The Post Christmas Storm of 1969
This storm spared the eastern seaboard where heavy snow changed over to rain greatly reducing the snow accumulations. But for more inland locations, like western and northern New York, this is one of the biggest storms on record. Heavy snow fell from the mountains of western North Carolina into interior New England where locations received over 40 inches making this storm a Cat 4 for the Northeast Region and a Cat 2 for the Southeast Region. Parts of central New England also experienced a severe ice storm after warmer air was drawn inland making this storm even worse. (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 | 10.14 | Category 4, Crippling | 174,949 | 58,912,747 | 1,316 | 75,887 |
| Southeast | 5.68 | Category 2, Significant | 95,609 | 19,801,679 | 884 | 182,259 |
| Ohio Valley | 1.47 | Category 1, Notable | 266,994 | 37,089,437 | 19 | 432 |
| South | 0.05 | Below category 1 | 42,908 | 2,674,346 | 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 December 4 to 10, 1969The snowstorm of April 18 to 22, 1970Snow nowEvery winter storm filed
Sources
NOAA NCEI Regional Snowfall Index, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.