FEMA disaster type · OpenFEMA declarations
Snowstorm disasters in the United States
FEMA disaster declarations classified as "Snowstorm" from 1965 to 2023 - which states are hit most often and how the count has changed over time.
- 171
- FEMA declarations
- 39
- States affected
- 1965
- Earliest year
- 2023
- Latest year
The verdict
According to FEMA's disaster declaration history, snowstorm ranks #6 of the 27 distinct disaster types the agency has declared, accounting for 3.3% of all 5,218 declarations on record. It is declared more often than 81% of the other declaration types FEMA tracks, based on total historical volume.
- #6 of 27
- FEMA disaster types, by declaration volume
- 3.3%
- share of all 5,218 FEMA declarations
- 171
- snowstorm declarations, 1965–2023
Ranking reflects the count of Presidentially declared federal disasters per OpenFEMA, not event severity or economic loss; a rare declaration type can still be individually catastrophic.
How does Snowstorm compare?
Snowstorm vs. every FEMA declaration type
Declaration volume across all tracked incident types
171 Top 22% higher than 78% of 27 disaster types
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more disaster types. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-03
What shapes the snowstorm record?
States with the most snowstorm declarations
Wider bars = more FEMA declarations of this type
- New York
New York
21 declarations
- Maine
Maine
12 declarations
- Massachusetts
Massachusetts
10 declarations
- Connecticut 8
Connecticut
8 declarations
- New Hampshire 8
New Hampshire
8 declarations
- Illinois 7
Illinois
7 declarations
- Maryland 7
Maryland
7 declarations
- New Jersey 7
New Jersey
7 declarations
- Rhode Island 7
Rhode Island
7 declarations
- Indiana 6
Indiana
6 declarations
What this shows New York leads with 21 snowstorm declarations among the states shown.
Snowstorm declarations by year
Federal declaration cadence for this incident type across the OpenFEMA record.
Peak year in this series: 1993 (18 declarations). A declaration is a federal assistance trigger, not a raw event count.
How common are Snowstorm disasters in the U.S.?
Geographic concentration is pronounced for this disaster type. The three states with the most snowstorm declarations on record are NY (21 declarations), ME (12 declarations), MA (10 declarations), driven mainly by which states sit in the relevant hazard corridor. States with the fewest declarations, including OK (1), TN (1), VT (1), generally facing less exposure to this hazard type, though physiographic coverage still varies.
FEMA has issued 171 federal disaster declarations classified as snowstorm between 1965 and 2023, affecting 39 states and territories. Each declaration represents a formal federal recognition that an event exceeded state and local response capacity, unlocking Public Assistance, Individual Assistance, or Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding depending on the declaration class (DR, EM, or FM). Raw declaration counts therefore measure the federal response footprint, which is a lagging and thresholded indicator: smaller events handled entirely at the state level never appear, and declaration thresholds have been recalibrated over the dataset's multi-decade history.
Temporal patterns in the record tell a separate story. The peak year on record was 1993, with 18 snowstorm declarations issued that single year, a clustering driven by major multi-state events and the federal government's declaration cadence. The most recent year on record is 2023, with 2 declarations. Trends over the 58+ year history reflect changing federal declaration policy alongside real shifts in event frequency.
Which federal declaration does snowstorm actually get?
Most of this type's declarations are Emergencies, not Major Disasters: 56% EM against 44% DR across 171 declarations. An Emergency declaration is the narrower, faster instrument -- it supports protective measures and direct federal assistance as a situation unfolds, capped well below a Major Disaster. A type weighted toward EM tends to be one where the federal role is to help states cope during the event rather than to fund reconstruction after it.
