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mahatmakanejeeves

(57,393 posts)
Mon Feb 25, 2019, 03:50 PM Feb 2019

How many of Richmond's biggest snowstorms do you remember?

How many of Richmond's biggest snowstorms do you remember?
Feb 14, 2019

What's the biggest snowstorm you can remember? ... If you've lived in Richmond for many years, you might remember our greatest snowstorm on record.

Or maybe you heard those tales of massive drifts and numbing cold handed down over the decades. ... Even if you only moved to the area recently, you got to witness a storm that nearly entered the top ten.

Here are the fifteen highest snowstorm totals in Richmond, according to the National Weather Service in Wakefield. ... Local records date to 1897. The airport has been the official measuring site since the 1930s.

Of the top fifteen storms, nearly half occurred in January. Two of the top five hit in February. The only year with two entries on the list was 1980.

1. Jan. 23-24, 1940



21.6 inches at Byrd Field, now called Richmond International Airport (RIC).

Around central Virginia: 14 to 25 inches.

This January 1940 image shows downtown Richmond near 13th and Main streets two days after a storm dumped 15 to 22 inches of snow across the area. Many workers in the area stayed in downtown hotels because it was too dangerous to travel home. Some last-minute guests slept in chairs or on the floor of some lobbies.

Staff photo

1. Jan. 23-24, 1940



In January 1940, Merritt Ruddock, a News Leader reporter, rode to work from his home in Bon Air to downtown Richmond on a borrowed mule.

STAFF PHOTO

2. Jan. 27-29, 1922



19.1 inches at Chimborazo Park.

Around central Virginia: 8 to 28 inches.

This is known as the Knickerbocker storm, named for a Washington theater that suffered a deadly roof collapse due to the heavy snowfall.
....

6. March 5-7, 1962 (the Ash Wednesday storm)



15.2 inches at RIC. Around central Virginia: 2 to 24 inches.03-05-1962: A scene from downtown Richmond on Grace St. between Third and Fourth Streets during heaving snowfall that put 9.3 inches of snow on the city. By the end of the week, the accumulation reached 15.2 inches.

Staff photo
....
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