Grading Your City's Snow

Has this season's snow met your expectations, so far?

Frankly, snowfall in many locations has been noticeably absent. In a few places, however, snowfall has far surpassed what is considered "average."

With that in mind, we're handing out "midterm grades" for cities across the nation, from New England to Alaska, examining not only snowfall departures from average, but also the percent of average snowfall through the end of January.

Original poster for the Breakfast Club for the Film Society of Lincoln Center's celebration of John Hughes on the 25th anniversary of his film 'The Breakfast Club' at the Paris Theatre on September 20, 2010 in New York City.

(John W. Ferguson/Getty Images)

To use a reference from the 1985 movie "The Breakfast Club", here's our three main groups:

"Flunkies"

Like John Bender (played by Judd Nelson), these cities are slacking in the snow department and are in danger of weekend detention. Generally, these cities either have had little snow overall, or are significantly below average.

"C Students"

Par for the course, like Claire Standish (played by Molly Ringwald). Nothing spectacular either above or below average for these cities.

"Honor Students"

These cities are in the honor's program for snowfall this season, so far. Like Brian Johnson (played by Anthony Michael Hall), they're in the math and physics clubs. It's a select group so far this season.

Let's start the grading with the Northeast region.

Grading the Season's Snow: Northeast

Longport, N.J.

A construction crew works on replacing the dunes at 35th Ave in Longport, N.J. Thursday Nov 8, 2012 after Winter Storm Athena and Hurricane Sandy hit the region. (AP Photo/The Press of Atlantic City, Edward Lea)

Above: Winter Storm Athena photos.

Solid A students were hard to find in the Northeast.

Only Pittsburgh, Pa. and Burlington, Vt. earned our top grade in the region. Burlington's biggest snow day was from Winter Storm Euclid, which dumped more than a foot of snow in late December. Pittsburgh saw back-to-back 4.9 inch snowstorms in late December from Winter Storm Euclid and Winter Storm Freyr.

Snowfall totals, percent of average, and midterm snow grades through Jan. 31, 2013.

As for the I-95 corridor, we failed just about everybody.

Through January 31, snowfall was less than 50 percent of the average-to-date in D.C., Baltimore, Md., Philadelphia, Pa., New York City and Boston, Mass.

The Big Apple had a fast start to the season with 4.7 inches of snow from Winter Storm Athena in early November, but has seen just under two inches since then.

Farther north along I-95, Portland, Maine fared a little better with near-average snowfall and a grade of C.

February is a notorious month for snowstorms along the East Coast, so don't give up hope yet if you are a snow lover.

In the lake-effect snow region to the west, both Buffalo, N.Y. and Syracuse, N.Y. have significant deficits and received an F.

Who made the grade in the Midwest region?

Grading the Season's Snow: Midwest

Madison, Wis.

Crews remove piled-up snow from around the Capitol Square, December 21, 2012. A day after Draco hit Wisconsin, schools were closed.

Above: Winter Storm Draco photos.

In the Midwest, we had one big winner on our snow report card that got an A+.

This A+ went to Green Bay, Wis., which has seen 39 inches of snow through January 31. Almost half of their total this season is from a combination of Winter Storm Draco (10.1 inches) and Winter Storm Magnus (8.2 inches).

Snowfall totals, percent of average, and midterm snow grades through Jan. 31, 2013.

Just a short drive down I-43, it's a completely different story in Milwaukee, Wis. Snowfall is just 41 percent of average, which results in a solid F.

It's even worse just 90 miles or so to the south in Chicago, Ill. With only 3.5 inches of snow through January 31 at O'Hare International Airport, the Windy City is just 17 percent of average...a very, very low F.

Elsewhere, we did have one additional A to hand out in the region. That grade was given to Des Moines, Iowa, which like Green Bay, received the majority of its snow from Draco and Magnus.

Parts of the Ohio Valley (Cincinnati, Ohio, Indianapolis, Ind., Louisville, Ky.) and northern Plains (Fargo, N.D., Rapid City, S.D., Bismarck, N.D.) were close enough to average to earn a grade of C.

Yes, we even graded some southern cities. You might be surprised...there are some "honor students" there.

Grading the Season's Snow: South

Snow filled roads lead to the Arkansas Capitol building on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 in Little Rock, Ark., after a winter storm brought 10 inches of snow to much of the state. (AP Photo/Kelly P. Kissel)

Above: Winter Storm Euclid photos.

This is the toughest region to grade.

Do we flunk cities that typically don't get much snow if they...well...haven't gotten any snow? Seems a bit harsh, right? However, given the general warmth in the South, we're channeling our inner Mr. Vernon (the Assistant Principal played by Paul Gleason in The Breakfast Club).

Snowfall totals, percent of average, and midterm snow grades through Jan. 31, 2013.

As you can see, the "Rhodes Scholar" of the group is Little Rock, Ark.

They not only had their heaviest calendar day snowfall in almost 25 years in December, but it occurred on Christmas Day, as Winter Storm Euclid hammered parts of the South. Of course, the weight of this heavy, wind-driven snow knocked out power to hundreds of thousands in Arkansas and other states.

In mid-January, Winter Storm Iago laid down a 1-3 inch stripe of snow, with locally higher amounts, from Mississippi into Alabama, including Jackson and Birmingham. We'll give them a commendable grade for that.

Not too shabby in El Paso, Texas, either, where over 3 inches of snow fell in a snow event just after New Year's Day.

Again, we're probably being a bit harsh for the rest of the cities in the list. That said, we'd expect at least one decent snow event in the Texas Panhandle by the end of January.

We'll find a few more "good students" when we shift to the West, next.

Grading the Season's Snow: West

Salt Lake City, Utah

Max and Shaina Richardson walk their dog through the snow. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Above: Winter Storm Gandolf photos.

We were generous with the number of A+ grades given to the West, but they earned it.

Snowfall totals, percent of average, and midterm snow grades through Jan. 31, 2013.

Salt Lake City, Utah, Great Falls, Mont. and Barrow, Alaska received this top grade with snowfall totals so far this season running greater than 145 percent of average. In January alone, Salt Lake City saw almost two feet of snow.

(MORE: Winter Storm Gandolf hits the West)

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we gave failing grades to Seattle, Wash., Flagstaff, Ariz., Albuquerque, N.M. and Denver, Colo. Two of these cities, Albuquerque and Seattle, have yet to see an inch of snow this season.

On last year's snow report card, Valdez, Alaska was at the top of its class with an amazing 328.5 inches of snow through January 31. This season has been closer to average with 156.2 inches and a grade of C.