PlainHazard

Winter storms in the United States, by state

The national record since 1996 · Winter Storm, Winter Weather, Heavy Snow, Blizzard, Ice Storm, Lake-Effect Snow, Sleet

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 287,339 winter storm records in the United States from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 9,576 a year since 2000. Colorado records the most (15,010), New Jersey the most per square mile. The deadliest storm in NOAA's record since 1996 is the December 23, 2022 blizzard in New York: 44 deaths and $15.1 million in damage in 2025 dollars.

Winter storms, 1996 to 2026

Records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.

  • recorded, no damage figure
  • under $10 million
  • $10 million or more
  • $100 million or more
  • $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
  • $10 billion or more, or 1,000 deaths
  • a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
  • a year with a death
Records
287,3391996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000
9,576average
Deaths
2,497recorded
Damage, 2025 dollars
$12.9BStorm Events, as filed

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.

Which states have the most winter storm records?

By count Colorado (15,010), New York (13,456), Minnesota (12,156) lead. Per 10,000 square miles New Jersey (6978), Rhode Island (5852), Vermont (5162) lead; large states collect more records by covering more ground.

By count since 1996

  1. Colorado 15,010
  2. New York 13,456
  3. Minnesota 12,156
  4. Michigan 10,836
  5. Iowa 10,746
  6. Virginia 10,408
  7. Wisconsin 10,237
  8. South Dakota 10,128
  9. Pennsylvania 9,299
  10. North Carolina 8,965
  11. Montana 8,475
  12. Illinois 8,149
  13. Kentucky 8,092
  14. Nebraska 8,064
  15. Texas 8,005

Per 10,000 square miles

  1. New Jersey 6978
  2. Rhode Island 5852
  3. Vermont 5162
  4. Maryland 4709
  5. Massachusetts 3882
  6. Delaware 3274
  7. Connecticut 3017
  8. West Virginia 2970
  9. New Hampshire 2917
  10. New York 2855
  11. Virginia 2636
  12. Pennsylvania 2078
  13. Kentucky 2049
  14. Maine 2012
  15. Iowa 1924

Source: Land area: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles are not ranked per square mile.

Alabama: 290 per 10,000 sq miAlaska: 78 per 10,000 sq miArizona: 116 per 10,000 sq miArkansas: 899 per 10,000 sq miCalifornia: 447 per 10,000 sq miColorado: 1,448 per 10,000 sq miConnecticut: 3,017 per 10,000 sq miDelaware: 3,274 per 10,000 sq miFlorida: 29 per 10,000 sq miGeorgia: 582 per 10,000 sq miHawaii: 131 per 10,000 sq miIdaho: 598 per 10,000 sq miIllinois: 1,468 per 10,000 sq miIndiana: 1,633 per 10,000 sq miIowa: 1,924 per 10,000 sq miKansas: 909 per 10,000 sq miKentucky: 2,049 per 10,000 sq miLouisiana: 253 per 10,000 sq miMaine: 2,012 per 10,000 sq miMaryland: 4,709 per 10,000 sq miMassachusetts: 3,882 per 10,000 sq miMichigan: 1,914 per 10,000 sq miMinnesota: 1,527 per 10,000 sq miMississippi: 395 per 10,000 sq miMissouri: 954 per 10,000 sq miMontana: 582 per 10,000 sq miNebraska: 1,050 per 10,000 sq miNevada: 190 per 10,000 sq miNew Hampshire: 2,917 per 10,000 sq miNew Jersey: 6,978 per 10,000 sq miNew Mexico: 243 per 10,000 sq miNew York: 2,855 per 10,000 sq miNorth Carolina: 1,844 per 10,000 sq miNorth Dakota: 948 per 10,000 sq miOhio: 1,829 per 10,000 sq miOklahoma: 582 per 10,000 sq miOregon: 288 per 10,000 sq miPennsylvania: 2,078 per 10,000 sq miRhode Island: 5,852 per 10,000 sq miSouth Carolina: 612 per 10,000 sq miSouth Dakota: 1,336 per 10,000 sq miTennessee: 1,435 per 10,000 sq miTexas: 306 per 10,000 sq miUtah: 504 per 10,000 sq miVermont: 5,162 per 10,000 sq miVirginia: 2,636 per 10,000 sq miWashington: 611 per 10,000 sq miWest Virginia: 2,970 per 10,000 sq miWisconsin: 1,890 per 10,000 sq miWyoming: 727 per 10,000 sq mi
  • 29-395
  • 395-899
  • 899-1,633
  • 1,633-2,855
  • 2,855+
Winter storms per 10,000 square miles by state since 1996. Each class holds about a fifth of the states; Alaska and Hawaii are drawn as insets, not to scale.

