Snowstorms

The snowstorm of December 27 to 29, 1990

December 27 to 29, 1990 · Category 1, Notable in the Northeast

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 4 regions on its Regional Snowfall Index, strongest in the Northeast.

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.

RegionIndexCategoryArea with snow (sq mi)People under snowAbove the top threshold (sq mi)People above it
Northeast1.64Category 1, Notable174,34458,906,35000
Ohio Valley1.50Category 1, Notable286,34946,930,38700
Southeast0.49Below category 160,74412,140,43200
South0.22Below category 1146,18714,017,57700

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 March 5 to 9, 1990The snowstorm of October 31 to November 4, 1991Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

NOAA NCEI Regional Snowfall Index, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.