# Record snow depth by state **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451 "2013-02-26T18:49:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/1 "2013-02-26T18:49:09Z")
[What Was the Deepest Snow in Your State?](http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/deepest-snow-50-states-record-snow-cover-20130220) greeted me on my daily visit to The Weather Channel and I was startled to see how Tennessee placed in the state rankings. I remember the winter of 1993 and the snow we drove through on the way to DC in February. I was not aware that that March set the all-time record. Do you have any special memories of the record snow depth in your state? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/2 "2013-02-26T19:17:30Z")
Colorado 251 inches. I do remember a few years ago. At my house, we measured just over 30 feet of snow fall at our house for the winter. Seems like all I did was plow that year. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/3 "2013-02-26T19:28:20Z")
I think that was the same year we had to dig down to the shed to shovel the roof where I was living outside Durango. I remember reading that we had 333% of average snowfall that year. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/4 "2013-02-26T20:41:28Z")
Michigan seems to be tops for the non-mountainous states with 117 inches in the Keweenaw; we’re #37, followed a bunch of states with mountains, where (of course) there are areas that get a shitload of snow. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/5 "2013-02-26T20:43:37Z")
I can’t get the link to work. Is this total snowfall for a year, or the thickest the snow has been at any one time? There were a few times in the last decade when we got over 24" in less than 24 hours. About ten years ago I think we got 36". ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/6 "2013-02-26T20:46:36Z")
Washington: 367 inches! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/7 "2013-02-26T20:55:49Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I can’t get the link to work. > > Is this total snowfall for a year, or the thickest the snow has been at any one time? > > There were a few times in the last decade when we got over 24" in less than 24 hours. About ten years ago I think we got 36". I think they mean the deepest it’s been at any one time. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/8 "2013-02-26T21:06:57Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I can’t get the link to work. > > Is this total snowfall for a year, or the thickest the snow has been at any one time? > > There were a few times in the last decade when we got over 24" in less than 24 hours. About ten years ago I think we got 36". > [@enipla](#): > > I think they mean the deepest it’s been at any one time. At the risk of violating any pertinent copyright issues: > [@](#): > > The slideshow on this page counts down the greatest snow depth ever officially recorded in each of the 50 states, in order from lowest to highest. Our list comes from the certified records maintained by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). > > Click through the slideshow to find out where your state ranks - and to see which state tops them all. You may be surprised! > > Snow depth and snowfall are related but very distinct concepts. > > National Weather Service standards specify that snowfall should ideally be measured on a “snowboard” - a flat object such as a large piece of plywood. The measurements can be taken no more than four times every 24 hours. After each of those measurements, the snowboard is to be cleaned off. Total snowfall, such as for a day, a storm, or a season, is the sum of these snowboard measurements. > > Snow depth, on the other hand, is the amount of snow on the ground at any given time - whether it’s freshly fallen or has been sitting there for weeks. Because over time snow settles, compacts, and melts, the snow depth often varies greatly from the total snowfall observed at a given location. > > For example, even though Buffalo, N.Y., averages 96 inches of snow every winter, they’ve never (officially) had more than 44 inches of snow depth - snow on the ground - at any one time. > > Snow depth, sometimes also called “snow cover,” is measured simply by sticking a ruler into the snow until the ruler reaches bare ground. Usually several measurements are taken in a small area - say, the size of an average backyard - and averaged together in order to get a better idea of how much snow is really sitting on the ground. > > While a few of the snow-depth records on our list came from a single snowfall, most of them were the result of multiple storm systems dumping one round of snow after another over many weeks and months. That’s why you’ll find the vast majority of the records occur later in the winter - in fact, 38 out of the 50 states set their snow depth records between February 1 and April 30. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/9 "2013-02-26T21:47:07Z")
Right near two of the worst ones. Unopposed since 1911, but these records are going to be harder to set with snow plows and increasing population. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/10 "2013-02-26T22:50:31Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Colorado 251 inches. > > I do remember a few years ago. At my house, we measured just over 30 feet of snow fall at our house for the winter. Seems like all I did was plow that year. You are up by Hoosier pass, yes? I remember getting 4 feet by my tape measure in Denver in 2003. It sucked as my eldest daughter was just 5 months old and we were out of power for 3 days. I had friends in the hills outside of Boulder that got 7 feet in that one storm. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/11 "2013-02-26T23:09:14Z")
But it seems that there is a qualification that it must melt over the course of the summer or something similar. There are certainly glaciers deeper than these snow depths reported here. But even more interesting is that without looking hard, I was able to find reports of snow depths far higher than the records reported. Two years ago, for instance, Mount Baker highway didn’t [open due to 50’ of snow](http://seattletimes.com/html/outdoors/2015476546_mtbaker01m.html) (which would be 600" and far greater than the 367" credited for Washington) remaining on June 30 and the costs for plowing it were too high. Now that year was incredible in the amount of snow received even for [Paradise](http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=527381)- too bad the Vancouver Olympics hadn’t waited another year. So it seems to me that there are some other qualifications to declare these records. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/12 "2013-02-27T20:57:05Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > You are up by Hoosier pass, yes? I remember getting 4 feet by my tape measure in Denver in 2003. It sucked as my eldest daughter was just 5 months old and we were out of power for 3 days. I had friends in the hills outside of Boulder that got 7 feet in that one storm. Yep, about 1/4 mile from the top of Hoosier. Denver got it worse than the mountains with that one. I ended up driving down to help some family members. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/13 "2013-02-27T21:27:07Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > You are up by Hoosier pass, yes? I remember getting 4 feet by my tape measure in Denver in 2003. It sucked as my eldest daughter was just 5 months old and we were out of power for 3 days. I had friends in the hills outside of Boulder that got 7 feet in that one storm. I had some business with Gilpin County back then and I drove up Boulder Canyon to the Peak-to-Peak Highway. The evergreen trees had a really weird look to them, with a lot of white on the top. I thought it must be snow, but it just didn’t look right. The person I was meeting asked me how the drive was considering all the snow, and I asked her about the trees. It turns out thousands of them had snapped in half from the weight of all the snow. I suppose they had been weakened by the Bark Beetles, but still… ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-snow-depth-by-state/651451/14 "2013-02-27T22:25:40Z")
we got more snow when i was a kid, the snow piles were always over my head.