Snowfall Tracker

What is this page?

This page was designed to help people in the DMV keep track of the total snow fallen that specific year. Not only can this data help track the actual snowfall amounts to the amounts that were expected, but as time passes by, we can see how much total winter snowfall has fallen over the years, and compare all of them to see if we are on a trend. Note: This does not include winter precipitation that isn't snow, or include non-measurable snow(for example flurries falling on January 5th). The only time non-measurable snow will be included if it is the first snow of the year, or if it's a very bizarre and crazy situation.

All snowfall recorded was in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in Montgomery County, Maryland. Please comment on your snowfall totals and give the non-specific location of where it was recorded, for example, 4.5 inches of snow in Clarksburg.

Average Snowfall(1981-2010): 22-25"(KGAI)

2022-2023:

Current Snow Total: 0.5"

Feb 1st 2023:

This "snow event" dropped a half inch overnight with some bands of moderate snow.

2021-2022:
 

Result: Around median/slightly below avg

Current Snow Total: 18.5"

3/12/22

FINAL TOTAL: 4.5"

As a cold front moved through the area, heavy rain turned into heavy sleet, and quickly turned over into heavy snow. Rapid accumulation and heavy snow fell with near blizzard conditions as an FGEN band moved through the region west to east from 8 - 11 AM. Winds were starting to pick up and there were near blizzard & near whiteout conditions at times. In the frontend, 3.3" of snow fell. Then, there was a lull before backend snow started to come in. I got 1.2" of snow from this, and when the bands moved through very heavy snow fell with gusty winds. Frontend + backend = 4.5"

2/13/22 - 2/14/22:

FINAL TOTAL: 1.5"

At the start of the event, I got rained, which eventually turned into a brief mix, then to all snow after temps started to cool down. It took a while for the snow to accumulate, and by after sunrise, precip started to slow down. I sometimes got some bands of accumulation, but it didn't really add up to much. After 1.4" fell in the frontend, I got 0.1" more from a band from backend snow. Overall, this storm went generally as expected for most of the area NW of 95, with a boom in some parts in Carroll County, and an underpreformance SE of 95 corridor.

1/28/22:

The snow was very light, and didn't start sticking until ~5 PM. The average snowfall rate was 0.05" an hour, basically flurries. I measured 0.5" of snow on my snowboard. Underwhelming storm.

1/16/22:

FINAL TOTAL: 3.35"

3" of fluffy snow fell before the sleet started at around 6:05 PM, then turned into freezing rain and then regular rain as WAA rose and temps rose on the ground. At 5 am the next day, there was a backend snow band that had heavy rates that added another 0.25" of snow. I had 0.1" of sleet too, so if you add them all up the final total is 3.35" of snow.

1/7/22:


FINAL TOTAL: 5.0"

The storm started around midnight, after fighting against virga. Moderate snow kept falling until a heavy band formed and hit me for 60-75 minutes. This band had rates of 2" per hour, and sometimes rates were even higher than that. Rates up to 40 dbz hit me(very heavy snow). After the band, the end of the system came close behind, and eventually the snow was done. There was still some light snow after main course of precipitation was done. At 5:30 AM EST, I recorded 5.0" of snow on my snowboard. Drifts were up to 10" of snow, which is absolutely insane. Blowing snow lasted throughout the rest of the day.

1/3/22:

FINAL TOTAL: 3.6"

The storm started as sleet, and switched over to all snow at around 3:30. The rates from this storm were very heavy, up to 2-3". 7-10 AM there was consistent heavy snow. There was a lull in precipitation, and then heavy snow came back. Eventually virga took over and the event was over. By then, there was already 3.6" on my snowboard if you added all of the measurements up.

 

11/30/21:
Some light snow fell through the night, but in the morning at around 8 AM a band of moderate snow hit me and it was coming down pretty well.

11/27/21:
Just the next day there were snow showers and flakes! I can confirm this for sure, too. There was no accumulation from this system.

11/26/21, 7:45 - 8:30 AM:

Somewhere during this time period, wintry precipitation fell. It was too light to tell what it was, but based on radar and reports near me(Northwestern areas reported snow, sleet, mix, etc.), I can predict that it was either snow/sleet mixed with rain. Again, this was extremely light, and too difficult to comprehend what it was. This is the first flakes of the season!

 

(Picture confirms that precipitation did fall, not melted pure snow, but likely mixed with something)

Compared to recent years:

Guide: 

Surpassed = More snow than avg

Below = Less snow than avg

2015-2016(Super El Nino): Surpassed, 35-45 inches of snow fell that year, most of it due to one big blizzard(Winter Storm Jonas), which dropped ~3'

2016-2017(La Nina): Below, around 5-10 inches of snow fell that year.
 

