The Blizzard of 1947 \The Big Snow\
This Cat 3 storm for the Northeast Region and Cat 1 for the Southeast Region blanketed New York with snow. Central Park reported 26.4 inches in just 24 hrs and the southeastern part of the state and northern New Jersey reported as much as 32 inches of snow. This storm was New York City’s greatest snowfall until it was finally surpassed in 2006. The mayor enforced a 4-day ban on automobile travel in the city to help municipal workers clear the streets but even a week later, half of the cities roads remained impassable. (Kocin and Uccellini)
The storm by region
Each region’s thresholds are its own, so the same depth of snow counts for more in the South than in the Northeast.
| Region | Index | Category | Area with snow (sq mi) | People under snow | Above the top threshold (sq mi) | People above it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 8.11 | Category 3, Major | 174,325 | 58,906,173 | 38 | 54,373 |
| Southeast | 1.01 | Category 1, Notable | 108,948 | 23,648,390 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio Valley | 0.06 | Below category 1 | 101,010 | 18,834,326 | 0 | 0 |
The Regional Snowfall Index is NOAA’s ranking of snowstorms east of the Rockies by how much snow fell, over how wide an area and on how many people, region by region: the area and the population above four snowfall thresholds set for each region, weighted against that region’s own history. A storm is scored in each region it reached, on a scale from 1, notable, to 5, extreme.
In the Storm Events record
The Storm Events Database holds winter weather only from 1996, so this storm has no episodes there.
More
The snowstorm of February 27 to March 4, 1947The snowstorm of January 23 to 25, 1948Snow nowEvery winter storm filed
Sources
NOAA NCEI Regional Snowfall Index, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.