PITTSBURGH SNOWFALL RECORDS Based on records since March 1884
Largest Snow Storms on Record and Greatest Snowfall in One Day Greatest Depths of Snow on the Ground
Earliest and Latest Snow on Record
Snowfall Monthly Normals
Snowfall Month to Date Normals
Snowfall Season to Date Normals
Frequency of Heavy Snowfalls
Snow and Christmas
Miscellaneous Snowfall Records
Largest Daily Snowfalls for each Month
Most and Least Amounts of Snowfall by Month and Season
LARGESTSNOW STORMS ON RECORD RECORD SNOWFALL IN 1 DAY 27.4" November 24-26, 1950 23.6" March 13, 1993 25.9" December 16-18, 1890 22.0" December 17, 1890 25.3" March 12-14, 1993 16.5" January 8, 1884 21.1" February 5-6, 2010 16.3" March 3, 1942 18.5" January 8-9, 1886 15.0" March 5, 1902 18.0" January 8-9, 1884 17.8" February 18-21, 1927 16.3" March 3, 1942 16.3" February 13-14, 1940 15.6" January 12-13, 1964 15.1" February 16-18, 2003
GREATEST DEPTHS OF SNOW ON THE GROUND 26" January 22, 1978 25" March 14, 1993 25" January 21, 1978 24" March 15, 1993 23" January 23, 1978 22" March 16, 1993 22" January 24, 1978 22" November 26, 1950
EARLIEST AND LATEST SNOW ON RECORD Earliest recorded snow : September 23, 1989 (Trace) Earliest recorded accumulation of snow: October 18, 1972 (1.8") Latest recorded snow: May 31, 1893 (Trace) Latest recorded accumulation of snow: May 25, 1925 (0.5") Latest recorded 1" or more accumulation: May 9, 1966 (3.1")
SNOWFALL NORMALS (30 yr mean 1981-2010) September 0.0 January 11.8 May T October 0.4 February 10.3 June 0.0 November 2.0 March 7.6 Annual 41.9 December 8.3 April 1.5
FREQUENCY OF HEAVY SNOWFALLS Snowfalls of 16 inches or more...............once in 15 years Snowfalls of 13-15 inches or more............once in 5 years Snowfalls of 8-12 inches or more.............once every two years Snowfalls of 5 inches or more................twice a year
SNOW AND CHRISTMAS Frequency of a White Christmas in Pittsburgh (1" or more of new snow on 12/25) is about 10 percent. Chance of having a trace or more of snow on the ground is 38 percent. Christmas' Past on which at least one inch of snow fell 1890... 3.0" 1909... 3.5" 1935... 3.5" 1993... 1.9" 1892... 1.5" 1917... 2.0" 1950... 1.9" 1995... 1.4" 1902... 2.5" 1919... 2.0" 1970... 1.4" 2002... 1.8"
MISCELLANEOUS SNOWFALL RECORDS Longest Periods With at Least 1.0" of Snow on the Ground 64 days January 8 through March 12, 1978 62 days December 20, 1976 through February 20, 1977. Back to Back Snowstorms (Within two weeks of each other) 1890 25.9" Dec 16-18 13.2" Dec 25-27 2010 21.1" Feb 5-6 7.9" Feb 9-10 1978 12.2" Jan 16-18 14.8" Jan 19-21 1994 13.9" Jan 3-4 5.8" Jan 17-18
LARGEST DAILY SNOWFALLS FOR EACH MONTH JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH 16.5" January 8, 1884 11.4" February 5, 2010 23.6" March 13, 1993 12.4" January 4, 1994 10.4" February 20, 1947 16.3" March 3, 1942 12.0" January 22, 1966 10.4" February 14, 1940 15.0" March 5, 1902 11.2" January 3, 1914 10.1" February 3, 1961 9.7" March 16, 1956 11.0" January 13, 1964 9.7" February 6, 2010 9.0" March 11, 1924 8.8" February 16, 2003 8.4" February 1, 1881 APRIL MAY SEPTEMBER 12.7" April 3, 1901 3.1" May 9, 1966 T September 23,1989 11.2" April 8, 1902 1.8" May 1, 1963 T September 30,1893 5.4" April 4, 1987 0.5" May 25, 1925 4.0" April 10, 1918 0.2" May 