The 20 Worst Snowstorms the United States Has Faced in Its History

March 1888 began innocently enough with spring-like weather before disaster struck. More than 400 people perished when a massive snowstorm blanketed the Northeast with up to 147 cm of snow in some areas. Wind gusts reached 130 km/h, creating 15-meter-high snowdrifts that engulfed buildings. 

The warm weather caught the settlers off guard on January 12, 1888, before temperatures plummeted by 55 degrees in just a few hours. Witnesses described the snowstorm as coming “like a bullet,” turning the afternoon’s warmth into a bitter cold of minus 57 degrees. Newspapers called it “midnight at noon,” as the whiteout had completely reduced visibility to zero.

A Saturday night at the movies turned into Washington, D.C.’s deadliest disaster when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsed in the middle of a performance. Heavy, wet snow had been falling for two days, accumulating to 71 cm in the Mid-Atlantic region on January 28, 1922. 

The “White Hurricane” combined the conditions of a snowstorm with hurricane-force winds. Approximately 12 to 19 ships sank and more than 250 sailors lost their lives when gusts of 145 km/h created 10-meter waves. Eight massive cargo ships vanished into Lake Huron in just six hours.

Duck hunters were enjoying beautiful weather on the Mississippi River that November morning, unaware of what lay ahead. Within a few hours, arctic air swept across the Midwest like a freight train, sending temperatures plummeting to -47 °C, while winds of 130 km/h whipped up 6-meter-high snowdrifts. 

Coburn Creek, in West Virginia, was hit by 157 cm of snow, while winds reached 257 km/h in New England. This massive storm during Thanksgiving weekend created the strangest weather contrasts ever recorded when it struck on November 24, 1950. 

State police found about 250 cm of snow on a flat piece of land in Fair Haven, where there had been nothing before the storm began on January 29, 1966. Syracuse was buried under 107 cm of snow, while snowdrifts completely covered two-story houses. 

On January 26, 58 cm of snow fell in 29 hours, creating the worst snowstorm in the city’s history. The timing was brutal: the snow began to fall during the morning commute, and by noon, 50,000 abandoned cars and 800 stranded buses were clogging the streets. 

Lake Erie was already completely frozen over and covered with more than 230 cm of snow when the snowstorm hit. Winds blowing at 110 km/h didn’t bring much fresh snow—only 30 cm—but they transformed the existing snowpack into 9-meter-high snowdrifts that engulfed entire houses. 

The great snowstorm of 1978 struck the Midwest and the Northeast in late January, dumping up to 1.20 meters of snow and bringing hurricane-force winds. The blizzard conditions paralyzed cities, stranded thousands of people, and caused approximately 100 deaths.

Meteorologists had forecasted this monster storm five days in advance, but no one was truly prepared for what happened on March 12. At its peak, the storm stretched from Canada to Honduras. It affected 40% of the U.S. population, with snowfall reported as far south as Florida. 

It is said that Philadelphia had nowhere left to dump the snow, so crews literally backed their dump trucks onto the bridges and dumped the snow into the Schuylkill River. The 1996 snowstorm paralyzed the East Coast from January 6 to 8, burying Snowshoe.

Baltimore and Boston broke their all-time snowfall records during this February storm, which blanketed the Northeast with a historic layer of snow. Schools were closed for an entire week, as snowfall reached 10 cm per hour. The mountains of West Virginia and Maryland were buried under 127 cm of snow.

Lake Shore Drive turned into an arctic parking lot, with 700 drivers stranded for hours. Chicago recorded 53.8 cm of snow during 40 consecutive hours of relentless snowfall, making it the third-largest storm ever recorded in the city.

Two consecutive blizzards struck the same regions within a few days, earning this late-December storm its apocalyptic nickname. This post-Christmas nightmare was the result of two separate storm systems that hit the East Coast from December 26 to 27, 2010. It was accompanied by a rare phenomenon—snow accompanied by thunder—in major cities. 

Snowfall exceeded 7.5 cm per hour when Jonas buried the Northeast under record snowfall in late January 2016. A state of emergency was declared from Alabama to New York, as the storm caused between $500 million and $3 billion in damage.

The Buffalo snowstorm in November buried western New York State under more than two meters of snow in just a few days. A powerful lake-effect storm paralyzed highways, caused roofs to collapse, and trapped residents inside their homes. Travel bans were imposed as the National Guard stepped in.

Christmas week turned into a nightmare when this weather disaster struck the Great Lakes. Buffalo was buried under about 140 cm of snow, while freezing temperatures plummeted and hurricane-force winds created whiteout conditions that made any rescue attempt impossible. 

It was late January when a relentless snowstorm buried the Northeast under a record-breaking blanket of snow. New York City received more than 66 cm of snow, while snowdrifts reached 3.6 meters in some parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The snow lingered for weeks, bringing cities to a standstill.

The South faced an unprecedented situation when this exceptional storm blanketed Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama with snow. Temperatures plummeted to record lows across the continental United States as part of a massive cold snap that pushed Arctic air southward.