Snowstorms

The snowstorm of February 20 to 24, 1947

February 20 to 24, 1947 · Category 2, Significant in the Southeast

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 5 regions on its Regional Snowfall Index, strongest in the Southeast.

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
Southeast5.23Category 2, Significant101,02919,884,4021,23984,622
Northeast4.95Category 2, Significant174,83458,911,53400
Ohio Valley2.88Category 1, Notable242,49843,656,9291,624101,481
Upper Midwest0.77Below category 1205,12522,317,2711721,122
South0.04Below category 176,2453,734,22800

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 27 to 31, 1947The snowstorm of February 27 to March 4, 1947Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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