List your top 5 winter storms

[zinski1990]

Take a few minutes to think about and list in your opinion the top 5 favorite winter storms that you remember in your area that you were alive in. It should be a storm that obviously affected places in the sub forum. Explain your memories, snow or ice totals, conditions, and reasons. Here are mine.                                                           5- Jan 1-3 1999. I was just 8 years old but remember it being a monster. Here in Indy it began overnight on the 1st and transitioned to freezing rain later in the day on the 2nd then back to snow the next night into the 3rd. The official Indianapolis snow total was 10.3 inches. I remember after the storm my whole family out shoveling what seemed like forever due to a thick layer of ice on top of the snow. Up north this was known as the 99 Chicago Blizzard. I'm sure others here have stories on it also.                                                           4- December 24-25 2004 White Christmas Miracle. I was 12 when this happened and remember it felt perfect having a big storm blanket the region right on Christmas Eve into Christmas morning. 7.8 inches was the total at Indy NWS so not really a mammoth storm but perfect timing and memorable.                                   3- January 26-28 2009 Snow Storm. I was in my senior year of high school 18 years old. Remember thinking it would just miss us south or just bring light snow. A sudden change in models happened in the morning on the 27th and it brought a monster shield of heavy snow too much of Indiana beginning around lunch time. I remember eating lunch at school looking outside seeing the first of it fall and got excited. Got home checked the weather and much of central Indiana was added to the Winter Storm Warning for a forecast of 8-12 inches. Indy received 12.5 inches its largest snow since 1996. Areas in south central parts saw up to 18 inches. I woke up early and was waiting to see when my school district would close and it did. It was an awesome snow day. This storm also brought and extreme ice storm to areas south of me.                                      2- January 5-6 2014 Polar Vortex Storm. A very strong storm hit much of the region bringing up to and over a foot of snow in Indiana. Indy received 11.9 inches. I remember measuring 13 at my place. It seemed to snow heavily all day on the 5th and the temps plunged well below zero the next morning. The Indy NWS considered a blizzard warning but held off but it was pretty much a blizzard either way. Drifts of up to 5 feet around my house.                                                                1- December 22-23 2004 Historic Pre Christmas Snowstorm. Another storm that guaranteed a white Christmas. Indy received 10.1 inches but spots just south and east were well over a foot and in some spots 2 ft plus. Never seen a snow totals forecast map since showing 2 ft here in my area. 32 inches were reported in southern indiana. Crothersville in 37 inches. Indeed historic and a very underrated often forgotten storm.                Honorable mentions. Feb 12-14 2007, Jan 31-Feb 2 2011 was obviously epic up north and could have been here as well with the freezing rain but much of it was sleet. Still a memorable storm for me and first time seeing my area under an Ice Storm Warning.                                                March 24 2018 areas most recent storm 

[KM_F]

#1. January 3-5, 1975. Northwest Iowa. I lived in Alton, Iowa at the time. The snowstorm started during the wee hours on Friday, January 3rd, and didn't end until late Sunday afternoon, the 5th. By the time it was over, 22" of snow, with 50-60 mile an hour winds. Truly, a blizzard. Northwest Iowa was literally buried in snow. Plows couldn't get through the drifts. School buses, with kids, stranded out on the farms. Nothing moved for days. You could stand on top of the snow and look into 2nd story windows. I've not experienced anything remotely close since.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[cyclone77]

#1: GHDI 2011.  16" of snow with 50-60mph winds, and a very entertaining week of tracking it up to the event.

#2: Dec 14-15, 1987 blizzard.  60+mph winds with hours of thundersnow/sleet.  Picked up around a foot of <10:1 ratio snow.  Pure cement.

#3:  GHDII 2015.  Over 15" of snow.  Event started out as a mix of rain and snow for the first few hours.  Trees were coated with heavy wet snow for several days.

#4:  Jan 19, 1995 blizzard.  Picked up 15" of wet snow, with a few periods of thundersnow.  Was a very narrow band of heavy accums from central MO up through here into southern WI.

#5:  Tie between March 24, 2018 and Dec 1, 2006 snowstorms.  Both events totaled around 11", and both were very close call events.  Both featured very sharp cutoff in amounts to near nothing less than 40 miles away.

[zinski1990]

sigh so many of those good storms so close misses to my north. GHD 2015 and I remember the Dec 1 2006 storm as well. Illinois also had an ice storm from it. And I need to look up that jan 75 Iowa blizzard sounds awesome. Thanks for your stories

[BuffaloWeather]

Mine are of course all Lake Effect Snow Events. 