Declarations by State
| # | State | Declarations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York NY | 21 |
| 2 | Maine ME | 12 |
| 3 | Massachusetts MA | 10 |
| 4 | Connecticut CT | 8 |
| 5 | New Hampshire NH | 8 |
| 6 | Illinois IL | 7 |
| 7 | Maryland MD | 7 |
| 8 | New Jersey NJ | 7 |
| 9 | Rhode Island RI | 7 |
| 10 | Indiana IN | 6 |
| 11 | Virginia VA | 6 |
| 12 | Delaware DE | 5 |
| 13 | Kentucky KY | 5 |
| 14 | Michigan MI | 5 |
| 15 | Pennsylvania PA | 5 |
| 16 | North Carolina NC | 4 |
| 17 | North Dakota ND | 4 |
| 18 | Ohio OH | 4 |
| 19 | South Dakota SD | 4 |
| 20 | Wisconsin WI | 4 |
| 21 | West Virginia WV | 4 |
| 22 | Colorado CO | 3 |
| 23 | District of Columbia DC | 3 |
| 24 | Kansas KS | 3 |
| 25 | Iowa IA | 2 |
| 26 | Louisiana LA | 2 |
| 27 | Nebraska NE | 2 |
| 28 | Nevada NV | 2 |
| 29 | Alaska AK | 1 |
| 30 | Alabama AL | 1 |
| 31 | Arkansas AR | 1 |
| 32 | Georgia GA | 1 |
| 33 | Idaho ID | 1 |
| 34 | Minnesota MN | 1 |
| 35 | Mississippi MS | 1 |
| 36 | Montana MT | 1 |
| 37 | Oklahoma OK | 1 |
| 38 | Tennessee TN | 1 |
| 39 | Vermont VT | 1 |
Declarations by Year
| Year | Declarations |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 2 |
| 2022 | 3 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2016 | 5 |
| 2015 | 3 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2011 | 5 |
| 2010 | 11 |
| 2009 | 2 |
| 2008 | 4 |
| 2007 | 7 |
| 2006 | 3 |
| 2005 | 16 |
| 2004 | 7 |
| 2003 | 10 |
| 2002 | 2 |
| 2001 | 9 |
| 2000 | 1 |
| 1999 | 5 |
| 1998 | 2 |
| 1996 | 15 |
| 1995 | 1 |
| 1994 | 5 |
| 1993 | 18 |
| 1991 | 3 |
| 1988 | 1 |
| 1985 | 1 |
| 1984 | 1 |
| 1979 | 2 |
| 1978 | 8 |
| 1977 | 10 |
| 1972 | 1 |
| 1965 | 1 |
Recent Snowstorm Declarations
Download all 171 declarations as CSV . Source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0. The table below lists the 30 most recent; the file carries every one.
| DR# | Title | State | Type | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4694 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | NY | DR | 2023-03-15 |
| 4686 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | ND | DR | 2023-02-05 |
| 4654 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | KS | DR | 2022-05-25 |
| 4653 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | RI | DR | 2022-05-12 |
| 4651 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | MA | DR | 2022-04-18 |
| 4597 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | NJ | DR | 2021-04-28 |
| 4379 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | MA | DR | 2018-07-19 |
| 4375 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS | NE | DR | 2018-06-29 |
| 4371 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | NH | DR | 2018-06-08 |
| 4322 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | NY | DR | 2017-07-12 |
| 4319 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, AND FLOODING | KS | DR | 2017-06-16 |
| 4267 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | PA | DR | 2016-03-23 |
| 4265 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DE | DR | 2016-03-16 |
| 4262 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | VA | DR | 2016-03-07 |
| 4261 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | MD | DR | 2016-03-04 |
| 4260 | SNOWSTORM | DC | DR | 2016-03-04 |
| 4216 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, SNOWSTORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | KY | DR | 2015-04-30 |
| 4208 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | ME | DR | 2015-03-12 |
| 4204 | SEVERE WINTER STORM, SNOWSTORM, AND FLOODING | NY | DR | 2014-12-22 |
| 4112 | SNOWSTORM | KS | DR | 2013-04-26 |
| 1966 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | WI | DR | 2011-04-05 |
| 1960 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | IL | DR | 2011-03-17 |
| 1959 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | MA | DR | 2011-03-07 |
| 1958 | SNOWSTORM | CT | DR | 2011-03-03 |
| 1954 | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | NJ | DR | 2011-02-04 |
| 1910 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | MD | DR | 2010-05-06 |
| 1905 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | VA | DR | 2010-04-27 |
| 1903 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | WV | DR | 2010-04-23 |
| 1898 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | PA | DR | 2010-04-16 |
| 1896 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS AND SNOWSTORMS | DE | DR | 2010-03-31 |
What this means for Snowstorm declarations
Snowstorm is declared more often than 81% of the other declaration types FEMA tracks, with 171 FEMA declaration records; New York leads with 21.
- New York accounts for the largest share of snowstorm declarations in this corpus. New York profile
- See how states compare on raw FEMA declaration volume across all incident types. Most disasters ranking
- Learn what a FEMA declaration does and does not measure relative to NOAA storm events. Disaster-data guide
A federal declaration is a legal assistance trigger, not a count of every storm event or a forecast. For current threats follow the National Weather Service and local officials; in an emergency call 911.
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Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 For informational purposes only
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Verify declarations with FEMA → Verify storm-event context with NOAA →
Every figure on PlainHazard is rendered directly from FEMA federal disaster data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or national statistics report, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.