Snowstorms

The snowstorm of February 12 to 18, 1958

February 12 to 18, 1958 · Category 3, Major in the Northeast

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 6 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
Northeast7.87Category 3, Major174,72958,910,37753848,077
Southeast7.57Category 3, Major169,92331,483,456249898,396
Ohio Valley1.28Category 1, Notable308,94249,241,52116328,781
Northern Rockies and Plains1.04Category 1, Notable467,4504,838,29600
Upper Midwest0.60Below category 1245,40023,835,776482,088
South0.42Below category 1231,93710,757,52000

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 3 to 5, 1957The snowstorm of March 18 to 23, 1958Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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