#1 would be Nov 17-19, 2014:

88.5" of snow in 3 1/2 days. Total snow depth of 54" by the end of the storm. Constant thunder and lighting, snowfall rates of 6-8" per hour in the heaviest portion of the band. I got a full week off of work paid! 

https://www.weather.gov/buf/lesEventArchive?season=2014-2015&amp;event=B

https://www.weather.gov/buf/lesEventArchive?season=2014-2015&amp;event=C

#2 Dec. 24-29 2001:

82" of snow fell in 5 days. Total snow depth was 45" at the end of the storm. A consistent 1-2' of snow each day for 5 days. 

https://www.weather.gov/buf/lesEventArchive?season=2001-2002&amp;event=B

#3 Oct, 12-13 2006:

Over 24" of snow fell in 1 day in the beginning of October. An unprecedented storm. 90% of the leaves were still on the trees. The city of buffalo and surrounding suburbs lost 70% of total trees to this storm and I was without power for over 2 weeks. We went for a walk that night with the family and couldn't believe what was happening. Transformers and trees blowing up all over, sirens going off all night, my mom almost got hit with a large tree branch. That was the craziest night of my life in regards to the weather. I remember the entire family sleeping next to the fireplace for weeks while we waited for power to be restored.  

https://www.weather.gov/buf/lesEventArchive?season=2006-2007&amp;event=A

#4 Dec. 9-12 1995:

Over 38" of snow fell in 24 hours. This is the storm as a 8 year old that got me so into weather. I remember jumping off the 2nd balcony into a giant snowbank with my family. I owe this storm as the reason I love the weather so much.

https://www.weather.gov/buf/lesEventArchive?season=1995-1996&amp;event=G

#5  Tie between Nov 20th 2000 and Dec 1-3 2010

Nov 20th, 2000- 25" of snow fell in about 6 hours in the city of Buffalo out to cheektowaga. I remember being in school and they did an early dismissal. My mom came and picked me up early from school which was smart because snowfall rates of 3-4" an hour hit as we were leaving. Most kids got stuck at school overnight. 

https://www.weather.gov/buf/lesEventArchive?season=2000-2001&amp;event=C

Dec 1-3 2010- I lived in Orchard Park at the time where we received 30-35" of snow in 24 hours. Constant thunder and lighting accompanied the snow. 

https://www.weather.gov/buf/lesEventArchive?season=2010-2011&amp;event=B

There are some others throughout Buffalos history that would have made the list, but wasn't born yet. 2 70" storms, one in the 40s and another in the 50s. The infamous 1977 storm would top almost any Buffalo natives list and then the blizzard of 1985. 

 

 

[hawkeye_wx]

Frankly, there haven't been too many memorable snowstorms here in Cedar Rapids.  I barely remember any before this decade.  I've never measured a foot.

[josh_4184]

Mine oddly enough would be the same as Buffalo weather for my number 1, November 2014, Picked up about 40" of LES in 48 hours, 18" of that came in about 6 hours. Was roof raking before Thanksgiving that year. Oddly enough rest of winter was not even average for snowfall. 

[sjm_888]

Living in NW suburbs of Chicago, January 1979 is the one for me. Was my senior year of high school, think we had a whole week off from school. Spent the days shoveling neighbors' driveways up and down the street. I was around for the great blizzard of 1967 but was too young to remember anything about it. 

[Torchageddon]

#1 is January 6, 2014 LES Blizzard here in my neck of the woods. I'll never forget that one, just delicious. Blizzard warnings from EC were issued in the morning. At 9:30 pm that evening it was the craziest stuff I've ever seen during winter, it was the only time something was as exciting for me as some summer events. The seconds that I keep thinking about was when the great shrouding occurred and blanketed any space outside where light became muted during the the consuming veil. After that event I should've fled down to Arizona and stayed there permanently.

If I'd known that November 17-19, 2014 was going to happen say 6 months beforehand I might've traveled to south BUF to experience that epic event. At least I can say that I was above the historic bands in a plane at one point so technically I was at the coordinates where it took place as it was ongoing. Even those were something else.

[Chambana]

#1 The great blizzard of 2007. 2/13/07 was a truly remarkable event, and I remember my father telling me at the time, cherish this blizzard, we don’t get these very often and boy was he right. Champaign county recorded anyway from 12-16” of snow,  with winds absolutely howling 30-40mph.  I happen to be a senior on high school that year, and our school was in a very rural area, and was closed for 3 straight days. The FRIGID airmass that followed this storm was insane. February 07 was a really really cold month. 

 

#2 Polar Vortex Blizzard. 1/5/14 is a another date I will never forget. The epic cold forecasted to hammer down was remarkable, and boy did it deliver. Snow began early on 1/5/14 and by afternoon/early evening temperatures were starting to plunge, with heavy snow falling at 17 degrees. By late evening anywhere from 8-12” had fallen and the snow so light and fluffy in nature was creating havoc on the roadways. Winds were gusting at 45mph, interstates were shutting down, road salt stopped working as temperatures plunged deep into the negatives. 1/16/14 woke up to a temperature of -16 with a windchill of -45. One of the most brutal things I’ve ever felt. 2013-2014 was an epic winter, and one I can’t wait to tell the grandkids about someday. 

 

#3. GHDI. The talks of a historic blizzard unfolding 7 days prior was amazing, and the model agreement was undeniable. Giddiness, excitement, and adrenaline was flowing through my body, and ultimately because of this storm I found this forum! I had never seen 18-24” forecasted for my general area 72 hours before an event ever in my life, at one point some models were showing ORD getting 36”. For 3 straight days I lived off coffee, minimal sleep, my eyes being burned out of my head from staring at the screen, and reading so much analysis from you folks, I couldn’t sleep. While it became a pretty epic fail for my area, this storm was amazing, and the feeling it gave me was like being a little kid. 2010-2011 was a really fun winter. 