2017-2018(La Nina): Below around 4-8 inches fell that year.
 

2018-2019(El Nino): Avg/Surpassed, 20-30 inches fell that year.

2019-2020(Netural): Very Below, 4.8 inches fell that year.

2020-2021(La Nina): Below, 23.6 inches fell that year**INACCURATE MEASUREMENT**

 

2020-2021:

Result: Average Snowfall

Final Snow Total(includes all measurable snow): 23.6 inches

Note: My measurements before 2022 were inaccurate as I did not measure properly. Please take these measurements with a grain of salt.

5/8/2021:

Bands of showers that moved southeast throughout the region had a hail and graupel core. It was cold enough at 850mb for graupel and hail to fall. In Gaithersburg, I was able to see a hail/graupel mix. It was pretty cool to see in May.

4/22/2021:

Bands of precipitation moving southeast with cold, dry air that was somehow cold enough to support flurries/snow showers throughout the region. Many bands moved throughout the night of April 21, but the main course for the less northern parts of our region was for April 22. Radar also confirmed a snow band hitting me at around 5:30 AM. No accumulation occurred though with any of these bands, at least in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

4/1/2021:

FINAL TOTAL: 0.1"

During a snow band(4:30p-5:20p) that dropped heavy, non-mixed snow on me, the snow was heavy enough to create a coating and accumulate to about 0.1 inches. After the snow band, it quickly melted though. Some areas(not me) saw thundersnow with this system.

2/22/2021:

FINAL TOTAL: 0.7"

0.7 inches of snow and graupel fell. The storm started as graupel and then transitioned to heavy snow. Rates were up to 2" of snow per hour at times! As we went through the morning, the snow started to mix with sleet, and then freezing rain, and then a little bit of cold rain before moving out by the afternoon.

2/18/2021-2/19/2021: 

FINAL TOTAL: 3.0"

3 inches of snow and sleet fell. This storm was a bust. Snow turned over into sleet much faster than expected, dropping snow totals. Heavy sleet continued into the morning hours of 2/18 until it turned into light snow which faded off. Then, there was a lull, until the night, where freezing drizzle fell and accumulated on all surfaces. Ice accumulation was 0.20-0.25 inches of ice. On Friday(2/19), on and off snow showers fell before the sun came out in the afternoon.

2/10/2021-2/12/2021:

FINAL TOTAL: 2.0"

2 inches of snow fell. A lot of it melted and compacted due to lots of sleet and mixing on Wednesday night. It turned back to snow in the early morning hours of Thursday. The storm was mainly from Wednesday evening - Thursday morning(10a-12p). That was the first wave. The second wave didn't drop any accumulative snow, it might have dropped a snow shower or two.

2/7/2021: 

FINAL TOTAL: 4.2"

4.2 inches of snow fell(factoring in compacting and melting). This storm was a quick one. It started out as rain, and as it cooled the atmosphere, turned into snow. The snow ratio was less than 10:1, maybe around 7:1 or 8:1. Temperatures were marginal and were hovering at or above freezing. However, heavy snowfall rates made up for it and stuck onto any untreated surfaces. The snow rates were at or surpassed 1-2 inches per hour! When the snow was lighter, a lot of it started to melt. This was a very wet, heavy snow. This storm also brought a cold front with it, and temperatures are expected to rapidly drop after the middle of the afternoon(1-3 PM).

FINAL TOTAL: 7.3"

1/31/2021-2/3/2021: 7.3 inches of snow fell. This storm was one of the longest storms I have ever seen. The first part on Sunday dropped 2-4 inches of snow around the county, but we did get dry-slotted a lot. Snow continued into the night. Then, the snow changed over to an icy mix on early Monday morning and lasted throughout the AM hours. Then, it changed back into the snow. Heavy bands that formed in the north came to us and dropped the bulk of accumulation, adding more snow than what was expected on Monday. The same thing happened on Tuesday, except the snow tapered off in the afternoon hours. From that point on, we had on and off snow showers, some heavy, until Wednesday, when the storm started to move off. The snow was still recorded on Wednesday. Totals ranged from 4-8 inches throughout the county.

1/25/2021: 

FINAL TOTAL: 1.5"

About 1.5 inches of snow fell. The storm started as sleet, turned into snow, then had a dry period, which then sleet fell, which turned into freezing rain, and then rain around the afternoon hours. We got robbed of our moisture, which gave us lower snow totals.

12/16/2020:

FINAL TOTAL: 4.2"

About 4 inches of snow fell before the transition to sleet/freezing rain(1:30-1:45 PM). The wintry mix turned into regular rain at around 5-7:30 PM, and then after the rain turned into the snow again, we got another .10-.25 inches of snow. Storm total = 4.2 inches of snow.