List of United States winter storms before 1871

This page lists all documented storms before January 1, 1871 in the United States.

## Storms

### Pre-1700s

* 1637-38 winter: A snowstorm during the winter brought snow depths of 18 inches to Boston, 36 inches at the Merrimac River, and even higher depths in Maine.
* March 10-11, 1681: A possible clipper brought high winds and snow to the Northeast.

### 1700-1799

* February-March 1717: A few strong winter storms struck New England, cancelling church services for three consecutive weeks. Snow totals of 36 inches were recorded after all the storms concluded.
* November 14-16, 1740: A weak winter storm brought 6 inches of snow to Connecticut.
* November 24-25, 1740: A strong snowstorm dumped over a foot of snow in Eastern Massachusetts.
* December 27-29, 1740: A strong nor'easter brought very high snow depths. Not much is known about the snow totals from this storm, or its track, but it was followed by several other nor'easters during the winter.
* January 27-28, 1772: Nearly 3 feet of snow fell in some parts of New England.
* May 4, 1774: An off-season winter storm struck Virginia, but not much is known about the snow depths. The snow killed off most of the fruit crop in Northern Virginia.
* December 24-26, 1776: An intense nor'easter impacted the East Coast, bringing snow totals of 2 or more feet in Central Virginia and Maryland. This is the famed winter storm that George Washington and his troops had sailed across the Delaware River in.
* February 14, 1798: The Norfolk Herald on Feb. 17 and the New York Spectator on March 3 reported snow in Norfolk "in many places up to six feet deep," the greatest snowfall ever experienced. Some accounts claim that 40 inches of snow fell in one night in Norfolk and along the coast, but no snow fell 25 miles inland. Over northeast North Carolina, 16 inches of snow was reported. Wind blowing from the north to northwest off the Chesapeake Bay may have enhanced the snowfall in the Norfolk area, much like the winds blowing across Lake Erie produce "lake effect snow" in New York.

### 1800-1870

* October 10-11, 1804: 1804 Snow hurricane
* December-January 1804-05: 7 different snowstorms struck the New England region throughout December and January.
* January 26-28, 1805: A very strong winter storm struck New York City, bringing snowfall totals of 20 to 24 inches. A top snowfall of 4 feet was recorded in New England.
* December 23-24, 1811: A very intense blizzard struck New England, with snowfall totals averaging around 12 inches.
* June 6-8, 1816: An extremely rare winter storm, influenced by a volcanic eruption, occurred in New England, with a top snowfall total of 24 inches in Vermont. The winter storm was part of the "Year Without a Summer", and numerous fatalities were reported. The winter storm was caused by a hurricane that transitioned into a nor'easter, with a similar example being Hurricane Sandy of 2012.
* June 23-24, 1816: A second winter storm hit New England in June, becoming the latest winter storm ever recorded in US history.
* January 6-7, 1821: A Nor'easter traveled from Charleston, S.C. to New England, leaving a band of deep snow stretching from Virginia to New Jersey. Winchester had eight inches of snow and Washington D.C., had 12 to 18 inches. Temperatures fell to below zero in some areas after the storm.
* January 14-16, 1831: This storm was declared 'The Great Snowstorm" because of the wide extent of deep snow from Georgia to Maine and west into Ohio. David Ludlum in *Early American Winters II* describes that east of the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, the snow amounts go from heavy to excessive. He quotes from the Winchester Republican, "Never was such a storm known here, nor does any person whom we have seen, remember to have witnessed one more severe elsewhere." An observer in Alexandria stated that nothing since 1809 even approached the fury of this storm. A weather observer in Gettysburg measured 30 inches of snow. Snowfall amounts increased to the north with 13 inches in Washington and Baltimore had 18 inches of snow. Pittsburgh received 22 inches of snow and Lancaster received 2.0-2.5 feet with drifts 5 to 6 feet deep. At Petersburg, Virginia the snow started before daybreak Friday the 14th and continued for some 50 hours into the mid-morning on Sunday the 16th. The snow accumulated 8 inches on a hard frozen ground. In the northern Shenandoah Valley the storm was much worse.
* November 10, 1835: A severe winter storm over the Great Lakes Region caused 10 fatalities.
* December 22-23, 1839: A very intense winter storm struck the DC region, dumping 24 inches of snow in Frederick, MD.
* March 16-18, 1841: Top snowfall of 30 inches in the Tidewater Region in Virginia.
* June 10-11, 1842: Another volcanic eruption-influenced winter storm struck New England, bringing snowfall totals up to 12 inches.
* March 16-17, 1843: A top snowfall of 13 inches of snow was recorded in Washington, DC.
* March 30, 1843: A major blizzard struck the Ohio Valley.
* Feb 27 - March 2, 1846: A snow storm of almost unprecedented severity commenced on this day, the wind blowing a gale from the northeast. A severe coastal storm known as "The Great Gust" hit Virginia and the Northeast. Norfolk recorded tides up to five feet above normal. The storm did half million dollars damage on the East Coast. Fifty families drowned in North Carolina.