[SchaumburgStormer]

These are in no particular order:

1. Feb 3rd-11th, 2018: What an awesome week. 9 consecutive days with measurable snowfall, with a nice storm to end it. 

2. GHD II- What else needs to be said. One of those rare storms where each model run kept ramping it up until the event, and then the storm delivered. 

3. March 5th, 2013 - Had the perfect position in the pivot point. Expecting 5-6" and got hit with over 10"

4. GHD I- The storm that sucked me in. I had always dabbled in weather, but found this board about 5 days prior to the blizzard. And here I remain. 

5. (tie) - Christmas "surprise" of 2009- Got 10" of the fluffiest snow imaginable. If I recall correctly, ratios were 30:1+

5. (tie) - December 1st 2006 Blizzard- School was cancelled, we took a sled to the liquor store to bring back a few kegs. Good times. 

[Hoosier]

Not counting storms I've chased.

 

5.  December 11, 2000.  Got around 12". Nice storm in what was a pretty epic month.

4.  March 9, 1998.  This one came out of nowhere.  Had thundersnow too.  Ended up with a foot of snow with more just to my east. 

3.  January 5, 2014.  Picked up a little under a foot, but the rapid plunge into bitter temperatures right after makes this one more memorable.  Roads were a nightmare for days due to the extreme temps.

2.  February 13, 2007.  Ended up pretty much in the jackpot zone with 17".  LAF was pretty much shut down.  I remember hearing about 8-10 foot drifts in the country.

1.  January 1-3, 1999.  Picked up about 20".  This storm is extra special to me because it was really the first time I was able to watch a huge storm coming (via TWC) a week out.  For those reasons it will be tough to knock it from the top spot... probably will need something over 2 feet lol

Honorable mention:  early February 2018.  Got over 14" but it was very spread out

[nokywx]

This is a mixture of storms from growing up in South Bend, and now living in Cincy/Northern KY for the last 12 years:

#1 - March 9-11, 1998...SBN picked up 15.8 over the 3 days, most of it on the 9th, with just scattered lake effect the next 2 days.  The main show was ferocious, and I remember this being a sneaky one.  Like Hoosier said, it came out of nowhere, with nothing significant in the forecast until Sunday night, before the storm hit on a Monday morning.

#2 - The Odd Year February Storms...In 3 consecutive odd years ('91, '93, & '95), we picked up a heavy lake effect snow in February.  2/14-2/16/91 was 19.8"...2/22-2/24/93 was 20.1"...and 2/4-2/8/93 was 22.6".  My most vivid memory of the 3, was the last one in 1995.  The first part actually under-preformed, as the prediction was for up to 3 feet, and we only picked up about a foot.  But then the last couple of days, featured an hour of probably the heaviest snow I've ever seen...about 5 inches in an hour on the evening of 2/7.  I imagine this was probably some kind of meso-low or something, but back then, I had no clue what that was.

#3 - 2/13/2007 Ice Storm...This was looking like a close miss, with much of the Midwest getting hammered, while we picked up an inch of 35 degree rain.  Even up to the start of the event, the forecast was for just a cold rain.  However, things never warmed up at the surface, and instead, produced about 2/3 to 3/4 in. of ice.  Substantial power outages all across the area, this is still the most impactful event in my 12 winters down here.

#4 - Blizzard of 2008 (March 7-8)...This was a good one, though not quite the monster it was for central Ohio.  10.7" at CVG, and it was more in the 12-14 inch range, where I lived, just a few miles south of the airport.  This is one of only 7 two-day snowfalls over 10 inches, in the history of official Cincinnati reporting sites in the last 125 years, and only the 5th double-digit snow at CVG, since 1948.  So yeah, that is pretty significant.

#5 - January 15-16, 1997...I just remember this one, cause we got out on an early dismissal, which I think is the only time that ever happened in my life.  Windy storm, with about 15 inches, which ushered it some pretty big cold air.

[snowlover2]

Could only think of 4 off the top of my head. No particular order.

Blizzard of 78. I was only 2 and don't really remember it but the pictures my parents took were incredible.

January 2+3 1996. Started as rain and by noon on the 3rd was a full out blizzard. Ended up with 10"+.

December 22+23 2004. Biggest snowfall I've witnessed at 18".

March 7+8 2008 Blizzard. Not sure if it actually met criteria but blizzard warnings were issued and got 10"+.

 

[HighTechEE]

I posted this in a thread somewhere in here a couple years ago, but can't find it, oh well here it goes again:

1. Either Jan of '67 or '68, NW corner of Athens Co, OH, we got 28" of heavy wet snow in 24hrs.  When it got cold at night it froze the top 6" so hard you could walk in top of it, us kids carved out big chunks and made igloos.