Every state

Winter storm risk by state: FEMA's model

The record above counts what happened. FEMA's National Risk Index estimates what each state can expect to lose to winter storms in an average year, from history, exposure and vulnerability: Arkansas carries the largest expected annual loss ($138M), then Texas and Oklahoma.

  1. Arkansas $138M
  2. Texas $116M
  3. Oklahoma $110M
  4. Kansas $79M
  5. North Carolina $77M
  6. Missouri $72M
  7. Ohio $52M
  8. New York $50M
  9. Pennsylvania $48M
  10. North Dakota $47M
  11. South Carolina $45M
  12. New Jersey $44M
  13. Michigan $43M
  14. Maine $42M
  15. Kentucky $41M

Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), county expected annual loss summed by state; a model, not a count. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

When is winter storm season?

Nationally, 51% of its winter storm records since 1996 fell in January and February. The busiest month is January.

The values, month by month

Jan 78,987 · Feb 67,941 · Mar 38,008 · Apr 14,281 · May 2,099 · Jun 229 · Jul 5 · Aug 6 · Sep 520 · Oct 5,918 · Nov 20,028 · Dec 59,317 (records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The deadliest winter storm records on record

The 10 storms with the most deaths since 1996, by state
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2022-12-23 BlizzardErie County, NY · forecast zone Northern Erie One storm episode: 5 records in 5 places; the totals are the episode's. A historic lake effect blizzard occurred northeast of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario during the Christmas holiday weekend. The combination of high winds in excess of 70 mph and heavy lake effect snow resulted in devastating impacts across western New York and also east of Lake Ontario from December 23 through December 27. ... 44 0 $15M
2011-02-01 BlizzardCook County, IL · forecast zone Cook One storm episode: 7 records in 7 places; the totals are the episode's. A powerful and enormous winter storm moved across northern Illinois with blizzard conditions across much of the area which paralayzed the region. Light snow began falling across parts of northern Illinois during the moring hours of February 1st but the heavy snow associated with the main storm system spread north ... 14 2 $689K
2007-01-12 Winter StormWashita County, OK · forecast zone Washita One storm episode: 10 records in 10 places; the totals are the episode's. A strong winter storm crippled much of Oklahoma from January 12th through the 14th, spreading snow, freezing rain and sleet across the state. The snow and sleet was confined to northern and western Oklahoma. The freezing rain and sleet occurred mainly over central and southwest Oklahoma, with mainly freezing rain over ... 14 0 $1.5M
1997-01-07 Winter WeatherSan Diego County, CA · forecast zone San Diego County Mountains Persistent northerly flow and low pressure aloft along the west coast, resulted in a prolonged period of cold and snow for the San Diego Mountains. Up to 18 inches of snow was reported over the higher elevations of the Laguna Mountains, with temperatures dipping into the upper teens and twenties at night. Undocumented ... 14 0 –
2021-02-11 Winter WeatherTarrant County, TX · forecast zone Tarrant One storm episode: 7 records in 6 places; the totals are the episode's. February 9th, 2021 was the beginning of what would become a historic winter weather event across the state of Texas, with multiple rounds of winter precipitation and deadly cold temperatures. The prolonged event began with freezing drizzle that contributed to several vehicle accidents in the region. Most notable of ... 13 103 $3.2M
2024-01-14 Heavy SnowKnox County, TN · forecast zone Knox One storm episode: 6 records in 6 places, 2024-01-14 to 2024-01-15; the totals are the episode's. A major snowstorm powered by strong upper level dynamics and widespread preexisting low level cold produced heavy snowfall across East Tennessee. 12 0 –
