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Winter Storm Xylia Becomes Eighth Storm Since September to Smash Significant Snow Records
Winter Storm Xylia Becomes Eighth Storm Since September to Smash Significant Snow Records
Jan 17, 2024 3:30 PM

At a Glance

Eight separate winter storms since fall smashed significant snowfall records in the U.S.Winter Storm Xylia is the latest storm to shatter a record.All-time snow records in at least four states may have been set.

Winter Storm Xylia has become the eighth storm since September to shatter major snowfall records in what has otherwise been a mild winter season overall in most of the United States.

Xylia buried Cheyenne, Wyoming, with 30.8 inches of snow March 13-14. Of that total, 22.7 inches fell on March 14, alone, which set a new record for the heaviest calendar-day snowfall in more than 135 years of weather records in the Wyoming capital, topping a 19.8-inch total from Nov. 20, 1979.

Although not a record, Xylia was the fourth-heaviest snowstorm on record in Denver (27.1 inches).

Colored contours show the estimated snowfall from the storm.

That's impressive enough. But it's something we've seen over and over again over the past six months in parts of the country from New England to the upper Midwest to Texas to the West.

Since September, more than two dozen locations have tied or set new all-time snow records for a month, a calendar day, a single snowstorm or a record early snowfall. Preliminary state record snowfalls have occurred in four states.

And this has happened despite the past winter ranking among the nation's .

Here's the rundown of the other significant records from seven other winter storms, beginning while it was still officially summer.

September

Incredibly, this all began with an unnamed storm on Labor Day and continued into the following Tuesday and Wednesday.

records from Sept. 7-9, 2020.

Among those cities were Cheyenne, Wyoming; Fort Collins, Colorado; and .

October

In late October, a pair of winter storms rewrote some monthly and early-in-season records in parts of the West, Plains and upper Midwest.

On Oct. 20, Winter Storm Abigail was the heaviest snowstorm so early in the fall in both Minneapolis-St. Paul (7.9 inches) and St. Cloud, Minnesota (7 inches). It was also an October record snowstorm in Eau Claire (6.9 inches) and Rhinelander (6.1 inches), Wisconsin.

Two days before that, Great Falls, Montana, had its snowiest October day on record (8.2 inches).

About a week after Abigail, Winter Storm Billy became the earliest ice storm on record in Oklahoma. Ice accumulation on trees that still hadn't lost their leaf cover knocked out power to over 400,000 customers in the Sooner State, .

And just for good measure, Billy's snowfall also pushed both Great Falls, Montana, and Spokane, Washington, to new record October monthly snowfall.

December Gail

In mid-December, it was the Northeast's turn.

was a record snowstorm in Binghamton, New York (40 inches), and Williamsport, Pennsylvania (24.7 inches).

In Concord, New Hampshire, Gail dumped 25.6 inches of snow on Dec. 17 alone, the city's all-time snowiest day. This record had stood since the infamous March 1888 blizzard that also clobbered New York City.

Another capital city, Albany, New York, had its snowiest December day on record (19.7 inches).

Gail may have also set in Pennsylvania (43.3 inches in Alba) and Vermont (44 inches near Ludlow). These measurements are yet to be confirmed by a .

New Jersey State Record?

An expansive, cross-country winter storm from late January through early February saved its biggest punch for one Northeast state.

dumped over two feet of snow in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and southeastern New York.

An observer in over three days during Orlena.

If this measurement is confirmed by a State Climate Extremes Committee, it would be a three-day snowfall record for New Jersey, topping the .

My Snowy Valentine

While the snow that fell in Texas and parts of the South in back-to-back mid-February events paled in comparison to the miserable impacts from a , a pair of winter storms did rewrite the record books in a number of cities.

Valentine's Day 2021 was the snowiest single day on record in both Abilene (9.8 inches) and San Angelo (10.1 inches), Texas, from the first of those storms, .

Not directly related to the storm, heavy lake-effect snow in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that same weekend , according to Alex Lamers, a meteorologist with NOAA. Again, that would have to be investigated and confirmed at a later date.

Texas Department of Transportation workers were working to keep roads clear in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, as Winter Storm Uri made roads icy. Above is a view of U.S. Highway 54 at the state border.

(Twitter/@TxDOTAmarillo)

Southern Sequel

Right on the heels of Uri, began its journey by wringing out the snowiest February day on record in Salt Lake City (11.7 inches) on Feb. 17.

Little Rock, Arkansas, was buried by 11.8 inches of snow from Viola, just two days after Uri dumped over 8 inches of snow. That drove the capital city to , which had stood since 1918.

Perhaps the most incredible record was as Viola was exiting and a trailing band of heavy snow pounded parts of the Rio Grande Valley. Del Rio, Texas, picked up a whopping 11.2 inches of snow on Feb. 18, the city's .

These back-to-back storms also pushed San Antonio to its record-snowiest February (6.2 inches).

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, .

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