2. Last week of Feb '80, again in the NW corner of Athens Co, OH, picked up 15" in five hours and it wasn't predicted (forecast was partly cloudy, chance of showers high of 38)!  I got snowed in at my college studying for a test and I missed seeing as I was in my buddies dorm room, went to go home and my hand-me-down boat of a Chrysler New Yorker was a lump in the snow!

3. March '08 storm SE side of Dayton, OH, ended up with about 16" over two days.

4. Dec '04 storm, 12" in one day in Dayton no ice or sleet, 2ft of fell 1 county west of me in that storm and 1.5" of ice 1 county SE!

5. Jan 96' tie with Jan '99,  the '96 storm buried everyone in the Dayton are in all directions with a foot or more, I got about 6" IMBY for a major bust, buddy of mine's dad got 40" in Lucusville in Ross county).  The '99 storm was a foot of snow with almost 2" of ice/sleet pilled on top that ruined it.

PS - The Blizzard of '78 was a miss for SE Ohio at the time, warmed up with heavy rain over night, finished with wind blown fluff after the cold wave that day (we already had about 2ft of compressed on the ground at the time from dozens of snows through that winter).

[Malacka11]

1. 2015 Jan 31st-Feb 2nd "Superbowl" blizzard: Definitely my #1 snowstorm because it had a little bit of everything in it: long-term predictability, but also worries of underperformance / Snowfall for like 30 hours straight, but also blizzard conditions and decent snowfall rates at times. Not to mention, after reaching the "low point" (if one can even call it that) in forecasting, calling for maybe 8 inches like a day or two out... well, after that, preliminary totals started rocketing skywards again. The initial warning called for 10-14 inches of snow, but my area, in particular, got lucky, with almost twenty inches of snow on the ground by Sunday night. That was a no bull****, spread-the-wealth type of storm; the exact type of event I'm hoping to experience again this year, with a little bit of luck (Hey, one can dream )

2. 2011 February 1st-2nd Blizzard: Everything about this storm was awesome, and in many ways, I have it to thank for getting me interested in winter forecasting. I still remember when my school's principal announced to us, in the last half hour of that Wednesday, that there was a potentially historic blizzard poised to impact the area (suddenly the small but quickly-falling flakes outside looked a lot more ominous) and that school would be out for likely at least the next two days. On my way home like a half hour later there were already a bunch of car crashes, even though only an inch of snow had fallen at that point. My only regret with this storm was that it occurred largely at night. Without a doubt, it was the most intense snowstorm I've ever experienced. Hopefully, I'll experience at least one more to rival it.   The rest of the storms I could name are all relatively lame, and I don't remember much about them, but I still think I'm very lucky to have experienced two blizzards with 20+ inches of snow, within ten years of living here, when there are people elsewhere who haven't seen a snowflake in their lives. 

[ILwxchr]

I'm going to make my list based on the ones I remember. If I dig back into the 1970s, 1980s I can come up with a whole host of others. In fact the one that Cyclone mentioned in 1987 might be the best storm ever around here, based on local reports. NCDC report shows that it had 70-90 mph winds with over a foot of snow in many spots. My father recalls having to use rock quarry equipment to move the huge drifts off the highway near our house. That was slightly before my time, I'd loved to have seen that. Category 1-2 hurricane conditions with heavy snowfall? count me in.

 

1) GHD I February 1-2, 2011. Ended up with roughly 18-19" of snow at my house with 50-60 mph wind gusts (some reports even close to 70 in spots). Strong surface low with a ton of moisture produced heavy snow that lasted from the mid morning of the 1st through the morning on the 2nd with high winds and thundersnow picking up toward 7pm. Hands down my favorite winter storm of all time. We had drifts of over 6 feet in my back yard.

2) December 1, 2006. I remember this one as we had some very heavy snowfall rates, it started out as sleet and freezing rain the night before for the most part before turning over to heavy snow. Heavy snow lasted through the morning of the 1st and ended around mid-day. Strong wind gusts over 45 mph at the airport created near white-out conditions combined with the 2' per hour snowfall rates. I believe we ended up with around a foot of snow. Overall though the combination of snowfall rates, snow totals (Princeton, IL had 18"), and strong winds makes this is a high contender in my book. Oh and the whole synoptic setup for the day was quite amazing too. There was a severe weather outbreak in the Northeast with a rare moderate risk of severe weather!!

3) February 23-24, 2007 Ice Storm. Major ice storm for much of Iowa and Northern Illinois. I actually ended up on kind of the south edge of it, but we still picked up in excess of 1 inch of ice accumulation, combined with strong wind gusts of 40-50 mph at times, created widespread power outages. We lost power for up to a week, and most schools were closed for as much as two weeks. Further north there was an extremely impressive blizzard ongoing with snowfall amounts in Wisconsin pushing 25 inches in areas (ARX says it was their biggest snowfall ever at the time). The damages from the ice storm in Iowa and Illinois were staggering, many locals said it was the worst here since 1965. While I didn't enjoy the destruction, I do think it was an incredible storm considering we were pretty marginal thermodynamic wise at the surface.

