CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Wondering which locations in the U.S. see the most fluffy white stuff each year in February? We’ve got the list of the snowiest places here.
Top 10 cities with snowiest Februaries in the U.S.
- Rochester, New York
- Buffalo, New York
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Detroit, Michigan
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Providence, Rhode Island
Out of the 51 biggest cities in the U.S., more than half see at least some amount of snow during February.
Rochester, New York, of every major U.S. city, sees the most snow every February. If you live there, you probably already know that, though. According to data from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA), the city gets an average of 23 inches of snow in February.
According to NOAA, Buffalo residents get an average of 18.1 inches of snow in February, followed by Cleveland with 15.1 inches, Hartford with 14.8 inches, and then Detroit with 12.5 inches.
Rochester sees an average of 15 days’ worth of snow in February. Its sister city, Buffalo, averages about 14 days of snow, and those in Cleveland see about 11 days, according to NOAA.
Proximity to the Great Lakes is one of the biggest factors in why most of these cities see so much snow. Meteorologists have coined the term “lake effect snow” to describe how the cities surrounding the Great Lakes are more likely to be impacted by cold air from Canada, which can increase each city’s snow total.
Normally, snow does not fall during February in Houston, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Tampa. However, over the past year, some of these cities have, in fact, seen an accumulation of the white stuff.
