![]() ![]() The storm brought cold air, heavy snowfall, blowing snow, and mixed precipitation on a path from New Mexico and northern Texas to New England and Eastern Canada. During the initial stages of the storm, some meteorologists predicted that the system would affect over 100 million people in the United States. The 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard was a powerful and historic winter storm that affected large swaths of the United States and Canada from January 31 to February 2, 2011, especially on Groundhog Day. Most of central Alaska had near- to above-average snowpack totals.įor additional information on specific events please visit our monthly reports, storm events database, and billion-dollar weather disasters report.Part of the 2010–11 North American winterġ Most severe tornado damage see Fujita scale In Alaska, a dry March resulted in most locations across southern parts of the state to have below-average snowpack. Locations from the northern Cascades to Northern Rockies had near-average snowpack. According to the Western Regional Climate Center, the California statewide snowpack was 166 percent of average, the sixth highest since 1950 and highest since 1998. Parts of the Central Rockies and Sierra Nevada Mountains had a snowpack that was more than 180 percent of average, with several observing stations setting new records. Much-average-average snowpack was observed for the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the central and southern Cascades, and much of the Great Basin to Central Rockies. As of April 1st, as a result of late-winter storms in the Northwest and Northern Rockies and earlier-season snowfall to south, most mountain locations in the West had near- to above-average snowpack. The annual snow pack typically peaks in early April. The total annual water budget for agriculture and human use in the mountainous West is highly dependent on the amount of snow melt that will occur in spring and is proportional to the amount of snow on the ground. Winter and spring mountain snowpack provide a crucial water source across much of the western United States. According to the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS), the storm was rated a Category '3', or major winter storm for the region. Snowfall totals exceeding 20 inches were widespread with localized totals in the higher elevations exceeding 30 inches. A mid-March winter storm impacted the Northeast, bringing blizzard conditions to parts of New England and New York. Record warmth across the East helped to melt the snow that accumulated earlier in the season. with much of the snow in the east falling in December. during the December-February period occurred across the western U.S. Much of the snow that fell across the U.S. The 2016/17 winter snow cover extent was slightly smaller than the snow cover extent of the previous winter season in 2015/16. snow cover extent was 50,000 square miles above the 1981-2010 average and ranked near the middle of the 51-year period of record. Winter Snow Cover Extent AnomaliesĪccording to NOAA data analyzed by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, for the winter season, the contiguous U.S. had near-record low snow totals, however, early spring snow helped to boost annual snow totals across the region.Ĭontiguous U.S. For the December-February three-month winter period. had an above-average snow cover extent in December and January with a below-average snow cover extent for February and into early spring. The above-average precipitation in the West boosted snowpack totals to record and near-record levels in parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Nevada and Wyoming were record wet and California had its second wettest winter helping to end a multi-year drought in the region. The winter season was wetter than average for much of the nation, particularly the West, Northern Plains and Midwest. Below-average temperatures were present for the Northwest during much of the winter. January and particularly February were very warm in the East with 17 states from Texas to New York having a record warm February. Below-average temperatures were observed in the Northwest. The 2016/17 winter season (December 2016-February 2017) was marked by much-warmer-than-average conditions across much of the East with record warmth in the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley. ![]()
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