At a Glance

Winter Storm Quest brought heavy snow to the Southwest and New England. More than 10 feet of snow fell in parts of Southern California. 6-10 inches of snow and thundersnow occurred in parts of the Great Lakes. Strong winds and tornadoes ripped through the South.

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W​inter Storm Quest was a cross-country storm that brought feet of snow to California, then high winds and severe weather to the South and East in late February and early March.

T​he potent winter storm as it quickly intensified in the region. Some of the records were more than 100 years old.

Quest brought blizzard conditions to California's Sierra Nevada from February 28 - March 2, 2023. has piled up in the Lake Tahoe region, adding to the feet of snow that fell from winter storms Olive and Piper in late February.

T​he San Bernardino Mountains were exceptionally hard hit. As much as 150 inches of snow, burying residents and covering roads for days. The feet of snow trapped people in the mountain range for several days where such magnitudes of significant snow are rare. Food, gas, medicine and other supplies became scarce. To make things worse in Crestline, California, in the mountains of Southern California, later in the week due to the snow.

T​he pummeling of the Sierra even caused some ski resorts to close due to too much snow.

(IMAGES: The Most Eye-Popping Photos From California's Snow Siege)

S​ome graupel showers even surprised some across Southern California, including on March 1. Snow was spotted on the horizon from Los Angeles, including around the Hollywood sign.

S​now with dozens stuck on roads, including I-40 and I-17, which were closed at times due to pileups and bad road conditions on March 1-2.

KTVK reported that seven vehicles, including semitractor-trailers, were involved in a near Williams, Arizona. Minor injuries were reported, according to the station. The station said another eight semis were involved in another pileup a few miles west of Williams on I-40.

Over two feet of snow was measured in parts of the Flagstaff area and an inch of snow even accumulated in .

(Snow totals: NOHRSC/NOAA)

Snow turned to rain as Q​uest rapidly strengthened Friday, March 3rd as it moved through the Southern Plains and Ohio Valley. It set pressure records near its track. Some of those pressure records had been on the books since the 1800s.

T​he destructive wind gusts, snow and tornadoes from Winter Storm Quest knocked out power for more than from southern Michigan to the Deep South, but was exceptionally felt in Kentucky where almost every county reported outages. The storm killed at least 10 people.

Q​uest produced a wide swath of severe weather from Texas, where it produced wind gusts as high as 90 mph in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, to the Ohio Valley where several tornadoes were produced.

A​t least a dozen tornadoes were confirmed from eastern Texas to the Tennessee and Ohio valleys by March 4th.

As precipitation reached new cold air, thundersnow was reported across southern Michigan, southern Ontario into central New England during the evening of March 3. Heavy snow fell from northern Indiana and southern Michigan east to central New England through the night.

T​he band of heavy snow in the southern Great Lakes produced 2-5 inches of snow from northeastern Illinois to northern Indiana, and 6-12 inches of snow in southeastern Michigan, including 8 inches in Ann Arbor.

hit severe turbulence that killed one person, during the afternoon of March 3.

As Winter Storm Quest finished its quest across the Lower 48, more than a foot of snow fell from the Upper Hudson Valley into central and northern New England. At least 16 inches of new snow fell in Bolton Landing, New York.

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