Snowstorms

The snowstorm of January 7 to 11, 1977

January 7 to 11, 1977 · Category 2, Significant in the South

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 6 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
South4.41Category 2, Significant413,35523,214,0312783,543
Ohio Valley4.09Category 2, Significant307,94349,236,15300
Northeast1.96Category 1, Notable174,94058,911,00100
Southeast1.85Category 1, Notable96,09019,028,26200
Upper Midwest0.95Below category 1144,23618,473,34000
Northern Rockies and Plains0.09Below category 1289,8662,301,66600

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 November 12 to 15, 1976The snowstorm of March 21 to 25, 1977Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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