4) December 18-19, 2008 Ice Storm. Another major ice storm and one of the last big ones we have had here in almost 10 years. We picked up 3/4" of ice accumulation locally with Macomb area and some other areas seeing close to 1". A lot of tree and power line damage, I never lost power, but the sights of the trees were quite beautiful and it fell on the last two days of my sophomore year in high school, so we got that off. There was even some thunder and lightning the night before with the heavy freezing rain if I recall. The only downside to this event  was the rate at which it fell. A lot of the heavy precipitation ran off instead of actually sticking. So instead of getting 3/4" of ice we could have realistically gotten a lot more I think if it had fallen slower over a long duration.

5) November 21, 2015 Pre-Thanksgiving Snowstorm. While we only got about 8 inches at my house from this event, areas further just to my north by 15-20 miles got over 10 inches and some areas north of the Quad Cities picking up close to 16 inches. I drove north the next day and a lot of the trees were covered in heavy wet, concrete like snowfall. It give me some of my best winter photos of all time. While the storm itself wasn't too impressive, the after effects were amazing to me.

Honorable mentions:

December 13-14, 2013 (entire 2013-14 winter): We were supposed to get around 3 to 5 inches of snow and ended up with over 9 inches. Some areas to my southwest in McDonough and Hancock counties got upwards of 10-12" of snow despite the low end forecasts. The snow was very photogenic as well and was the start of an epic winter. So I guess I'd lump the entire 2013-14 winter in there as it was pretty great, lot of decent events and definitely some frigid cold

December 8-9, 2009: Not much snowfall here, I think we might have gotten like 4 or 5 inches over the course of 2 days and when it was compacted it wasn't even that much, however winds gusted over 55 mph at times due to the strong pressure gradient and low pressure. The low pressure itself was bottoming out through 980mb as it passed through Central into Northeast Illinois. Most of the extremely heavy snowfall (8 to 15 inches) fell to my northwest creating major blizzard conditions. However this system struck me as extraordinary for its strength as a mid-latitude cyclone. Even getting shafted on the snowfall totals, I still remember this event almost 10 years later.

March 24, 2018: I was north of Davenport, IA at my moms house for this event. Had a couple hours of consistent thundersnow overnight and heavy snowfall rates. Ended up with just around 11 inches for a storm total. Even higher totals were found in Iowa with Mason City touching 18 inches. Impressive for anytime of the year let alone late March. Back home we hardly got anything, but seeing thundersnow like that was pretty awesome and being able to get that much snow just a week before April was cool too. Of course we all know that most places, that wasn't the last snow of the year....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY05IVId8gY

Feb 5, 2018/Feb 3, 2008 (superbowl sunday): Both events were fairly similar featuring a narrow band of extremely heavy snowfall. For the first event in 2018, we had a band of heavy snow set up over Southeast Iowa into West Central Illinois producing 2" per hour snowfall for several hours. I sat in this band for most of the afternoon and evening and managed to get over 10 inches of snow at a mobile location near the Knox/Henry county border. Snowfall totals were highly variable with amounts to the south dropping off substantially to just 2 to 4 inches and in the heavy band anywhere from 6 to 11 inches (per DVN). The 2008 event was similiar in that there was a heavy band that set up. However many bouts of thundersnow impacted my location and even some small hail or graupel as well. I don't remember the total at my house being very impressive (4" maybe?), however the heavy rates and wet nature of the snow along with the convective element made it something I remembered. What Cher, IA ended up with over 13 inches from that one band of snow too!!! And then a couple days later some of the same areas in Iowa got blasted with another foot of heavy snowfall. 2007-2008 was another insane winter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTxeG1wiGBQ&t=11s

I've put a couple video links up for the ones I've gotten uploaded. Enjoy and awesome thread.

[Benadrill]

https://youtu.be/oXs8XzRH5FA

^That night. It was like watching the Van Gogh starry night painting in real life but with snow. Video doesn't really do it justice.

I don't care about accumulation because I live in a secondary snow belt and a million inches fall every winter.

[osubrett2]

Only 1 worthy of me going into great detail on; March 7-8, 2008. Radar Loop

It was my senior year at OSU, the end of Winter Quarter right before Spring Break. IIRC, models weren’t picking up on the storm until ~4 days out, which feels short-term today. I remember comparing the GFS vs. the NAM ad nauseum. The NAM solutions were typical clown maps and the GFS was it’s usual conservative self. With gulf lows, Central Ohio is always victim to the warm sector, but models never budged, keeping us all frozen/snow. Once my meteorology professors showed optimism, I was all in. 

ILN stayed rather conservative with a 8-12” forecast. They upped it to 12-15” with the blizzard warning the morning of. (The last blizzard warning for Franklin County). Snow started around 10am and by 4-5pm, ~5-6” fell before a few hour break. I regret not staying awak for the overnight show. Woke up Saturday morning to the most snow I’ve ever seen on the ground and in 1 storm; 20.5”. 

Honorable Mention:

2. Blizzard of 93. Youngstown/Extreme Eastern Ohio got the worst of the storm in Ohio. I was 7, but remember watching ~10” fall and more vividly, 3-4’ drifts across the front yard. 

