Total Snow Accumulation Map (2026 Data)

Snow across the United States runs from nothing at all to many feet a year. Vermont's weather stations average 97.8¹ inches (2,484 mm) of new snow a year, while Florida's 90¹ stations average 0.0 inches, and a single storm can outdo a whole normal winter: Providence, Rhode Island, took 37.9² inches (963 mm) in 24 hours on February 22-23, 2026, more than its normal year of 36.6¹ inches (930 mm).

This page maps average snowfall and precipitation for all 50 states, then follows the 2025-26 winter city by city, the snow that reached the beaches of the Carolinas, Virginia and Delaware, seven decades of seasons in five cities, the state record books, elevation and what winter does to flights. Totals are in inches first, with millimeters in brackets. Snowfall means new snow measured on a board, not the depth of snow on the ground and not its melted water; precipitation means rain plus melted snow and ice.

Total snow accumulation map: average snowfall by state

The map shades each state by the average yearly snowfall of its weather stations over 1991-2020. It is an average of stations, not of land area: stations sit where people live, and a few very snowy mountain stations can lift a western state's figure, so the table beside it also gives the median station.¹ Across the 50 states, 5,661¹ stations have a snowfall normal. Vermont leads at 97.8¹ inches a year, ahead of Maine (86.3¹ inches, 2,192 mm), Alaska (81.8¹), New York (81.4¹), New Hampshire (80.1¹) and Michigan (77.5¹). At the other end, Florida and Hawaii average 0.0 inches and Louisiana 0.2¹ inch.

Averages and medians part ways where mountains meet lowlands. California's 278¹ stations average 12.5¹ inches, but the median station records 0.0 inches, because a few high Sierra stations such as Soda Springs, at 445.0¹ inches a year, carry the mean. Oregon (average 22.6¹ inches, median 5.3¹) and Arizona (average 9.0¹, median 0.3¹) show the same split. In New England the two measures sit close together: Vermont's median station records 87.2¹ inches, 10.6³ inches below its average.

On a snow total map for Massachusetts, the state's 43¹ stations average 50.1¹ inches (1,273 mm), and Boston's Logan Airport records 49.2¹ inches (1,250 mm) in a normal year. An NJ snow total map is lighter: 23.0¹ inches (584 mm) on average across 27¹ stations, from 31.5¹ inches at Newark Airport to 17.4¹ inches at Atlantic City.

A total snow accumulation map for CT puts the state's 14¹ stations at 43.4¹ inches (1,102 mm) a year, with Hartford's Bradley Airport at 51.7¹ inches. Rhode Island's six stations average 39.8¹ inches and Delaware's five 13.7¹ inches.

How much snow US cities get in a normal year

Among 16 cities and airports from the Great Lakes to the Carolina coast, Buffalo, New York, gets the most snow in a normal year, 95.4¹ inches (2,423 mm), followed by Cheyenne, Wyoming (62.9¹ inches), and Hartford. New York's Central Park averages 29.8¹ inches and Philadelphia 23.1¹. Farther south the totals drop fast: Norfolk, Virginia, averages 6.2¹ inches (157 mm) and Wilmington, North Carolina, 0.9¹ inch.

Snow days tell a similar story. Buffalo sees 59.5¹ days a year with at least 0.1 inch of new snow, Cheyenne 45.0¹ and Aberdeen, South Dakota, 34.2¹. Central Park averages 11.4¹ such days, Norfolk 4.0¹ and Wilmington, North Carolina, fewer than one (0.7¹). Precipitation runs the other way: Wilmington gets 60.15¹ inches of rain and melted snow a year, the most of the 16, and Cheyenne 15.41¹.

The season has a clear shape in the East. Buffalo's snow peaks in January (26.7⁴ inches) and December (25.3⁴), while Boston gets as much in February (14.4⁴ inches) as in January (14.3⁴). Philadelphia's snowiest month is February (8.4⁴ inches), and Norfolk gets most of its small total in January (3.2⁴ inches).

Out West the calendar shifts. Cheyenne, Wyoming, gets its most snow in April, 11.3⁴ inches on average, more than in any winter month, and May still brings 3.4⁴ inches. Even September averages 1.0⁴ inch there, so a trip to the high plains in spring or early fall can meet snow that the East Coast only sees in midwinter.