10, 1923 3.9" April 18, 1953 OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER 6.6" October 31, 1993 14.0" November 24, 1950 22.0" December 17,1890 3.0" October 24, 1917 12.5" November 9, 1913 10.7" December 27,1894 2.2" October 22, 1925 10.4" November 28, 1958 10.7" December 11,1944 2.0" October 30, 1925 10.1" November 25, 1950 10.0" December 31,1897 1.8" October 18, 1972 8.7" November 17, 1980 8.5" December 1,1974 8.5" December 26,1890 MOST AND LEAST AMOUNTS OF SNOWFALL BY MONTH AND SEASON SEPTEMBER Most...trace in 1893 and 1989. OCTOBER NOVEMBER least most least most 0.0 8.5 1993 0.0 1946 32.3 1950 4.9 1925 T (19 times 14.7 1913 3.0 1917 last in 2011) 13.9 1995 1.8 1972,1962 11.0 1958 1.6 2011 10.5 1971 1.5 1957 10.1 1967 1.3 1992 9.7 1980 0.7 2008 8.3 1938 0.5 1952 7.9 1951 0.4 1969 7.9 1969 0.2 2001,1989,1988,1965 6.6 1976 0.1 1960 6.5 1955 DECEMBER SEASON least most least most 0.0 1889 36.3 1890 1. 8.8 1918-1919 82.0 1950-1951 1. T 1994 26.0 1944 2. 11.4 1889-1890 78.5 1913-1914 2. T 1941 21.3 2003 3. 14.4 1920-1921 77.4 2009-2010 3. T 1931 21.2 1974 4. 14.7 1931-1932 76.8 1993-1994 4. T 1928 21.0 1950 5. 15.7 1932-1933 76.0 1960-1961 5. 0.7 2006 20.8 1960 6. 16.6 1973-1974 74.5 1995-1996 6. 0.7 1971 20.6 1969 7. 17.2 1990-1991 72.1 1992-1993 7. 0.8 1949 20.4 1935 8. 18.7 1937-1938 70.7 1969-1970 8. 0.9 1986 17.1 1945 9. 19.0 1930-1931 63.6 1935-1936 9. 1.0 1923 16.4 1963 10. 19.9 1896-1897 62.6 1963-1964 10. 1.1 1979 15.7 1914 11. 21.0 1887-1888 62.2 1977-1978 11. 1.2 2011 15.3 1985 12. 21.1 1948-1949 62.2 1959-1960 12. 1.2 1934 13. 21.7 1988-1989 61.8 2002-2003 13. 1.2 1920 14. 22.1 1927-1928 59.9 1970-1971 14. 1.3 1908 15. 22.2 1897-1898 59.6 1966-1967 15. 1.4 1918 16. 22.3 1903-1904 58.7 1974-1975 16. 1.4 1943 22.3 1949-1950 56.7 2010-2011 17. 1.6 1899 18. 22.7 1899-1900 56.2 1901-1902 18. 1.8 1998 19. 23.4 1994-1995 54.2 2003-2004 19. 1.8 1965 20. 23.9 1953-1954 53.4 1962-1963 20. 1.8 1927 23.9 1934-1935 51.9 1971-1972 21. 1.9 1953 51.4 1890-1891 22. 2.0 1905 50.5 1967-1968 23. 2.3 1938 50.3 1944-1945 24. 2.3 1888 JANUARY FEBRUARY least most least most T 1890 40.2 1978 0.5 1909 48.7 2010 T 1932 30.1 1994 1.1 1987 25.3 2003 0.2 1950 26.5 1977 1.1 1953 24.2 1972 0.3 1944 26.2 1925 1.2 1930 23.4 1914 0.3 1933 24.6 1966 1.5 1949 23.1 1947 0.7 1896 24.1 2011 1.5 1915 22.7 1940 1.2 1928 23.4 1996 1.5 1932 22.5 1961 1.3 1924 22.7 1961 1.7 1919 21.8 1960 1.3 1916 22.3 1909 2.2 1888 21.7 1967 1.7 1998 22.0 1885 2.2 1890 21.0 1927 1.8 1894 21.8 1975 2.2 1974 20.7 2008 2.1 1934 20.9 1935 2.2 1959 20.5 1893 2.1 1993 20.8 2009 2.3 1918 20.4 1963 2.2 1960 20.3 1963 2.3 1891 2.4 1921 2.4 1896 2.5 1900 2.4 1992 2.9 1937 2.5 1990 2.9 1923 2.5 1998 MARCH APRIL least most least most T 1927 34.1 1993 0.0 2008 13.5 1901 T 1903 21.3 1960 0.0 1998 12.1 1902 0.1 1946 20.1 1906 0.0 1969 8.1 1987 0.2 2009 20.0 1967 0.0 1941 7.2 1985 0.2 1985 19.1 1962 0.0 1884 7.1 1918 0.4 1939 18.3 1942 T (26 times 7.0 1889 0.4 1904 17.8 1924 last in 2010) 6.3 2005 0.5 2010 17.0 1896 5.9 1961 0.5 1925 16.8 1971 5.9 1911 0.5 1918 16.7 1902 5.7 1916 0.6 1990 16.1 1971 5.4 1886 0.7 1910 5.2 1951 0.8 1938 0.9 1977 1.1 2000 1.1 1935 MAY 1.3 1945 least most 1.4 2006 0.0 3.1 1966 1.4 1961 1.8 1963 1.4 1921 0.9 1923 1.5 1919 0.5 1925 1.8 1888 0.1 1908 2.0 1979/1913/1886