Snowstorms

The snowstorm of March 14 to 18, 1960

March 14 to 18, 1960 · Category 3, Major 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
South7.35Category 3, Major220,68310,408,68950945,418
Ohio Valley3.11Category 2, Significant305,03148,743,07300
Southeast2.56Category 1, Notable121,63326,455,64900
Northern Rockies and Plains2.53Category 1, Notable442,0024,782,78600
Upper Midwest1.03Category 1, Notable194,48719,818,76400
Northeast0.64Below category 1174,43058,906,88100

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 March 8 to 10, 1960The snowstorm of December 10 to 13, 1960Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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