The 2025-26 winter: how it compared

The 2025-26 season, July 2025 to June 2026, was snowy along the Northeast coast and thin in the West. Adding up each day's measured snowfall, Providence finished at 69.3⁵ inches, 189%³ of its normal; Newark reached 163%³ and New York's JFK Airport 175%³. Newark's daily reports for the February 22-23 blizzard add up to 23.9⁵ inches against the official two-day total of 27.2⁶ inches, so its season sum is probably about 3.3³ inches low. Cheyenne, by contrast, collected 26.4⁵ inches, 42%³ of normal, and Buffalo ended close to its average at 97%³.

In Wilmington, North Carolina, 5.8⁵ inches was 644%³ of a normal year.

The storm that stood out came on February 22-23, 2026. Official measurements put Providence's T.F. Green Airport at 37.9⁷ inches, Norton, Massachusetts, at 31.8⁷, Islip on Long Island at 29.1⁶ and Newark Airport at 27.2⁶ inches. Central Park measured 19.7⁶ inches, Boston's Logan Airport 17.1⁵ by its final daily count, and Philadelphia's airport 14.0⁸.

A storm total can span two calendar days: Central Park's 19.7 inches fell over two calendar days (8.8⁵ and 10.9⁵ inches), so its largest single day of the season remains 11.4⁵ inches, on January 25.

Providence's total replaced Rhode Island's 24-hour snowfall record of 30.0⁹ inches, set at Woonsocket on February 6-7, 1978, by 7.9³ inches, and on its own it came to 104%³ of the city's yearly normal.

Snow on the ground rose and fell through the winter. On December 1, 2025, snow covered 33.4%¹⁰ of the contiguous United States; the share slipped to 20.2%¹⁰ by mid-January, stood at 43.5%¹⁰ on February 1, the high point of the dates shown, and fell to 4.7%¹⁰ by May 1, 2026.

Snow at the beach: the Carolinas, Virginia and Delaware

So how much does the coast really get? Snow is rare on the southeastern beaches, but when it comes it can be heavy. The storm of January 31-February 1, 2026 brought widespread totals of about 4 to 8 inches to the coast around Wilmington, North Carolina, with localized totals over a foot; Longwood, inland from the beaches, reported 17.7¹¹ inches, the highest in the area. Most beach-town reports come from trained spotters, volunteers and the public, so they are unofficial and time-stamped rather than final.

How much snow did Myrtle Beach get?

Myrtle Beach measured 5.0¹² inches (127 mm) in that storm, the same as on January 21-22, 2025. Since 1940 the city has recorded 87.4¹² inches (2,220 mm) of snow in 36¹² measurable snowfalls, about 1.0¹² inch a year on average. The record is 14.0¹² inches (356 mm), on December 22-24, 1989; the next biggest, 9.0¹² inches, fell on February 9-11, 1973.

The snow comes in clusters. The 1980s alone brought 34.5¹² inches, while the 1990s saw 1.0¹² inch in all. With two 5-inch storms, the 2020s already stand at 10.5¹² inches, third behind the 1980s and the 1970s (12.9¹² inches) and just ahead of the 1940s (10.0¹²).

On average since 1940, measurable snow of at least 0.1 inch has come to Myrtle Beach once every 2.4³ years, a storm of 3 inches or more once every 7.2³ years and one of 6 inches or more about once every 22³ years. Only one storm in 86 years, 1940 to February 2026, has reached a foot.

January brings 47%³ of the snowfalls (17¹² of 36), February 28%³ and December 17%³; none has come in November or April. The earliest measurable snow fell on December 11, 1958 and the latest on March 25, 1983.¹²

How much snow did North Myrtle Beach get? The town reported 8.0¹¹ inches (203 mm) on the morning of February 1, 2026, more than Myrtle Beach itself, and 2 miles east-northeast of Little River the total was also 8.0¹¹ inches.

How much snow did Ocean Isle Beach get?

