Snowstorms

The snowstorm of January 19 to 26, 1943

January 19 to 26, 1943 · Category 5, Extreme in the Northern Rockies and Plains

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 3 regions on its Regional Snowfall Index, strongest in the Northern Rockies and Plains.

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
Northern Rockies and Plains21.14Category 5, Extreme358,4243,074,06132,433261,128
Upper Midwest0.10Below category 1195,38013,334,20800
South0.00Below category 153,9791,489,80200

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 1 to 5, 1943The snowstorm of January 25 to 29, 1943Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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