2013-14 United States winter storm season

The **2013-14 United States winter storm season** was the second most active season ever recorded, just behind the previous season. The season featured 26 named storms. The season ran from November 1, 2013 until April 30, 2014. The season also featured two off-season storms, Atlas and Zephyr.

## Some attributes

### Third

**Strongest storm:** Hercules - 936 millibars

## Other attributes

### Fourth

**Maximum snowfall:** Maximus - 56.2 inches

## Storms

### Winter Storm Atlas

Winter Storm Atlas formed on October 3, which still holds as the earliest start to a season on record. Winter Storm Atlas, the first named winter storm of the 2013-2014 season, delivered feet of snow from the northern Rockies to the northern High Plains. Atlas also brought crippling impacts to the Black Hills. Atlas had a maximum snowfall total of 58". A maximum wind gust of 71 mph was recorded in South Dakota. Atlas dissipated on October 5.

### Winter Storm Boreas

Winter Storm Boreas formed on November 22. Boreas brought a wintry potpourri of snow, ice and wind from California to Maine. Tom Niziol, winter weather expert for the Weather Channel, said that roughly 58 million Americans were affected by either snow or ice from the Desert Southwest to northern New England, an area over 2.5 million square miles. Boreas dissipated on November 27.

### Winter Storm Cleon

Winter Storm Cleon formed on December 1. Cleon brought snow, sleet and freezing rain to a large swath of the country in a couple of phases during the first week of December. The first phase of the storm brought heavy snow to the Mountain West and the Upper Midwest. A second phase of the storm delivered snow, sleet and freezing from Texas and Oklahoma to the Ozarks, middle Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and interior Northeast. 35.3" of snow was reported near Two Harbors, Minnesota. Cleon dissipated on December 7.

### Winter Storm Dion

Winter Storm Dion formed on December 5. Initially, snow fell at low elevations all the way to the coast in Oregon. After dumping snow on the Mountain West, Dion went on to bring snow to parts of the Midwest, Middle Atlantic and Northeast. Dion also produced some ice accumulations in parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. A final phase of Dion pushed through portions of the Middle Atlantic and Northeast with more snow on December 10. 25" of snow was reported at Galena, Arkansas. Dion dissipated on December 11.

### Winter Storm Electra

Winter Storm Electra formed on December 11. The heaviest snow totals from the storm were in Upstate New York and New England, where more than a foot of snow was measured in some locations. Electra dissipated on December 14.

### Winter Storm Falco

Winter Storm Falco formed on December 16. Winter Storm Falco was the fourth named winter storm to affect the Northeast in a two-week period during the first half of December. Light to moderate amounts of snow fell from Ohio to Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Falco dissipated on December 18.

### Winter Storm Gemini

Winter Storm Gemini formed on December 19. In Maine, the number of people without power spiked to more than 68,000. A medical clinic in Bangor lost power, forcing walk-in patients to seek other options. "It's certainly not going away," Margaret Curtis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, said Monday of the precipitation and cold. "In fact, we don't have very many areas where we're expecting temperatures to rise above freezing." Authorities reduced the speed limit along a 107-mile stretch of the Maine Turnpike from Kittery to Augusta as freezing rain continued to fall Monday morning and temperatures hovered around freezing. More than 390,000 homes and businesses were without power Monday in Michigan, upstate New York and northern New England, down from Sunday's peak of more than half a million. Most were in Michigan, whose largest utilities said it'll be days before power is restored because of the difficulty of working around broken lines. In Maine, the number of customers without power spiked to more than 78,000, and the cold persisted. "It's certainly not going away," Margaret Curtis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, said Monday. "In fact, we don't have very many areas where we're expecting temperatures to rise above freezing." CMS Energy Corp. says 285,000 of its power customers were affected, and 202,000 remain off line at mid-day Monday. DTE Energy Co. says work is underway to restore service to 65,000 blacked-out customers out of about 148,000 affected since the storms hit. The Lansing State Journal says about 35,000 customers of the city's power company lost service, and about 30,000 remain off line Monday. That means untreated roads and sidewalks from the upper Midwest to northern New England will remain a slippery, dangerous mess as people head out for last-minute shopping or holiday travel. About 25,000 utility customers in western and northern New York remained without electricity after a weekend ice storm knocked tree limbs onto power lines. Most of the outages early Monday afternoon are National Grid customers, including 11,700 in Jefferson County on Lake Ontario's eastern shore. Another 5,200 homes and businesses in neighboring St. Lawrence County are without power, and Lewis Count has another 800 outages. About 7,500 outages are reported in Erie, Niagara and Orleans counties. Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a winter ice storm emergency for western and northern areas and he activated the state Emergency Operations Center. The Vermont Department of Health is warning residents to be careful with generators and other equipment after the weekend ice storm resulted in a spike in carbon monoxide poisonings. The Department of Health says there were about half a dozen reports of people being sickened by carbon monoxide poisoning in one day -- about what the state usually sees in a winter. Generators, charcoal grills or hibachis should never be used indoors, and officials say snow and ice should be cleared from gas appliance vents outside. They also say kitchen gas stoves should not be used for heating. Carbon monoxide is a potentially fatal colorless and odorless gas. Early symptoms include headache, dizziness and nausea. Gemini dissipated on December 23.

