An unidentified town official helps Greg Longo, left, remove belongings from his house after it was heavily damaged by ocean waves during a winter storm in Marshfield, Mass., Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. The storm has punched out a section of the seawall in the coastal town of Marshfield, police said. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Pictured above: Images of Winter Storm Juno in late January

Winter storms are far deadlier than previously believed, according to a new study released by atmospheric scientists at the University of Georgia.

The study, performed by Alan Black and Thomas Mote, found that NOAA's data on winter storm fatalities that occurred on roads made treacherous by the snow and ice. They found that NOAA had attributed 571 deaths to winter storms in the United States from 1996 to 2011, but when they added traffic- and plane crash-related deaths, that total rose to 13,852 deaths in the same time frame.

In other words, winter storms are almost 25 times more deadly than the numbers would lead you to believe, the study said.

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"I have always felt that winter storms were way underrated as far as fatalities are concerned because it is not always that easy to tie together things like auto accidents and a winter weather event," said , winter weather expert at The Weather Channel.

Using NOAA's data, the 15-year period studied would have an average annual death toll of about 38. But that average death toll jumps to about 923 when the study's criteria are adjusted to include car and plane crashes that were indirectly attributed to a winter storm.

According to fatality data kept by NOAA for every type of weather event, heat-related deaths currently have the highest 10-year average, with an average of . But the deadliest type of weather could change if NOAA decides to reclassify winter storm deaths based on the information found in the study.

"This study reinforces what has long been evident in the , which is that vehicular accidents are an under-recognized hazard and on average each year in the U.S. the top weather-related killer," said , Senior Director of Weather Communications at The Weather Channel. "And those stats indicate that even more people lose their lives when roads are just wet than when snowy or icy."