At a Glance

Winter 2020-21 was a season of sharp contrasts.February was America's coldest in 32 years, but December and January were relatively mild.Major snowstorms hammered the Northeast, South and Rockies.

Each spring, we compile a list of the most unforgettable moments of the past winter. Sometimes it's challenging to find one dominant story. That wasn't the case for winter 2020-21.

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A caused a surge in heating demand, which triggered power outages to almost 10 million customers in Texas and other parts of the South. Some outages lasted weeks.

As of May 4, were attributed to the cold in Texas alone, according to the state's health department. That's more than double the death toll of 68 from Hurricane Harvey. The cold killed dozens more in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Carlos Mandez waits in line to fill his propane tanks Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Houston. Customers had to wait over an hour in the freezing rain to fill their tanks. Millions in Texas still had no power after a historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity to warm up homes unaccustomed to such extreme lows, buckling the state's power grid and causing widespread blackouts.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The prolonged cold also burst water pipes, damaging homes and buildings.

NOAA estimates the damage exceeded $10 billion, making it the nation's .

From Feb. 7-20, 9,983 daily records and 219 all-time cold records were tied or broken, according to NOAA.

in Dallas-Fort Worth plunged to minus 2 degrees, its coldest reading since 1949. Oklahoma City set its longest stretch below 20 degrees of .

Temperatures as cold as minus 20 were recorded as far south as the .

Here are the other winter events we won't forget, listed in chronological order.

Summer Snow

While snow in summer isn't as unusual over the highest peaks of the Rockies, an early September event along the Front Range in 2020 was one of the earliest on record.

From Labor Day through the following Wednesday, snow fell from Montana to New Mexico, tying or setting new early snow records in at least nine cities, including Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Las Vegas, New Mexico.

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It was Denver's first September snow in 26 years.

Even stranger, Fort Collins, Colorado, was blanketed with snow the day after choking smoke from a wildfire enveloped the city.

(FULL RECAP: One of Earliest Front Range Snowfalls)

Oklahoma's October Ice Storm

The winter struck early again in late October when a destructive ice storm hit the Plains.

The weather system, namedWinter Storm Billyby The Weather Channel, hung around Oklahoma from Oct. 26-28, and left some people without power for at least 11 days. It was the for the state, according to NOAA.

were reported, according to OG&E, the region's primary utility provider. The company says that's thehighest numberof storm-related outages it's ever experienced.

Parts of central Oklahoma had ice accumulations that were an inch or more thick during the storm. Trees hadn't lost their leaves, which allowed more ice weight than they normally would've in mid-winter.

Oddly, the ice storm struck when other parts of the South were facing a threat from the tropics. Hurricane Zeta roared into the northern Gulf Coast and Southeast a few days later, leaving a widespread area of tree damage and major power outages.

(National Weather Service)

Winter Storm Gail Smashed All-Time Records

The Northeast didn't have to wait long for its first major snowstorm of the season when Winter Storm Gail slammed the region in mid-December.

More than two dozen locations from northern Pennsylvania into central New York, Vermont and New Hampshire picked up more than 40 inches of snow, primarily occurring within a 24-hour period Dec. 16-17.

Gail shattered in Binghamton, New York (40 inches), and Williamsport, Pennsylvania (24.7 inches). Snowfall rates were estimated to be up to at one point during the storm in Binghamton.

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While not nearly as prolific a snowfall, parts of the Interstate 95 urban corridor finally ended a snowstorm drought.

New York City picked up 10.5 inches of snow, .

Philadelphia International Airport's 6.6 inch total was 22 times its second least snowy season on record in 2019-20.

Gail was the first storm to receive a ranking on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS) since March 2018.

The contours show an estimate of Gail's snowfall Dec. 16-17, 2020.

Least January Snow, Ice Cover in Decades

Winter went on a bit of hiatus for much of the country during much of January.

It ranked for the continental U.S. in 127 years of records, according to NOAA.

Snow cover across the Lower 48 and ice cover in the Great Lakes dropped to meager levels by late in the month because frigid air was scarce.

