Major Winter Storms of the Southeast's past

[NCHurricane]

So I do remember it right, seems like it was a really cold storm too and that makes sense if it was snowing in Savannah....so that makes my top 5

 

Mar 1980--20-24"

Dec 3 2000--15"

Feb 24 1989--12"

Dec 25/26 2010--11"

Dec 22/23 1989--10-12"

 

interestingly 3 of my top 5 have been in Dec.....

And one was darn near Thanksgiving...

[WxBlue]

I have childhood memories of digging tunnels in my yard because Jan. 2000 snow was that deep in eastern Wake County. Ever since I moved back to North Carolina, I got to say Dec. 26, 2010 (got 10-12 inches) and Nov. 1, 2014 (hiked on AT in 6-8 inches of snow) are my favorites. 

[calculus1]

My favorite storms are the January 28-30 mega-storm that dropped two feet on Hickory in 2016, but a close second was that 2/12/16 storm that followed up with another 12 inches.  Snow stayed on the ground in Hickory until mid April that year.  Fantastic winter all around with the many different nickel and dime snowstorms, but those two really stood out.

[franklin NCwx]

March 93 hands down!

[Upstate Tiger]

   Yep, March 2nd 1980 was good out this way too. Coldest temps I have ever seen here with snow. At the height of the storm the temp was 9 degrees above zero with heavy snow. Hovered around 10 degrees all day with 35-40 mph winds. Measured 8-10 inches when all was said and done. I was 15 years old and remember it like it was yesterday..

Cad, you and I are the same age.  However, we have different perpectives of the March 1980 storm.  We were forecast to get plastered here in the upstate with 6" - 10".  Friday was a warm day with temps in the low 60"s and the storm was forecast to hit Satuday morning.  Woke up to cloudy skies with temp around 30.  However, we got sleet throughout the day up to 2.5".  Finally turned to snow overnight and we wound up with about 4" total.  Fun sledding though.

 

My favorite storm was the year before.  The President's Day storm of 1979.  Was cloudy with temps in low 30's all day Saturday.  Snow started around midnight along with howling winds.  Snowed most of Sunday with temps in the mid teens.  Wound up with 10" IMBY with 14" snowdrifts. 

[DeepSouthSC]

February 1973 hands down for me.

 

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article14420804.html

 

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9814321

 

Although, I was only 8 days old, and (of course) don't remember it....  It was not only a major storm in the southeast, but one heckuva storm due to the areas that received enormous amounts of snow from this doozy.  I've heard many stories from people who were old enough to remember this incredible winter storm.

 

I believe I provided the link shown by downeastnc a few years ago to several weather fanatics.  I probably have read that synopsis 4 or 5 times in the past several years.

 

Simply an amazing snow storm for the deep south.  A few other links (below), per that epic storm.

 

http://thetandd.com/news/local/deadly-blizzard-dropped-nearly-two-feet-on-region/article_8bafe366-733c-11e2-89cd-001a4bcf887a.html

 

http://wach.com/news/local/blizzard-of-73-still-frozen-in-the-mind-of-those-who-remember-it-40-years-later?id=858280

 

http://www.macon.com/news/local/article30117315.html

 

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2013-02-08/40-years-ago-2-days-snow-topped-14-inches

 

Check out this "throwback" video from 1973, as former and late Governor of SC John West tours the havoc the snowstorm left in its wake.  

 

[rjtysinger]

I was in Okinawa for the late January 2000 event. My Grandmother passed away in early February and I came home on leave for her funeral and another big storm hit while I was home. I remember my return flight being delayed by close to a week.

[WFFaithful]

1973 storm write up is  fun to read, my dad said it was around 8-10" here ( I was born in 72 so not even 1 yet when this happened ) and that it was a really cold snow......also at the end of the report is a list of snowfalls recorded in the 1700-1800's

 

http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/papers/NOAATECHEDSNCC2free.pdf

 

This one is interesting:

 

1804 December 20 - 24 NORTH CAROLINA Near Winston-Salem, 15 or 16 inches of snow on the level fell December 20, followed by another storm the 23rd The accumulation was 2 feet deep near Salem and 3 feet or more near Salisbury.

[Stormsfury]

Nov 2006, surprise winter storm and thundersnow at KCHS.

Dec 1989, hands down the heavy snowstorm 3 months after Hugo and Charleston's 1st White Christmas on record.

Jan 1987. Surprise thundersleet and snowfall amounting to about 4".

