I wish there were some videos online of some of the local news coverage of these storms. I’ve searched but haven’t been able to find much, other than recollections by some local mets 20 years later. I had some VHS footage of the 2000 storm but my VCR ended up eating it a while back.
Not in the Triangle. I was here. Very wet cold and showery day. Icy feeling but no ice. low/mid 30s. I recall all this talk about it snowing in Charlotte area during the day though from some of my work colleagues on other calls. Turned over to snow around 7pm or so for me that evening
products.climate.ncsu.edu
www.wunderground.com
Clemson hasn't gotten a 6 inch snow since 1988.It's fascinating how the different areas remember specific storms so differently; usually because one area's historic storm is another area's epic heartbreak; similar to what happened the last couple of weeks. Jan 2000 and Feb 2004 remain two of the biggest jackpots for central areas of the Carolinas and two of my biggest heartbreaks in the western upstate.
When you look at all these, it becomes very obvious the areas of Western Carolina's and NEGA are actually the hardest areas to get a big jackpot (outside of high elevation). GSPs modern record is 15 inches but that was like 1902. Since then it is 14.4 in 1988. Compare that with many areas getting 18-24+ in jackpots from storms like Feb 73, Jan 2000, Feb 2004, and others. All of those jackpot areas are East of here. Even Asheville's modern record is 18.2, well short of many areas. So while The upstate and WNC get more total snow than other areas of their respective states, their historic jackpots lag significantly (again, outside of high elevation).
I was looking at some in formation on some earlier big storms I could find accounts of and let's just say those would overwhelm our forum.
You may be familiar with the "Snow Campaign" of 1775 during the revolution. I heave read accounts of soldiers crossing through Greenville county (SC). Here is an account of that march and an excerpts that states:
November and December 1775 — The “Snow Campaign” - The Spartan Regiment and other Patriots, under Col. Richard Richardson, set out to attack a Loyalist unit that had camped in Indian territory (present-day Greenville County) for safety. Thomas Sumter participated in this march as Col. Richardson's Aide-de-Camp with the rank of a Militia Captain. The Patriots marched through several feet of snow in early December to accomplish this.
Imagine that!
Here is another page discussing some from the 1800s.
Snowstorms in the South: An Historical Perspective | Weather Extremes
Atlanta, Georgia was amazed recently when 4-6” of snow (and ice) accumulated this past Sunday and Monday. Furthermore, snow fell on Christmas Day (officially 1.4”) in the Atlanta area as well. So how unusual is this? The following is a summary of the all-time greatest snowstorms to have been...
Imagine 18" in Savannah (Jan 1800) and the Dec 1886 storm sounds like a monster with up to 2 feet in NGA and 33" in Asheville. It doesn't mention the upstate but I would love to know what those totals were.
Sheesh. Someone reported 8 inches of snow in Charlotte off that? Man what a week.Winter Storm Event – Products | North Carolina State Climate Office
That's actually from KCLT, but includes 4 inches from the 22nd then 4 additional inches they received from the Crusher on the 24th. Not sure why they didn't just include data from the 22nd and 23rd.
Yeah this map is not accurate at all. This event started on the Saturday the 22nd and produced heavy snowfall across the SC upstate, southern NC Foothills and Piedmont. The CLT metro area has widespread 4-7” snow totals and there were even a few 9” reports across York and Lancaster counties in SC. There was actually a 747 that skidded off the runway at CLT airport on Saturday evening. The ZR that happened on Sunday the 23rd wasn’t anything major but it was certainly more than a trace in the CLT area… that’s what set things up to be so rough power outage wise over Union and Stanly Counties… trees still had ice on them and then the 12-18” of heavy wet snow on top of that.
I remember it well. I've likely shared this story or something similar a couple of times previously. It was a cold rain throughout the entire morning and most of the afternoon while I was at work. An older lady who didn't work in my department but worked in very close proximity would often listen to the radio all day mentioned she had heard a snowstorm was soon headed our way and should arrive around 3pm (she announced this around 2:15pm) She went on to state that we were expecting between 4"-6", and I was like "WTH?!" I would often watch the local news while getting ready for work in the mornings and no such thing was forecasted.
No CLT got 3.7” on the 22nd and officially recorded 8.5” at the airport from the Crusher… I double checked the records just to be sure..there were higher amounts in southeast Mecklenburg. It was just west of the airport that totals really started to fall off.