Ocean Isle Beach reported 15.0¹¹ inches at 5:40 a.m. on February 1, 2026, three times the Myrtle Beach total, and a mile northwest of the town another observer measured 12.0¹¹ inches. Holden Beach, Surf City and Southport all came in between 9.0¹¹ and 10.0¹¹ inches.

How much snow did Sunset Beach, NC get? The storm summary has no report from the town, but two volunteer gauges there, 1.7 miles west-northwest and 0.6 mile southwest of it, each measured 9.0⁵ inches (229 mm) on February 1. How much snow did Carolina Beach get? Two reports, 1 and 3 miles north of town, both came to 9.0¹¹ inches, and Wilmington officially measured 5.8¹¹ inches, the 13th-highest storm total there on record since 1870.

How much snow did Virginia Beach get?

The same storm was lighter farther north. Across the city of Virginia Beach, 13¹³ reports ranged from 1.5¹³ to 4.0¹³ inches (38 to 102 mm), with the highest 2 miles southwest of Princess Anne.¹³

The storm's highest report, 4.0 inches, equals 65%³ of the Norfolk airport's normal year. Norfolk International Airport, the nearest official station, averages 6.2¹ inches of snow a year over 4.0¹ snow days, and its 2025-26 season ended at 5.6⁵ inches, or 90%³ of normal.

How much snow did Rehoboth Beach get?

No storm report names Rehoboth Beach itself, so the nearest reports are the best guide. In the February 22-23, 2026 blizzard, 20⁸ reports across Sussex County, Delaware, ranged from 8.0⁸ to 21.0⁸ inches (203 to 533 mm). A mile southwest of Lewes, the nearest named report, the public measured 18.0⁸ inches (457 mm), and near Long Neck observers reported 18.7 to 21.0 inches.

One storm brought more than a normal year. The Lewes station averages 10.5¹ inches (267 mm) of snow a year, based on 13 years of data, so the 18.0 inches measured near Lewes came to 171%³ of it. Delaware's 24-hour snowfall record remains 25² inches, set at Dover on February 19, 1979.

Is US snowfall changing?

No official national snowfall total exists, so the long view comes from stations with long records. We added up daily snowfall for each season, July to June, at five airports and parks with records back to 1950-51 (Chicago O'Hare from 1958-59), and fitted a straight line to each series.³ The dotted line on each chart carries that trend forward: our calculation, not a forecast.

Boston shows how large the swings are. Its seasons ranged from 9.3⁵ inches in 2011-12 to 110.6⁵ inches (2,809 mm) in 2014-15, and 2025-26 brought 62.8⁵ inches, 128%³ of normal. The trend is a rise of 0.49³ inches per decade, small next to those swings.

Central Park's trend is the steepest rise of the five, 0.66³ inches per decade, yet the park's snowiest season, 1995-96 at 75.6⁵ inches, was followed two seasons later by 5.5⁵ inches, and 2022-23 brought only 2.3⁵.

Philadelphia's trend is flat, -0.07³ inches per decade, around a range that runs from 0.0⁵ inches in 1972-73 to 78.7⁵ inches in 2009-10. The 2025-26 season, at 30.1⁵ inches, was 130%³ of normal.

Buffalo, the snowiest of the five, has a slightly negative trend (-0.16³ inches per decade) and the biggest season in any of the series, 199.4⁵ inches (5,065 mm) in 1976-77. Its lowest was 36.7⁵ inches in 2011-12, and 2025-26 ended at 92.5⁵.

Chicago O'Hare has the most negative trend, -0.49³ inches per decade, and its least snowy season in the series was 2024-25, at 17.6⁵ inches. The station series has gaps: 1995-96 to 1997-98 are left out because too many days are missing. It also runs low in the late 1970s. Chicago's official seasonal record lists 89.7¹⁴ inches (2,278 mm) for 1978-79, the city's snowiest season, while the station's daily reports for that season add up to 83.7⁵ inches, 6.0³ inches less.

