The snowstorm of March 3 to 7, 2010

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.

Events

249

Deaths

1

Injuries

0

Damage

$2,000

Episodes

32

Every winter weather episode the Weather Service filed east of the Rockies in these dates. A few may belong to another system on the same days. Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

• Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, March 1 to 3, 201075 kt wind · 3 eventsAn intense North Pacific storm moved across the Bering Sea north of the Aleutian Islands. As it passed the central Aleutians, hurricane force gusts to 75 mph were observed at Adak. This storm produced strong wind and snow in the Pribilof Islands resulting in a blizzard.
• Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Alabama, March 2, 20109 eventsA low pressure system developed and intensified in the northern Gulf of Mexico and tracked east-northeast across northern Florida.
• Heavy Snow and Winter Weather in Georgia, March 2, 201038 eventsA deep upper trough was moving from the mid-south into the southeast U.S. An accompanying strong low pressure system was tracking eastward through the eastern Gulf of Mexico toward Florida. Moderately cold air covered the eastern U.S., but the air mass was not of Arctic origin.
• Winter Weather in Tennessee, March 2, 20103 eventsA low pressure system developed and intensified in the northern Gulf of Mexico and tracked east-northeast across northern Florida.
• Heavy Snow in North Carolina, March 2, 20109 eventsSnow began to fall during the pre-dawn across the mountains of the western Carolinas. After sunrise, snow became moderate to heavy at times, resulting in accumulations of 1 to 4 inches across most of the area by late morning.
• Winter Weather in Tennessee, March 2, 20106 eventsAs a low pressure system moved northeastward from the gulf coast region during the early morning hours, into eastern Georgia during the afternoon hours, and just off the Carolina coast during the evening hours, on Tuesday, March 2nd, snowfall accumulations occurred across…
• Heavy Snow in South Carolina, March 2, 20103 eventsSnow began to fall during the pre-dawn across the mountains of South Carolina. After sunrise, snow became moderate to heavy at times, resulting in accumulations of 1 to 4 inches across most of the area by late morning.
• Heavy Snow in Georgia, March 2, 20102 eventsSnow began to fall during the pre-dawn across the mountains of northeast Georgia. After sunrise, snow became moderate to heavy at times, resulting in accumulations of 1 to 4 inches across most of the area by late morning.
• Heavy Snow in Tennessee, March 2, 20102 eventsAs a low pressure system moved northeastward from the gulf coast region during the early morning hours, into eastern Georgia during the afternoon hours, and just off the Carolina coast during the evening hours, on Tuesday, March 2nd, heavy snowfall accumulations occurred across…
• Winter Weather in North Carolina, March 2, 201016 eventsSnow, mixed with rain at times, quickly spread north and east across the western Carolinas shortly after sunrise. Despite bursts of moderate to heavy snow, a warm ground and above freezing temperatures caused much of the snow to melt upon impact.
• Winter Weather in South Carolina, March 2, 201012 eventsSnow, mixed with rain at times, developed over the piedmont and foothills of South Carolina around sunrise. Despite bursts of moderate to heavy snow, a warm ground and above freezing temperatures caused much of the snow to melt upon impact.
• Heavy Snow in North Carolina, March 2, 20109 eventsSnow began to fall around sunrise across the North Carolina mountains along the Blue Ridge escarpment. Snow became moderate to heavy at times during the late morning and early afternoon, resulting in accumulations of 1 to 4 inches across most of the area.
• Winter Weather in Georgia, March 2, 20104 eventsSnow, mixed with rain at times, developed over the piedmont and foothills of northeast Georgia around sunrise. Despite bursts of moderate to heavy snow, a warm ground and above freezing temperatures caused much of the snow to melt upon impact.
• Heavy Snow in Tennessee, March 2, 20104 eventsA storm system moving through the Tennessee valley region helped to produce heavy snow mainly in the higher elevations of southeast and into east Tennessee.
• Winter Weather in Kentucky, March 2, 20107 eventsOn March 2nd, a large area of low pressure tracked across the southern United States.
