Snowstorms

The snowstorm of November 23 to 25, 1938

November 23 to 25, 1938 · Category 2, Significant in the Northeast

A snowstorm NOAA ranked in 4 regions on its Regional Snowfall Index, strongest in the Northeast.

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
Northeast3.52Category 2, Significant174,83458,911,49000
Ohio Valley1.98Category 1, Notable272,91442,774,13100
Southeast1.21Category 1, Notable111,75422,793,74000
South0.02Below category 156,3042,972,70700

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 14 to 18, 1938The snowstorm of December 24 to 28, 1939Snow nowEvery winter storm filed

Sources

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