Averaged by decade, the pattern is uneven rather than one-way. Boston's snowiest decade was the 2010s (51.0⁵ inches a season), New York's too (33.2⁵), and Buffalo's the 1970s (107.2⁵). The 2020s so far, six seasons, run below each city's 1991-2020 average in all five cities; Chicago's 29.3⁵ inches compares with 40.6⁵ in the 1960s, 11.3³ inches less. For the 1970s, Chicago's official record averages 54.0¹⁴ inches a season against 39.0⁵ from the O'Hare daily reports, so Chicago's decade figures are best compared with each other, not with the city's official list.

In four of the five cities the snowiest and least snowy seasons sit decades apart; in Boston they came three winters apart (2011-12 and 2014-15). Four of the five lows came in 2011-12 or later. Philadelphia's 1972-73 season recorded no measurable snow at all, and Buffalo's record 1976-77 season was more than five times its lowest.⁵

Nationally, the broadest measure of snow is how much ground it covers. On February 1, the share of the contiguous United States under snow ranged from 19.2%¹⁰ in 2012 to 68.6%¹⁰ in 2010 over 2004-2026, and it was 21.2%¹⁰ in 2024. On February 16, 2021, snow covered 73.2%¹⁰, more than on any February 1 in the series, 29.7³ points more than on February 1, 2026.

State snowfall records

Every state has an official 24-hour snowfall record. The biggest belongs to Alaska: 78² inches (1,981 mm) at Mile 47 Camp on February 9, 1963. Colorado follows with 75.8² inches at Silver Lake on April 14-15, 1921, and California with 67² inches at Echo Summit in January 1982. In the East, New York's record is 50² inches (Camden, 1966), Pennsylvania's 41², Rhode Island's the new 37.9² and Connecticut's 36² inches (914 mm).

New Jersey's stands at 29.7² inches, Massachusetts' at 29², South Carolina's at 24² and Florida's at 4² inches.

Snow depth, all the snow on the ground at one time, holds even bigger numbers. California's record is 451² inches, measured at Tamarack on March 11, 1911, ahead of Washington's 367² inches at Paradise on Mount Rainier in 1956. In the East, New Hampshire's Pinkham Notch reached 164² inches in 1969.

Month and season records show how much can pile up in the East. Bayard, West Virginia, measured 158.2² inches in February 2010, the same month Laurel Summit, Pennsylvania, took 117.8² inches, and New Jersey's High Point Park collected 122² inches in the 1995-96 season.

Rain and total precipitation by state

Precipitation counts rain plus the water in melted snow and ice, so it covers the whole year's wet weather, snow included.

Average rainfall by state map

Over 1991-2020, Hawaii was the wettest state at 61.73¹⁵ inches (1,568 mm) a year, followed by Louisiana (59.72¹⁵) and Mississippi (58.49¹⁵). Nevada was the driest at 10.19¹⁵ inches (259 mm), with Arizona (11.65¹⁵) and Utah (13.52¹⁵) close behind.

A rainfall total map for 2025 looks different from the average. Kentucky received 57.49¹⁵ inches, 7.11¹⁵ above its 1991-2020 average, and Oklahoma ran 3.09¹⁵ inches above; Hawaii came in 19.77¹⁵ inches below and New Jersey 8.81¹⁵ below. Only 10 states were wetter than their average in 2025, and 40³ were drier.

For the contiguous United States as a whole, the 1991-2020 average was 31.30¹⁶ inches (795 mm) a year; 2025 brought 29.25¹⁶ inches (743 mm), 2.05³ inches below it. Since 1895 the long-run trend is a rise of 0.166³ inches per decade, about 2.16³ inches over 13 decades, but since 1970 it is nearly flat, 0.019³ inches per decade.

Decade by decade, the 1990s (31.95¹⁶ inches a year) and the 2010s (31.85¹⁶) were the wettest, and the 1930s the driest at 28.00¹⁶ inches. The 2020s so far, six years, average 29.94¹⁶ inches.

The wettest single year since 1895 was 1973, at 34.94¹⁶ inches, with 2019 (34.82¹⁶) a close second; the driest was 1910, at 24.90¹⁶ inches. Three of the ten extreme years in the table below fall after 2010, all of them on the wet side.