• Winter Weather in Alabama, March 2, 20103 eventsAn area of low pressure moving along the Gulf Coast tapped into some cold air in in the southeastern United States and help spread an area of snow into portions of Central Alabama. The heaviest snow was in an west-east band, from Blount to Cherokee Counties.
• Heavy Snow in North Carolina, March 2 to 3, 2010$2,000 · 3 eventsAn area of low pressure moved east across northern Florida and then moved northeast along the Atlantic coast. This brought heavy snow to portions of northwest North Carolina.
• Heavy Snow in Virginia, March 2, 20103 eventsAn area of low pressure moved east across northern Florida and then moved northeast along the Atlantic coast. This brought heavy snow to portions of Southwest VA.
• Winter Storm and Winter Weather in North Carolina, March 2 to 3, 201025 eventsA fast moving storm system tracking from the Gulf Coast northeast into North Carolina produced several hours of wet snow resulting in accumulations across all of Central North Carolina.
• Heavy Snow and High Wind in North Carolina, March 2 to 3, 201053 kt wind · 9 eventsLow pressure moved northeast offshore of the Carolina coast late March 2, 2010 into March 3, 2010. This low produced strong winds along the coast and some snowfall over the areas well inland.
• Winter Weather in Virginia, March 2 to 3, 201018 eventsLow pressure moving off the coastal Carolinas produced between one and three inches of snow across portions of south central and southeast Virginia from Tuesday night, March 2nd, through Wednesday morning March 3rd.
• Winter Weather in North Carolina, March 2 to 3, 20102 eventsLow pressure moving off the coastal Carolinas produced between one and two inches of snow across portions of northeast North Carolina from Tuesday night, March 2nd, through Wednesday morning March 3rd.
• Winter Storm and Winter Weather in South Carolina, March 2, 201010 eventsSnow spread over the Midlands of SC and produced around 2 to 3 inches of snow in Northwest Chesterfield, Lancaster, and Saluda counties. Other counties in the Midlands had an inch or less.
• Cold in Wisconsin, March 3, 20101 death · 1 eventColder than normal early March weather in southeastern Wisconsin played a role in a hypothermia death of a man in the West Bend area of Washington County.
• Winter Weather in North Carolina, March 3 to 4, 20107 eventsNorthwest flow snow showers developed during the pre-dawn hours across the Tennessee border counties, and persisted off and on for the next 24 hours.
• Winter Storm in California, March 3 to 4, 20101 eventA winter storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to the area.
• Winter Storm in Utah, March 4 to 5, 20103 eventsA storm system moved through the state of Utah, bringing rain and snow to much of the state, with the heaviest snow occurring in portions of northern Utah.
• Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, March 4 to 5, 201070 kt wind · 12 eventsAn intense storm caused high wind and blizzard conditions from the Central Aleutians across the Alaska Peninsula to the Pribilof Islands and across South Central Alaska and Prince William Sound.
• Blizzard and Winter Storm in Alaska, March 5 to 11, 201060 kt wind · 9 eventsA hurricane force low down to 956 MB developed near Dutch Harbor on 3/4 and was supported by very cold air aloft. This storm center tracked to South Central AK on 3/5 and set the North Pacific storm track from the SW into the Panhandle due to very persistent winds aloft.
• Heavy Snow in Arizona, March 7 to 8, 20102 eventsAn area of low pressure moved across Southeast Arizona during the afternoon of March 7th and into March 8th. This produced valley rain and mountain snow above 5000 feet.
• Heavy Snow in New Mexico, March 8 to 9, 20105 eventsA potent upper level storm moved into southern California, passed just south of Las Vegas, then crossed central Arizona and New Mexico.
• Blizzard and Heavy Snow in Alaska, March 8 to 9, 201065 kt wind · 9 eventsAn intense storm moved into the Gulf of Alaska March 8th resulting in heavy snow and blizzard conditions from Southwest Alaska to Prince William Sound and inland into the Copper River Basin.

The snowstorm of February 21 to March 1, 2010The snowstorm of March 7 to 15, 2010Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

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