3. Presidents Day 2003  10-12” in Youngstown  

4. January 10, 2009. 11” in Youngstown as I traveled to visit family just for the storm. 

5. February 5-6, 2010. About 8-10” in Columbus, but I was in Youngstown again visiting family and they received ~16”. 

Thats about it. No other storm during my time in Columbus was a true “wow” storm. Missed out on the December 2004 storm and Youngstown was all rain for that one.  One of the GroundHog Day storms was a big ice storm for Columbus, but that was awful being without power for 36 hours. The other GHD storm and a lot of others were messy mixed bags of blahness.

[WestMichigan]

Without repeating what others have said I will add April 4, 1987 in SE Ohio to the list.  We had 24" on the ground of the wettest heaviest snow I have ever seen accumulate.  It was 36° the entire time it snowed.  The first 4 hours or so of snow during the daylight hours melted on contact, but once evening set in it started sticking to everything.  This was basically a 24 hour snowfall so the rates were fairly impressive.  It melted only a couple of days later, but I will never forget that one.

[Jackstraw]

#1. 1/25/78

#2. 1/25/78

#3 1/25/78

#4. 1/25/78

#5. 1/25/78

Only true blizzard I ever experienced.  Was 16.  We lived on a small farm near Arcadia In.  My father and I were able to get into Elwood on our old IH tractor (coldest ride ever!) and got our service station opened up.  Was the only place emergency vehicles etc. could get fuel.  They imposed travel restrictions for 3 days.  If you could get out and help the police gave you a big round red sticker to put on your windshield, without it you would be arrested.  So my friend and I made our own big red round sticker and put t on his Jeep CJ5 and played around trying to kill ourselves lol. (We did run supplies to friends and relatives, but hey, it was the 70's ).  The whole town was pretty much isolated for 3 or 4 days.  It was a wild few days to say the least.

[zinski1990]

Love it guys. Noticed some off my list cool to see. Still am wanting another storm like dec 22-23 2004. Aside from maybe GHD 2011 that was probably the most historic epic storm in our region recently other than lake effect. I know 67, 78, and 79 were up there as well. Again, not as much can really be found on this storm except a few local NWS post storm write ups and some anniversary write ups. If anyone has more info on the storm like saved radar images, discussions, forecast maps etc let me know or bring it on the forum. 

[slimjim101]

To start off I am much older then many of you. But here is a list of some of the biggest snow storms I have seen in my life time.  First a list of storms from Bay City Michigan,

1. January 26, 1967 25" officially but could have been more. Had 20 foot drifts with 50 to 60 MPH NE winds. The front door was drifted shut, But side door of the house and for about 20 feet from the house there was less than 1 inch of snow. Along with the very high winds the storm had much thunder and lightning. I was in High School at that time as we did not have school for over a week and in fact we were snowed in for 4 days and we lived in town.

2. 11 years to the day on January 26 1978 24" with drifts of over 10 feet. much the same as the 1967 storm very high winds in the 55 MPH range (we lived less than 6 blocks from Saginaw Bay) much thunder and lightning. I was married and working at this time and I did not have work for 2 days. yet another odd thing about the two storms is that they both started late on a Wednesday into Thursday. These two storms are my bench mark for winter storms.

3. Next on the list is the March 17, 1973 St Paddys day storm that storm also had NE winds in the 55 to 60 MPH range with 22" of snow along with thunder snow but this time the wind blew the water of Saginaw Bay up on the shore and into the Saginaw river and into town so we had both 20+ inches of snow and a flood at the same time.

4. in 4th place on my list is February 24 1965 this storm also had high NE winds and a lot of 10 foot drifts

5. in 5 place is the January 13 1979 storm that storm dropped 18" of snow on Bay City with high winds.

6 I will add this storm as it was a lot like the other one but it happened in April this is the April 3 1975 snow storm that dropped 16" of snow with high winds and much thunder snow.

The next storm is from Grand Rapids Michigan.

This storm is know as the GHD storm of February 1 and 2 2011 that storm had a 2 day total of 19" here in Grand Rapids, While windy the winds were not as high as the above storm for Grand Rapids does not get the strong NE winds that Bay City does. Note there have been may moderate large lake effect snows storms here in Grand Rapids but the snow is not as wet so it is much easier to clean up then the wetter heaver storms. 

[Snowstorms]

Since I don't remember much before 2004-2005 since I was only around 10-11 years old, here are my top 5 since then; 

1) February 7-8, 2013: This storm dropped 10-18" across the GTA and is one of my personal favourites because up until this storm, that winter was pretty mediocre. 9 hours of straight heavy snowfall and zero visibility with temperatures around 17F made it an amazing storm. 

2) December 15-16, 2007: This storm dropped around 10-14" across the GTA and was the start of what later became one of Toronto's snowiest winters on record (as for many in this sub-forum). Heavy snowfall combined with near zero visibility for hours makes this one of my top 5 storms.

3) February 6-7, 2008: This storm dropped 12-16" across the GTA and was in between two other storms that dropped 6-9", respectively, in a span of 12 days making it Toronto's snowiest February on record. What makes this storm great is the Thunder snow and near zero visibility through-out the evening and overnight.