, according to an analysis from NOAA's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC). That's was the least expansive snow cover for that day in the NOHRSC database dating to 2004.

A couple of days later, ice cover on the Great Lakes dropped to a record low for Jan. 24. The on all of the Great Lakes combined was the least for that date in 48 years of records, according to NOAA.

Snow depth analysis on Jan. 22, 2021, showed a relative lack of snow on the ground in the Northeast Urban Corridor, Ohio Valley and parts of the Northern Plains.

An Ennead of Winter Storms

The prolonged January thaw came to a halt at the end of the month.

From Jan. 24-Feb. 19, nine storms met The Weather Channel's criteria for naming, based on population (at least 2 million) and/or areal coverage (at least 400,000 square kilometers) of National Weather Service winter warnings.

This is an animation of 24-hour snow accumulations each day from Jan. 24 - Feb. 18, 2021, illustrating the procession of winter storms across the nation.

(NOAA)

The last two of the storms – Uri and Viola – blanketed the South during the crippling February cold snap.

All-time one-day snowfall records were set in Abilene (9.8 inches), San Angelo (10.1 inches) and Del Rio (11.2 inches), Texas. Little Rock, Arkansas, of 15 inches.

It even snowed in Galveston, Texas, where a cross-country skier was photographed near the beach the day after Valentine's Day.

This extended siege was the , and deposited the .

By the time the storm parade relented, the nation had its .

A couple other storms in this stretch were memorable in their own right.

Winter Storm Orlena a Potential State Record Breaker

A major winter storm named Orlena walloped the Great Lakes and Northeast as the calendar flipped from January to February.

New York City's Central Park had a storm total of 17.4 inches Jan. 31-Feb. 3. That made it the 16th heaviest snowstorm on record there dating to 1869 and the .

Even more impressive is that an all-time snowstorm record might have been set for the entire state of New Jersey.

An observer in over three days during Orlena.

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

Winter Siege of Snow, Crippling Ice Hits Pacific Northwest

Lower elevations of the Pacific Northwest were hit with snow and crippling ice in mid-February.

Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle was buried by 11.1 inches of snow Feb. 12-13, marking its heaviest . Portland, Oregon, picked up 9.9 inches, which ranked as the .

Major ice accumulations in northern Oregon caused serious damage to trees and power infrastructure.

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Portland General Electric said the impacts from the ice, snow and wind caused , including some that lost power multiple times. An estimated had to be restored.

Ice accumulations in parts of northern Oregon were an on trees, power lines and other surfaces.

The weight of the ice and snow , including in the Portland metro area.

March Blizzard Buries Wyoming, Colorado

was another record-setter. It dumped just over 30 inches of snow in Cheyenne, Wyoming, 22.7 inches of which fell on March 14, its snowiest day on record.

The National Weather Service office in Cheyenne referred to it as a "."

While not a record in Denver, the Mile High City chalked up its fourth heaviest snowstorm (27.1 inches).

High winds whipped snowdrifts 5 to 10 feet high paralyzed travel.

Sierra Snow Lacking

We covered a lot of events with prolific snow this past season. But one notable lack of snow is likely to have the greatest impact.

California has distinct wet and dry seasons. The state typically picks up the large majority of its annual precipitation from November through April.

Unfortunately, California had its second straight wet season lacking rain and mountain snow.

As of May 4, water content of the state's snowpack was only 15% of average for early May.

Snowpack accumulates in the Sierra during the wet season, then melts later in spring and summer, recharging the state's reservoirs during the dry summer.

But this lack of snowpack won't be able to add much water to reservoirs, some of which were only 50-60% of average as of early May.

With a dry season ahead and worsening drought, concerns are mounting about the water supply and another potentially destructive summer and fall of wildfires for the West.

In an aerial view, low water levels are visible at Lake Oroville on April 27, 2021, in Oroville, Calif. Four years after then California Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order to lift the California's drought emergency, parts of the state have re-entered a drought emergency with water levels dropping in the state's reservoirs. Water levels at Lake Oroville have dropped to 42% of its 3,537,577 acre foot capacity. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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, .