Snowstorms

The snowstorm of February 18 to 22, 1921

February 18 to 22, 1921 · Category 5, Extreme in the South

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

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
South31.89Category 5, Extreme256,54816,666,82414,453894,184
Northeast3.91Category 2, Significant163,70658,587,84800
Ohio Valley3.02Category 2, Significant216,73431,371,45000
Southeast1.48Category 1, Notable133,41527,894,62400

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 January 22 to 28, 1921The snowstorm of April 12 to 19, 1921Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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