4) December 21-22, 2013: Though this is technically not a snow storm, it is a winter storm because it became known as one of Toronto's worst Ice storms. Total ice accretion was over 1.2", causing significant damage while solidifying the existing snow base which didn't melt till late March. 

5) February 4-5, 2014: This storm dropped around 8-12" across the GTA and was the storm that really strengthened our snow depth to over 20", and helped us have a new record for the number of consecutive snow cover days (~104-110 days).  

 

[RogueWaves]

Guess I've experienced more than a handful of memorable storms. The more I thought, the more came back to me.

 

#8) Bliz of Jan 13-15 '79  Another winter, another blizzard. So went the years of my youth. This one delivered 15" where I grew up in SEMI and was a wetter heavier snow than the icy cold bliz a year before. I remember many snow days off from school during the active winter of 78-79. A friend and I even used snowshoes on the deep drifts. 

#7) Bliz of Dec 2000  In S. Bend we got a legit bliz warning and scored 13" of snow. I knew a storm was possible so I arose early (before the 6 am news) and switched on my trusty NOAA Wx radio to catch the updated morning forecast from IWX. I was geeked when I heard WSWarning for the daytime followed by a Blizzard Warning beginning in the evening. It was a great storm that was everything it was forecasted to be. Played out exactly as forecasted. 

#6) Super Bowl Super snowstorm of Feb 1-2 '15   2nd winter in a row that delivered an 18" snow here in Marshall. Just a non-stop long duration snow fall that brought us another deep snow cover in SMI. While the winds were sub-bliz conditions, we did get some legit bliz conditions a couple weeks later on Valentine's Day.

#5) PV Bliz of Jan 4-6  '14   My first CAT-4 storm in 15 yrs brought a solid 18" on top of existing snow cover of 3-4" for a 20+ depth. The deepest I'd seen since moving to Marshall in '02. Cleaning my driveway in -41F windchill on the evening of the 6th will always be tattooed on my psyche!

#4) Bliz of Nov 16-17  '89  Deer camp bliz that buried NMI with 12-24" after it transitioned from rain to snow. The winds were ferocious as the SLP bombed to 964 mbs near James Bay Ontario. My trusty NOAA wx radio kept us abreast of happenings as we were in a small rental cabin without so much as a b&w television. The broadcast was out of KAPN and I remember vividly that the Presque Isle Light on Lake Huron was reporting Gusts to 91 knots! The winds raging thru the forest was insanely loud. I'm pretty certain those were the strongest winds for The Mitt since the great one in Jan '78.

#3) Bliz of Jan 1-3 '99   My place in S. Bend was slammed with 20" and drifts up to 40" and I was on the edge of the actual city limits. There was upwards of 27" just north in MI where I worked due to the follow-on LES. Blizz of '99 was the last classic bliz for me personally with large flakes, low vis, consistently high winds causing widespread road closures and disruption for 1-2 weeks in rural areas.

#2) April 2-3  '75  Not sure if there was TSSN as posted above where I lived, but the flakes were massive fatties and the storm dumped 18" of concrete in about 17 hrs. Everything was at a stand still. Later the next day the sun came out and it was 52F but the piles of pure white snow lasted well past green-up which was unique. Playing on snow piles and going to little league practice a couple weeks later was memorable. My sister and her husband borrowed his parent's snowmobiles and rescued stranded motorists on the state highway all night. They rode them over later the next day to tell us all about their adventures.

#1) Bliz of Jan 26-28 '78  I was a 13 yr old eighth grader and don't remember even being aware of a "storm watch" being in effect. My father wasn't one to let the weather interfere with his work, but that day he stayed home which made the occasion immediately memorable. We lived on the edge of a town and our 'hood was surrounded by farm fields. I remember there were massive drifts over the hedge rows and we would climb up about 8-10 feet and then the snow would give way and we would end up down inside an igloo of sorts. There was one apple tree that must've been a good 12 foot tall and it supported a drift that my buddy could ride his snowmobile over the top of it. There was literally a trail over the tree where previously nobody could go due to the farmer's fencing along his field. These kind of wx events are unforgettable as we are lucky if they happen once in our lifetimes.

[buckeye]

Top 5 for me in Ohio.  What makes a storm memorable to me has more to do with it's effects on my world, how much of a 'surprise' it may have been, and how well it stuck in my mind.

counting down from 5:

5.)  January 1996 HECS here in Central Ohio.   Around 10-12", but what made it memorable was the fact that it was totally missed by the models and the local forecasters...even the morning of when the forecast was a dusting to an inch.   It was a total nowcast event.   I wonder if that could ever happen again with today's models.

4.)  March '08 - Strictly a snow quantity thing, 22".   I don't think it ever hit true blizzard criteria but the duration and amount of snow was memorable.  It also stuck around for a good two weeks as unusually cold temps set in for the rest of March.  

3.)  February President's weekend 2003 - 15 inches.  Another one that was a surprise, (tends to have happened a lot with eastcoast-centric storms), especially the second part of it which was originally suppose to go south of us but started trending north on the models only about 24-36 hours out.  Came as two back to back storms.  Friday night into Saturday, then a break and Sunday afternoon into Monday morning.   