24-hour rainfall total map

The heaviest 24-hour rain in the state record books fell in Hawaii: 49.69² inches (1,262 mm) at Waipā Garden on Kauai, April 14-15, 2018. Texas follows with 42² inches at Alvin in July 1979, and Alabama with 32.52² inches at Dauphin Island in 1997. South Carolina's record, 14.8² inches (376 mm), was set in Myrtle Beach on September 16, 1999. Kansas's record is under review, so the map shades 49 states.

Along the Grand Strand, rain peaks late in summer. The North Myrtle Beach airport station averages 6.65⁴ inches in September and 6.25⁴ in August, against 2.77⁴ in April, for 48.47⁴ inches (1,231 mm) a year.

Elevation and snow

Height above sea level shapes both snow and rain, but it is only one factor among several.

Average elevation by state map

Colorado is the highest state on average, at 6,800¹⁷ feet (2,074 meters), ahead of Wyoming (6,700¹⁷ feet) and Utah (6,100¹⁷). Delaware is the lowest, at 60¹⁷ feet (18 meters), with Florida and Louisiana at 100¹⁷ feet. The US average is 2,500¹⁷ feet (762 meters).

Elevation alone does not decide how much snow a state's stations record. Vermont, with the highest station snowfall average on this page, has a mean elevation of 1,000¹⁷ feet, while Nevada, at 5,500¹⁷ feet, averages 20.6¹ inches of snow at its stations and Arizona, at 4,100¹⁷ feet, 9.0¹ inches. The biggest 24-hour records come from both kinds of places: Colorado, at a mean of 6,800 feet, and Alaska, at 1,900¹⁷ feet.

What winter does to air travel

Snow season is also flight-cancellation season. From 2015 to 2025, leaving out the pandemic year 2020, January was the worst month, with 2.95%¹⁸ of scheduled US flights canceled, followed by February (2.72%¹⁸); October and November were the best, at 0.86%¹⁸. January's rate is 3.43³ times October's. These rates count every cause, not only weather, so they show when trips are most at risk rather than how much of it snow causes.

Winter by winter, December to February, the cancellation rate peaked at 4.40%¹⁸ in 2021-22 and was 2.93%¹⁸ in 2025-26, the third-highest of the 11 winters after that one and 2022-23 (3.04%¹⁸).

January 2026 was the roughest month of the latest winter: 4.82%¹⁸ of flights were canceled, the second-highest January since 2015 after January 2022 (6.33%¹⁸), and 1.63³ times the January average. December 2025 was calmer, at 1.63%¹⁸.

November 2025 ran at 2.6%¹⁸, three times its usual rate, but that was not winter weather: it was driven by the federal government shutdown, when air traffic controller shortages led the FAA to order flight cuts at 40¹⁹ major airports from November 7 to 16, 2025.¹⁹ March 2026, at 2.94%¹⁸, was a storm month among other causes, with a partial government shutdown straining airport security staff at the same time, so it was only partly a weather story.²⁰ Of the 2025-26 months, January is the one whose spike came in the heart of the snow season.

Conclusions

1. Big single-day snows are not only a mountain story. The two largest 24-hour records belong to Colorado (75.8 inches), a high-elevation state with a mean of 6,800 feet, and Alaska (78 inches), with a mean of 1,900 feet, while the snowiest city in the table, Buffalo (95.4 inches a year), sits far from both.²
2. On the coast, snow comes in rare bursts. Myrtle Beach's 87.4 inches since 1940 include 34.5 inches in the 1980s alone, and two 5.0-inch storms in 2025 and 2026 already make the 2020s (10.5 inches) the city's third-snowiest decade.¹²
3. One storm can equal a normal year. Providence's 37.9 inches in 24 hours came to 104% of its yearly normal, while Cheyenne finished 2025-26 at 42% of normal: the same winter, opposite stories.
4. City trends are small next to year-to-year swings. They run from a rise of 0.66 inches per decade to a fall of 0.49, against Boston seasons from 9.3 to 110.6 inches; nationally, precipitation rose 0.166 inches per decade since 1895, but 2025 (29.25 inches) was 2.05 inches below the 1991-2020 average.
5. For travelers, the snow season and the cancellation season overlap. January cancellations (2.95%) run 3.43 times October's (0.86%), and January 2026 reached 4.82%.¹⁸