Feb 2010. Very heavy but brief duration snowfall. I was alive for Feb 1973 but only 8 months old so I don't remember that great southern snowstorm.

Mar 1980. Coldest snowstorm beside the Dec 1989 snowstorm. Mar 1993 a close second for the shear ferocity of the winds and the blizzard like conditions but snow only accumulated to a dusting whereas I picked up over 4" of snow in the 1980 snowstorm.

[lookingnorth]

1973 storm write up is  fun to read, my dad said it was around 8-10" here ( I was born in 72 so not even 1 yet when this happened ) and that it was a really cold snow......also at the end of the report is a list of snowfalls recorded in the 1700-1800's

 

http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/papers/NOAATECHEDSNCC2free.pdf

The winters of 1779-80, 1783-84, 1799-1800, 1802-03, 1803-04, 1812-13, 1817-18, and 1856-57 all look awesome.

 

I especially liked reading about February 15-16, 1803, where Raleigh got 18" to 2' of snow and January 17-19, 1857, where Chapel Hill got 12-15".

[Marion_NC_WX]

Several reasons that storm may even be my #2: 

1. 10" of snow from roughly .2 liquid equivalent. Look it up. 

2. Thunder and lightning

3. The event originally was pegged as a 1-3" snow. 

4. It lasted forever on the ground

These AFDs is from RAH's past events page: 

 

FXUS62 KGSP 230227

AFDGSP

 

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC

927 PM EST WED JAN 22 2003

 

IN SHORT...NO MAJOR CHANGES TO ONGOING FCST. DRY ATMOS OVER THE CWFA 

BEGINNING TO MOISTEN AS EVIDENCED BY LOW CLOUD FORMATION. NO REPORTS 

OF SNOW YET...BUT HIER REFLECTIVITIES ON RADAR JUST NOW ENTERING 

CWFA. ALSO SNOW NOW BEING REPORTED IN SOME AREAS TO OUR WEST. EXPECT 

SNOW TO BEGIN SOON IN NC MTNS...SO WILL REMOVE TIMING WORDING THERE. 

WILL LEAVE SOME SORT OF TIMING WORDING ELSEWHERE AS WILL STILL BE 

SOME TIME BEFORE SNOW BEGINS IN EARNEST. CURRENT WARNING/ADVISORY 

AREAS LOOK GOOD SO EXPECT NO CHANGES THERE.

 

HOWEVER THERE COULD BE A FLY IN THE OINTMENT. MDLS HAVE INDICATED 

SFC AND H85 MESO LOW FORMING IN LEE OF MTNS DUE TO STRONG DYNAMICS. 

THIS LOW HAS FORMED OVER THE UPSTATE ACCORDING TO OUR LOCAL SFC 

ANALYSIS. SELY SFC WINDS HAVE DEVELOPED AND THIS COULD BE THE CAUSE 

OF THE LOW CLOUD DECK. NO LOW SEEN ON 00Z H85 CHART...BUT EVEN 

LATEST RUC SHOWING THIS FEATURE FORMING. DAY SHIFT EXPECTED 

THIS...SO WARNING ALREADY IN PLACE FOR PORTIONS OF THE UPSTATE. IF 

THIS DEVELOPS FURTHER...IT COULD LEAD TO SOME AREAS OF WARNING 

CRITERIA SNOW OVER PORTIONS OF CLT METRO AREA AND NW PIEDMONT. GIVEN 

THE UNCERTAINTY WILL LEAVE THOSE AREAS IN ADVISORY...BUT WILL 

MENTION POSSIBILITY OF ISOLATED HIER SNOW IN WSW.

AFDGSP

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC

400 AM EST THU JAN 23 2003

QUITE A HECTIC MORNING...AS NUMEROUS CONCERNS FOR THE FIRST 2

PERIODS. SNOWFALL TOTALS HAVE BEEN HEAVIER THAN ANTICIPATED...

ESPECIALLY RIGHT ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE...WHERE ACCUMS AS HIGH AS 6

INCHES HAVE BEEN REPORTED. SNOWFALL RATIOS HAVE BEEN QUITE

HIGH...WITH ONE SPOTTER REPORTING 5" OF SNOWFALL WITH ONLY 0.16"

LIQUID EQUIVALENT. RADAR TRENDS/SHORT RANGE MODELS INDICATE SNOW

TAPERING OFF RAPIDLY FROM WEST TO EAST AROUND DAYBREAK...EXCEPT

ALONG THE MAIN SPINE OF THE APPALACHIANS...WHERE STRONG UPSLOPE FLOW

AND VERY FAVORABLE THERMAL PROFILES WILL RESULT IN CONTINUED

SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL THROUGHOUT THE DAY. THEREFORE...THE WSW WILL BE

MAINTAINED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY ALONG THE TENNESSEE

LINE...AND THROUGH MID MORNING EAST OF THERE.