### Winter Storm Hercules

Winter Storm Hercules formed on December 31, 2013. Hercules laid down a swath of snow from the Midwest to the Great Lakes and Northeast. Hercules dissipated on January 3, 2014.

### Winter Storm Ion

Winter Storm Ion formed on January 3. Ion brought more snow to some of the same areas just affected by Hercules a few days earlier. The worst impacts were in Indiana, where heavy snow and high winds led to severe travel difficulties and even closures on several major highways in central and northern parts of the state. Ion was followed by a surge of bitter cold air in the central and eastern states. For some locations, it was the coldest air mass since the mid-1990s. Ion dissipated on January 6.

### Winter Storm Janus

Winter Storm Janus formed on January 20. Janus hammered parts of the Northeast I-95 corridor with heavy snow. Portions of the Ohio Valley and Appalachians also saw several inches of snow from Janus. In addition to the snowfall from Janus, lake-effect snow behind the storm pummeled parts of Indiana and Illinois. Janus dissipated on January 22.

### Winter Storm Kronos

Winter Storm Kronos formed on January 23. Kronos brought snow, sleet and freezing rain into parts of central and east Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Kronos dissipated on January 24.

### Winter Storm Leon

Winter Storm Leon formed on January 27. Leon was a major winter storm for parts of the South and southern Mid-Atlantic. The storm also clipped Cape Cod with accumulating snow. The storm snarled traffic in both the Atlanta and Birmingham areas, forcing many drivers to abandon their cars and seek shelter through the overnight. School and business closures were widespread. Leon dissipated on January 29.

### Winter Storm Maximus

Winter Storm Maximus formed on January 29. Right after Winter Storm Leon, Maximus started its journey from the West Coast to the East Coast. Maximus first brought more than a foot of snow to mountains of California, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Colorado. The storm then dumped moderate amounts of snow and some ice from the central Plains into the Great Lakes. A second swath of snow then spread from out of northwest Texas and Oklahoma to the Ozarks, Ohio Valley, central Appalachians and parts of the Northeast I-95 corridor. Maximus dissipated on February 3.

### Winter Storm Nika

Winter Storm Nika formed on January 31. Nika was the fourteenth named storm of the winter season in the U.S. and its path included some of the same locations recently affected by Winter Storm Maximus. Millions of people within 20 states were affected by the storm. Ice was one of the biggest impacts from Nika. In northern and central Arkansas, the freezing rain accumulations caused dangerous travel conditions, tree damage and power outages. Major tree damage and power outages also impacted Pennsylvania and adjacent parts of New Jersey. More than 760,000 customers lost power statewide in Pennsylvania alone. Nika dissipated on February 5.

### Winter Storm Orion

Winter Storm Orion formed on February 6. Orion brought much-needed snowfall to the West. The share of the snow from Orion came Thursday through Saturday, February 6-8, in the West. The primary disturbance then zipped across the Midwest and Northeast Sunday into early Monday, February 9-10. A piece of Orion's energy broke off and brought some snow from Oklahoma and Texas to Kentucky on Friday and early Saturday, February 7-8. Snow fell at very low elevations in the Pacific Northwest, including Portland, Oregon where 5.5 inches of snow was measured. Orion dissipated on February 10.

### Winter Storm Pax

Winter Storm Pax formed on February 9. Pax was a major winter storm that first brought significant snow and damaging ice accumulations to the South. From there, Pax went on to produce heavy snow in the Middle Atlantic, Appalachians and Northeast, including the I-95 corridor. The storm pushed two rounds of wintry weather across the South from February 9 to February 13. The second round produced the heaviest amounts of freezing rain, sleet and snow across the region late February 11 through early February 13. Ice accumulations of up to an inch or more occurred from parts of east-central Georgia to west-central South Carolina, resulting in extensive tree and power line damage. Significant ice also contributed to tree damage and powers outages in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and southern North Carolina. In the Northeast, Middle Atlantic and the Appalachians, snow totals of two feet or more were reported in parts of six states (Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia). Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City all received near a foot of snow. Pax dissipated on February 14.

### Winter Storm Quintus

Winter Storm Quintus formed on February 14. Quintus dumped the heaviest snow totals on far southeast Massachusetts and Downeast Maine. Some locations picked up 10 inches or more of snow. Quintus dissipated on February 16.

