Jan 9, 2025 - Energy & Climate
See when your county got its most-ever snowfall
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As winter storms bring snow and ice to wide swaths of the U.S. this week, it's worth a look back to see when your area set its all-time snowfall record.
How it works: NOAA captures reported snowfall maximums from each county, along with the exact measurement location.
- Some locations shown as "no snow" in the map above may have had snow at some point, but to be included, the county data needed to show more than a trace amount.
Driving the news: Geography's impact on snowfall is on clear display here.
- Notice all the dark blue spots around the West Coast mountains, for example, where Pacific Ocean moisture gets carried by westerly winds, squeezing out more snowfall through what is known as orographic lift.
- See also upstate New York and Pennsylvania, where Lake Erie and Lake Ontario provide ample moisture for massive lake effect events that dump snow on places like Erie County, New York (47.5 inches in a day in 2014) and Oswego County, New York (40 inches in 1958).
Stunning stat: Boulder County, Colorado, holds the U.S. record for most recorded snowfall in a single day, with 76 inches — over six feet! — on April 15, 1921.
- Ask anybody in town there: Sitting in the eastern shadows of the Rockies will get you plenty of snow when moisture flows up the mountain slopes from the east.
What's next: Areas from Texas to Tennessee are bracing for a potentially major and disruptive winter storm that could continue to the mid-Atlantic.
