Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
It’s December here at The Storage Inn self storage in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, and the winter weather officially arrived over the past week! But despite all the white stuff, our storage customers shuttle to and from their storage units, retrieving decorations, and hiding gifts for the holidays in their storage units. Here in Southern New Jersey, we are very lucky (or unlucky if you are a snow lover) that we average just a foot or two of snow annually. Watching the snow melt away today made me wonder, who gets the most snow, and where? Here are some of the biggest snow events in history, and snowiest cities in the USA…
Crazy Snow Events!
Most skiers know about the phenomenal snow year of 1998-1999 in Washington State’s Mt. Baker ski area. 1,140 inches (95 feet) of snow fell to the ground over the course of the ski season. That amount of snow would cover the White House by 25 feet.
In Mount Rainier National Park, at the Paradise Ranger station, 1,224.5 inches (102 feet) of snow fell between February 19, 1971 and February 18, 1972. That’s equal to the height of a 10 story building.
At Thompson Pass in Alaska, they enjoyed or suffered through, depending on your opinion, a great or horrific year in the winter of 1952-1953. That’s when 974.1 inches (81 feet) fell from the heavens. In 1963, that same area saw 78 inches fall in one 24 hour period!
Massive snowfalls are not only found in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The coastal town of Valdez, Alaska sees an annual average of 320 inches, and that’s at sea level! The winter of 1989-90 is in the record books as Valdez’s snowiest winter ever, with a total of 560.7 inches (46 feet) of snow.
Silver Lake, Colorado saw 76 inches of snow in a 24 hour period. But the storm did not stop after 24 hours. When it all ended 32.5 hours later, 95 inches lay on the ground. That is an average of 2.9 inches an hour.
In 1982, Mother Nature dropped 186.6 inches on Donner Summit, California. In fact Donner Pass, has topped 775 inches of snow on four separate occasions, making it one of the snowiest places in North America.
Top Ten Snowiest Cities in The United States
- Syracuse, NY – Annual Snowfall 110 inches
- Erie, PA – Annual Snowfall 89 inches
- Rochester, NY – Annual Snowfall 88 inches
- Buffalo, NY – Annual Snowfall 83 inches
- Flagstaff, AZ – Annual Snowfall 82 inches
- Utica, NY – Annual Snowfall 78 inches
- Grand Rapids, MI – Annual Snowfall 66 inches
- Diluth, MN – Annual Snowfall 63 inches
- Cleveland, OH – Annual Snowfall 60.5 inches
- South Bend, IN – Annual Snowfall 60 inches
Well, as the snow continues to melt here at The Storage Inn – I think I’ll have a nice cup of hot chocolate, and be thankful that we didn’t break any records for snowfall! That would be a lot of shoveling! – Happy Winter!