List of Regional Snowfall Index Category 5 winter storms
The Regional Snowfall Index (RSI) is a system used by NOAA to assess the societal impact of winter storms in the United States. The system is a replacement for the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS) system which, unlike the former; assesses winter storm impacts outside of the Northeastern United States. Since its initiation the NCDC has retroactively assigned RSI values to over 500 historical storms since 1900.
Storms are ranked from Category 1 to 5 on the scale; with the former being classified as Notable and the latter as Extreme. The impact of the storms is assessed in six different regions of the United States: the Northeast, Northern Rockies and Plains, Ohio Valley, South, Southeast and the Upper Midwest.[1] A Category 5 Extreme ranking is indicated by a numerical score of 18 or higher on the scale.
Out of the over 500 historical storms assessed since 1900, only seventeen storms have been given a Category 5 ranking. The highest ranking storm on the list is the Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950 which scored a value of 32.31. The most recent storm to receive a Category 5 ranking is the Northeast January Blizzard of 2016. The following list orders the storms chronologically.[1][2][3]
List of Category 5 events
Year | Date | Max. RSI | Region |
---|---|---|---|
1921 | February 17–21 | 22.88 | South |
1927 | April 4–9 | 27.58 | Rocky Mountains and Plains |
1929 | December 18–23 | 18.29 | South |
1950 | November 11–21 | 32.31 | Ohio Valley |
1969 | February 21–27 | 26.42 | Northeast |
1978 | January 22–27 | 25.84 | Upper Midwest |
1984 | April 24–27 | 21.44 | Rocky Mountains and Plains |
1985 | February 6–14 | 19.53 | Upper Midwest |
1985 | November 27 – December 1 | 19.66 | Upper Midwest |
1988 | January 4–8 | 21.93 | South |
1991 | October 30 – November 3 | 20.99 | Upper Midwest |
1993 | March 11–14 | 24.67 | Ohio Valley |
1993 | November 20–28 | 19.26 | Rocky Mountains and Plains |
1996 | January 5–8 | 20.99 | Southeast |
2009 | December 21–28 | 18.67 | Rocky Mountains and Plains |
2011 | January 31 – February 3 | 19.81 | Ohio Valley |
2016 | January 22–24 | 20.14 | Northeast[4] |
See also
References
- 1 2 "Regional Snowfall Index (RSI)". NOAA: National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
- ↑ "Regional Snowfall Index and Societal Impacts". Retrieved 2014-11-18.
- ↑ "NOAA Product Highlight: Regional Snowfall Index". Retrieved 2014-11-18.
- ↑ "Putting the January 22–24 Snowstorm in Historical Context". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. February 18, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2016.