the winter of 2010-11 didn't become the snowiest on record.  With a snowfall total of 61.9" (just 5.8" fell in February and March), it ended up as New York's third snowiest winter, ranking behind 1995-96 (75.6") and 1947-48 (63.2").

 

 

In addition to winter 2011's Snowmageddon, here is a list of other major snowy periods, dating back to the winter of 1960.  Half of them have occurred since 2005.

 

SNOWMAGEDDONS SINCE 1960
		# of
Winter	Dates	Days	Snowfall
2011 -	Dec 26 - Jan 27	39	57.6"
1996 -	Dec 19 - Feb 17	61	57.0"
1961 -	Dec 11 - Feb 4	56	53.8"
2014 -	Jan 21 - Feb 18	29	42.1"
1967 -	Feb 6 - March 22	45	41.0"
1978 -	Jan 13 - Feb 14	33	40.2"
2015 -	Jan 24 - March 5	41	39.4"
2010 -	Feb 10 -26	17	35.9"
2005 -	Jan 22 - March 1	39	32.7"
1994 -	Feb 8 - March 3	24	29.8"
Analysis of NOAA's  Local Climatological Data

 

 

Comments

[Adam Carpentieri]

Great post! Remember it like it was yesterday. The wind swept swept snowdrifts, the plows that simply gave up and were stranded. Man, what a wild time. And don’t forget sandy would hit not too long after.