The President's Day Storm I
This storm shutdown Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City with over a foot of snow. Heavy snow blanketed the mid-Atlantic from North Carolina to southern New York. Dover, DE reported 25 inches and Baltimore, MD received 20 inches. Washington D.C. wasn't far behind with almost 19 inches and even Richmond, VA reported 11 inches of snow. This storm registered as a Cat 4 for the Southeast Region and a Cat 1 in the Northeast and Ohio Valley Regions. (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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast | 15.01 | Category 4, Crippling | 181,984 | 33,111,690 | 1,720 | 2,219,020 |
| Northeast | 2.87 | Category 1, Notable | 135,587 | 54,931,701 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio Valley | 2.13 | Category 1, Notable | 280,179 | 46,852,396 | 0 | 0 |
| South | 0.66 | Below category 1 | 287,876 | 18,975,268 | 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 6 to 9, 1979The snowstorm of November 17 to 22, 1979Snow nowEvery winter storm filed
Sources
NOAA NCEI Regional Snowfall Index, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.