ONCE THE SNOW ENDS...CONCERN TURNS TO WIND AND PARTICULARLY WIND

CHILL VALUES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. GFS AND ETA DEPICT 40

TO 50 KNOT H8 WINDS ACROSS THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS LATE THIS

AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING. WITH TEMPS FALLING...AND WINDS

INCREASING AS THE DAY PROGRESSES...WIND CHILLS WILL BE APPROACHING

AVISORY CRITERIA EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS...AND WARNING CRITERIA IN THE

MOUNTAINS BY SUNSET. WILL HOIST ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS AS

APPROPRIATE. EXPECT WINDS TO BE FLIRTING WITH HIGH WIND CRITERIA

ABOVE ABOUT 3000 FEET...SO A HIGH WIND WARNING WILL BE ISSUED FOR

THE NORTHERN MNTNS...WITH A WIND ADVISORY FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE

NC MNTNS.

AFTER WINDS DIE DOWN FRIDAY MORNING...CWFA WILL ENJOY A MUCH NEEDED

RESPITE FROM ACTIVE WEATHER FOR AT LEAST A COUPLE OF DAYS.

FCSTID = 4

GSP 28 9 34 15 / 50 0 0 0

AND 28 9 35 16 / 50 0 0 0

CLT 28 10 34 15 / 70 0 0 0

HKY 25 10 32 13 / 60 0 0 0

AVL 20 5 27 11 / 80 0 0 10

 

Ah...I will never forget this one. It was the night that me, you and Robert were doing a play-by-play on the old Wright Weather Bulletin Boards. McDowell County was on the western edge of the heaviest snowfall as the meso low setup was perfect.

 

I still remember how that all went down...we clouded over in a matter of 30 minutes and what I thought would be nothing more than a good snow shower breaking containment set in about 11 pm and dumped about 8 inches of snow in less than 6 hours.

[Marion_NC_WX]

My top 5 All-time North Carolina winter storms...

 

March 1993: This is no-contest to be quite honest and I don't expect an event like March 93 again in my lifetime. I could be wrong in saying that but don't expect it. 19 inches of snow with drifts close to 3 feet. It started out as heavy snow on that Friday night, the NWS and local TV were calling for something in the 3-6 inch range. We had 4 on the ground by midnight and you could sense everyone was going to play catch-up mode with this one. The snow fall rates were so high that the DOT ordered the crews off the roads at the height of the event. This was in the pre pre-treatment days of DOT snow removal in Western North Carolina...it took as long as 36 hours (after the snow) to get motorists on the road...and I even remember as late as the next Tuesday of shaded areas having ruts carved out in the snow rather than having a clear roadway.

 

 

Late January 1994 Ice Storm: 1-2 inch ice accretion along I-40 from Asheville to near Raleigh. There was so much surface cold built up to where ice piled up on the  ground itself. 850mb temps were in the lower 50's while it was in the mid 20's strongly wedge in to the surface. I-40 turned into a parking lot and there was widespread power outages everywhere.

 

 

December 4-5th 2002 Snow/Ice Storm: The ice aspect in Charlotte was a lot worse and more comparable to Jan 94. Matter of fact this winter storm caused more tree damage than Hurricane Hugo. For me here in the Foothills we had deeper cold air to work with, it snowed 6 inches with about .75 ice on top of it.

 

 

Jan 22-23 2003: There have been plenty of bigger snows that have fallen in my location over the years but the meso-scale setup that created the surprise event will always make this one of the more notable events of my lifetime.

 

 

Dec 19th, 2009 Snowstorm: This storm kicked off what turned out to be a blockbuster winter season (2009-10) across the Western Carolinas. Widespread totals of 12+ inches in the mountains/foothills.

 

 

 

Honorable Mention:

 

 

April 4-5 1987: Abnormally late snow for the lower elevations right along the Blue Ridge laid down 4-6 inches here in McDowell and much higher in the mountains.

 

Jan 1988: The synoptic setup was perfect for widespread heavy snow. I know folks will question me for not putting this in the Top 5 but my specific location was on the northern edge of the heavier totals. During the 1980's we would get at least one of these overrunning events each winter so it really didn't stick out in my mind.