2.)  December '04 - Was suppose to be rain to mix to rain.   I woke up that morning and it was snowing and clearly the arctic front had pushed further southeast than expected.   Gave us a snowstorm, followed by an ice storm, and then an arctic outbreak that kept all the ice and snow well intact through Christmas.  The deliniation and distance between historic snowfall, icestorm, and plain rain was insane....literally about 2 counties wide and we were right in the middle of all of that.

1.) The grandaddy from which all future blizzards in Ohio will be judged, Jan.1978   if it wasn't for this one,  you guys wouldn't know who buckeye is, (so now you all have something to blame ).  This was the storm that piqued my interest in weather.  I was in 7th grade at the time.

[Roger Smith]

I was living in southern or central Ontario from a young age (let's say 1960s) to 1995. From my own experience and memory, these storms are memorable:

1. Severe blizzard on April 2-3 1975 in central Ontario, not much was lake effect but a total of 27" fell then drifted to 8 feet in places. Highways were blocked and people stranded for several days. 

2. The blizzard of '78, although I was on the milder side of it working at a weather office of a private company in Toronto. You can imagine the shock we had drawing up the 12z map on Jan 26/78. So the experience was somewhat vicarious looking at the observations coming in from the heavy snow zone, while Toronto was getting very strong south to southwest winds but very cold air and blowing snow. 

3. Tons and tons of lake effect in various winters of the 1970s, but the storms at end of January 1971 were most memorable, blocking roads for weeks in some parts of central Ontario.

4. A bit earlier while I was still in high school, a heavy snowstorm on Feb 25, 1965 dropped a level 18 inches west of Toronto. That was the heaviest snow I had seen or measured with my fairly new weather station. It was almost matched by 16 inches on Jan 22-23, 1966. 

5. Northeast of Toronto at Lakefield ON, in Dec 1992, around the 9th or 10th, we had 22 inches level with no drifting, from a complex nor'easter and Great Lakes low. Had to go out and drive in that to pick up a paycheque. At least it wasn't blowing around. 

I guess I should give honorable mention to snow that fell on the last day of September 1974. That was the only measurable snow I ever saw in September. About an inch or two maybe. 

I remember the storm that Chicagoland had in Jan 1967, it was a bit less extreme for me, a mixture of sleet, snow and rain with thunder. The more memorable part of it was a temperature near 60 F that I recorded the day before it arrived. I got stuck once in Buffalo driving back from PA, think it was around the last day of November 1979. Not the biggest Buffalo snowfall ever but enough to close all the highways for several hours. 

Funny how you can remember day to day weather events from half a century ago and I would struggle to describe the weather here last week. 

[zinski1990]

Anybody else in the sub forum experinece the Jan 26-28 2009 snow and ice storm? Surprised I havent seen it in anyones list that are from the south side of the forum. I remember at my house measuring around 14 inches the most I remember seeing from one storm here in Indy area. Indy NWS recorded 12.5" officially. Some areas in south central parts of the state saw a foot and a half to 20". I remember feeling like this monster was going to miss mainly south giving us just a few inches. Then the morning of the 27th winter storm warnings were expanded well into Central Indiana with a forecast of 8-12". We were definitely on the higher side of that. I was a senior in high school and remember going into the library during lunch to check the weather since smart phones weren't a thing really back then and was pleasantly surprised than it started snowing around that time. It didn't stop til about 9 or 10 the next morning. The ice with this was tremendous in Northern Arkansas, Southern Ill, Southern In, SE Missouri and much of Kentucky. Places saw 1-3 inches of freezing rain in places down there. Worst ice storm I ever remember seeing since watching and following weather in my 28 years. Of course the jan 07 and dec 07 ice storms, dec 1 06, 67 ice storm south of the blizzard, 91, and 76 were up there

[Hoosier]

32 minutes ago, zinski1990 said:

Anybody else in the sub forum experinece the Jan 26-28 2009 snow and ice storm? Surprised I havent seen it in anyones list that are from the south side of the forum. I remember at my house measuring around 14 inches the most I remember seeing from one storm here in Indy area. Indy NWS recorded 12.5" officially. Some areas in south central parts of the state saw a foot and a half to 20". I remember feeling like this monster was going to miss mainly south giving us just a few inches. Then the morning of the 27th winter storm warnings were expanded well into Central Indiana with a forecast of 8-12". We were definitely on the higher side of that. I was a senior in high school and remember going into the library during lunch to check the weather since smart phones weren't a thing really back then and was pleasantly surprised than it started snowing around that time. It didn't stop til about 9 or 10 the next morning. The ice with this was tremendous in Northern Arkansas, Southern Ill, Southern In, SE Missouri and much of Kentucky. Places saw 1-3 inches of freezing rain in places down there. Worst ice storm I ever remember seeing since watching and following weather in my 28 years. Of course the jan 07 and dec 07 ice storms, dec 1 06, 67 ice storm south of the blizzard, 91, and 76 were up there

I remember that 2009 storm.  I was in LAF then and had like 5"... never really got into the higher rates like you guys to the south.  It did trend north substantially in the final day or two which was better than getting shut out.