### Winter Storm Rex

Winter Storm Rex formed on February 16. Rex brought a swath of snow from the Midwest to parts of the Northeast. One of the most notable aspects of the storm were the widespread reports of thundersnow along its path. The phenomenon was reported in at least seven states, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Chicago and Baltimore were a couple of the larger cities where thundersnow was observed. Rex dissipated on February 19.

### Winter Storm Seneca

Winter Storm Seneca formed on February 19. A relatively quick burst of snow swept through parts of Nebraska and northern Kansas on February 20. As this was happening, an east-west band of thundersnow pushed northward into southern Lower Michigan, including the Detroit metro area and nearby Ann Arbor, Michigan, dropping a quick inch or two across the snow-weary area. Heavy snow then spread from Iowa into Minnesota, western and northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan through the evening. Whiteout conditions prompted authorities to advise against travel in parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. A stretch of Interstate 35 was shut down from Owatonna, Minnesota to the Iowa border because of numerous accidents and stranded vehicles. The heaviest snow totals fell in a swath from the St. Croix River valley to northeast Minnesota, northwest Wisconsin and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with several locations chalking up more than a foot of snow. Seneca dissipated on February 21.

### Winter Storm Titan

Winter Storm Titan formed on February 27. Titan began to affect the West Coast with heavy mountain snow on Friday, February 28. The warm side of Titan brought the heaviest rain of the winter to parts of Southern California. Titan then shifted across the Rockies and into parts of the central and eastern U.S. with snow and ice from March 1 to March 2. Titan continued to impact parts of the East on March 3. Titan dissipated on March 3.

### Winter Storm Ulysses

Winter Storm Ulysses formed on March 5. Ulysses was a high-impact ice storm for a small part of northwest North Carolina. Ice accumulations of up to a half inch were reported Asheboro, Lexington, Salisbury and Welcome, to name a few locations. This led to tree damage and power outages. At one point, the number of customers without power in North Carolina was over 400,000. Ulysses also produced significant snowfall in the mountains of western North Carolina and southwest Virginia. Ulysses dissipated on March 6.

### Winter Storm Vulcan

Winter Storm Vulcan formed on March 9. Vulcan deposited a swath of heavy snow from the Midwest into the Great Lakes and interior Northeast. Snow fell at the rate of two inches per hour on the morning of March 12 at both Chicago Midway and in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Lightning accompanied these intense snowfall rates in parts of northern Indiana, northwest Ohio, Lower Michigan and northeast Illinois. Winds gusting over 40 mph combined with heavy snow resulted in blizzard conditions at times in both the Rochester, N.Y. and Buffalo, New York areas. Lightning was also reported with the intense snowfall in the Buffalo area. Very strong winds accompanied the cold front associated with Winter Storm Vulcan as it swept across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Wednesday evening. Vulcan dissipated on March 13.

### Winter Storm Wiley

Winter Storm Wiley formed on March 16. Wiley spread a swath of snow and ice from the Missouri Valley into the Mid-Atlantic states. The most significant amounts of snow fell in the Middle Atlantic region from late on March 16 into St. Patrick's Day. This included the corridor from Washington to Baltimore and Philadelphia. Wiley dissipated on March 18.

### Winter Storm Xenia

Winter Storm Xenia formed on March 30. Xenia produced whiteout conditions across large swaths of North Dakota, South Dakota, and northeast Wyoming on the final day of March 2014. Visibility was reduced to 10 feet in parts of North Dakota. Drifts of five to six feet were observed in Roseau, Minnesota. Winds gusted to 64 mph at the Rapid City, South Dakota airport, and up to 58 mph near Oakes, North Dakota. Whiteout conditions prompted a shut down of Interstate 29 from Brookings, South Dakota to the Canadian border, and Interstate 94 from Fargo to Bismarck, North Dakota. A rare March tornado touched down in extreme west-central Minnesota near the town of St. Leo. Prior to this tornado, only 20 March tornadoes had been observed in the state of Minnesota dating to 1950. Xenia dissipated on April 1.

### Winter Storm Yona

Winter Storm Yona formed on April 2. Yona delivered more snow to the already impacted Upper Midwest from April 3 to April 4, 2014. Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin were among the states affected by Yona. Yona dissipated on April 4.

### Winter Storm Zephyr

Winter Storm Zephyr formed on May 11. Zephyr delivered a punch of late season snow to the Rockies. States affected by Winter Storm Zephyr include Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Zephyr dissipated on May 13.

## Storm names

Names were once again provided by Bozeman High School's Latin class. This was the second time that all of the names were used.

* Boreas
* Cleon
* Dion
* Electra
* Falco
* Gemini
* Hercules
* Janus
* Kronos
* Leon
* Maximus
* Nika
* Orion
* Pax
* Rex
* Seneca
* Titan
* Ulysses
* Vulcan
* Wiley
* Xenia
* Zephyr