Snowstorms

The snowstorm of March 4 to 12, 1931

March 4 to 12, 1931 · Category 3, Major in the Ohio Valley

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 6 regions on its Regional Snowfall Index, strongest in the Ohio Valley.

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
Ohio Valley7.71Category 3, Major307,34648,516,272355218,742
Upper Midwest3.77Category 2, Significant126,99617,191,1951533,267
Northern Rockies and Plains2.54Category 1, Notable405,0704,234,01400
Northeast1.66Category 1, Notable164,85952,446,31400
South1.23Category 1, Notable182,6578,058,78700
Southeast0.56Below category 165,36710,644,40400

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 December 13 to 18, 1930The snowstorm of November 21 to 24, 1931Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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