* January 18-19, 1857: The "Cold Storm" struck New England, dumping up to 18 inches of snow in the Washington-Baltimore areas. The storm rode on the heels of a polar vortex that brought some record-breaking temperatures to the East Coast.
* February 13-15, 1866: A very intense blizzard struck Minnesota, causing drifts of up to 20 feet. It produced snowfall for three days over Minnesota.
* February 16-17, 1870: A major winter storm struck the Ohio Valley, bringing some of the highest snowfall totals ever recorded in the region. Owensboro, Kentucky picked up 24 inches, while towns north of the Ohio River received just over a foot or more.
* March 14-16, 1870: A severe blizzard impacted Minnesota and Iowa, with the highest snowfall totals coming in around 16 inches. It was the first winter storm to ever use the term "blizzard".

## References

1. ↑ Great Atlantic Coastal Snowstorms, Glen Allen Weather
2. ↑ Great Atlantic Coastal Snowstorms, Glen Allen Weather
3. ↑ http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/great-snow-1717/
4. ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00431672.1960.9925063?journalCode=vwws20
5. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/the-snows-of-yesteryear-major-winter-storms-of-the-1700-and-1800s/2011/12/28/gIQA2MdbQP\_blog.html?utm\_term=.4bab6f2f5693
6. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/the-snows-of-yesteryear-major-winter-storms-of-the-1700-and-1800s/2011/12/28/gIQA2MdbQP\_blog.html?utm\_term=.4bab6f2f5693
7. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/the-snows-of-yesteryear-major-winter-storms-of-the-1700-and-1800s/2011/12/28/gIQA2MdbQP\_blog.html?utm\_term=.4bab6f2f5693
8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20021218082831/http://www.umaine.edu/maineclimate/newsletters/html/June\_2002\_Newsletter\_txt.htm
9. ↑ https://seanmunger.com/2016/06/07/feeling-the-chill-of-a-year-without-summer-the-june-snowstorm-of-1816/
10. ↑ Great Atlantic Coastal Snowstorms, Glen Allen Weather
11. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/the-snows-of-yesteryear-major-winter-storms-of-the-1700-and-1800s/2011/12/28/gIQA2MdbQP\_blog.html?utm\_term=.4bab6f2f5693
12. ↑ http://44news.wevv.com/7192-2/
13. ↑ Great Atlantic Coastal Snowstorms, Glen Allen Weather
14. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/the-snows-of-yesteryear-major-winter-storms-of-the-1700-and-1800s/2011/12/28/gIQA2MdbQP\_blog.html?utm\_term=.4bab6f2f5693
15. ↑ https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries\_and\_publications/winter\_storms.html
16. ↑ http://44news.wevv.com/february-16-17-1870-historic-snowstorm/
17. ↑ https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries\_and\_publications/winter\_storms.html