Snowstorms

The snowstorm of March 22 to 26, 1957

March 22 to 26, 1957 · Category 3, Major in the South

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 4 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
South7.06Category 3, Major188,0106,059,7803,29645,447
Northern Rockies and Plains2.84Category 1, Notable341,8273,500,82400
Upper Midwest0.82Below category 199,05015,761,77200
Ohio Valley0.70Below category 1169,81831,940,58700

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 18 to 20, 1956The snowstorm of March 31 to April 7, 1957Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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