Northern Mississippi Valley Blizzard of 1985
This storm packed heavy snow and hurricane force winds. The storm was a Cat 4 for the Upper Midwest and the Northern Rockies and Plains Regions, even the Northeast Region got in on some of the action where the storm was a Cat 1. The heaviest snow fell in a band from central South Dakota through Minnesota. As much as 33 inches of snow was reported from the storm and Minneapolis, MN received 16.7 inches. In Duluth, 16.6 inches combined with 71 mph winds to produce over 20 foot drifts. The storm left many cities isolated for more than 4 days.
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.
| Region | Index | Category | Area with snow (sq mi) | People under snow | Above the top threshold (sq mi) | People above it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Midwest | 15.18 | Category 4, Crippling | 236,540 | 23,121,718 | 2,344 | 45,388 |
| Northern Rockies and Plains | 13.91 | Category 4, Crippling | 455,994 | 3,679,269 | 9,091 | 74,762 |
| Northeast | 1.06 | Category 1, Notable | 156,835 | 49,963,540 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio Valley | 0.01 | Below category 1 | 62,291 | 22,490,037 | 0 | 0 |
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 7 to 15, 1985The snowstorm of March 26 to April 2, 1985Snow nowEvery winter storm filed
Sources
NOAA NCEI Regional Snowfall Index, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.