2007-12-09 Ice StormOklahoma County, OK · forecast zone Oklahoma One storm episode: 5 records in 5 places; the totals are the episode's. A devastating ice storm affected a large swath of Oklahoma beginning on the 9th and continuing through the 11th over parts of the area. The storm left behind a trail of severe damage to trees and power lines, which in turn led to the worst power outage in Oklahoma history (in terms of the number of people impacted). ... 11 13 $213M
2009-01-26 Ice StormWebster County, KY · forecast zone Webster One storm episode: 22 records in 22 places; the totals are the episode's. This historic, prolonged ice storm was called the biggest disaster in modern Kentucky history by the governor of Kentucky. The storm produced at least one inch of ice across western Kentucky. Locally very destructive icing around 1.5 inches occurred from the Mississippi River counties east across Paducah and ... 11 1 $271M
2016-01-23 Winter StormPassaic County, NJ · forecast zone Eastern Passaic One storm episode: 5 records in 4 places; the totals are the episode's. Low pressure moving across the deep South on Thursday January 21st and Friday January 22nd intensifed and moved off the Mid Atlantic coast on Saturday January 23rd, bringing heavy snow and strong winds to northeast New Jersey, and blizzard conditions to the urban corridor and some nearby areas. Governor Chris Christie ... 11 0 –
2024-01-12 Winter StormClackamas County and 2 more, OR · forecast zone Greater Portland Metro Area One storm episode: 4 records in 4 places, 2024-01-12 to 2024-01-13; the totals are the episode's. A very strong arctic front moved across Western Washington and Oregon on the 12th and 13th dropping temperatures below freezing. With cold air in the lowlands, all precipitation fell as freezing rain for areas along the coast, valleys in the Coast Range, and Willamette Valley northward into southwest Washington. This ... 9 16 $45M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed, summed over each storm in each state (one episode, or a named storm filed by several offices); names from FEMA declaration titles.

The costliest winter storm records since 1993

The 8 most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2008-03-07 Winter StormKnox County, OH · forecast zone Knox One storm episode: 27 records in 26 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $1.1B
2007-01-12 Ice StormGreene County, MO · forecast zone Greene One storm episode: 18 records in 18 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $488M
1998-01-05 Ice StormOxford County, ME · forecast zone Southern Oxford One storm episode: 26 records in 16 places; the totals are the episode's. 1 0 $478M
2007-12-08 Ice StormTulsa County, OK · forecast zone Tulsa One storm episode: 17 records in 17 places, 2007-12-08 to 2007-12-09; the totals are the episode's. 3 0 $428M
2006-11-30 Winter StormCamden County, MO · forecast zone Camden One storm episode: 7 records in 7 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $295M
2000-12-24 Ice StormSevier County, AR · forecast zone Sevier 0 0 $283M
2009-01-26 Ice StormWebster County, KY · forecast zone Webster One storm episode: 22 records in 22 places; the totals are the episode's. 11 1 $271M
2003-04-03 Ice StormOakland County, MI · forecast zone Oakland One storm episode: 4 records in 4 places; the totals are the episode's. 1 2 $258M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

What the record files under winter storms

NOAA event types in this group
Event typeRecordsYearsKilledDamage
Winter Storm92,1991996-2026635$4.0B
Winter Weather85,1701996-20261,093$174M
Heavy Snow76,2011996-2026291$1.4B
Blizzard17,3421996-2026249$1.0B
Ice Storm12,6731996-2026199$5.8B
Lake-Effect Snow2,8821997-202626$395M
Sleet8721997-20264$6.1M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, event types as defined in NWS Instruction 10-1605.

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