Snowstorms

The snowstorm of February 28 to March 7, 1962

February 28 to March 7, 1962 · Category 4, Crippling 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
Southeast11.80Category 4, Crippling142,22829,572,86014,6162,137,940
Ohio Valley4.55Category 2, Significant299,83147,991,6655,093265,337
Northeast1.73Category 1, Notable142,49757,612,182578,174
Northern Rockies and Plains1.23Category 1, Notable421,5424,532,52800
Upper Midwest1.22Category 1, Notable229,76522,889,52900

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 19 to 23, 1962The snowstorm of March 5 to 9, 1962Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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