Here's How Late Into the Spring Your City Has Seen Accumulating Snow

 weather.com meteorologists

Published: April 19, 2021

More snow might not be welcomed news for many who are ready to head toward warmer spring temperatures after a long winter season, but snow in late April and May does happen some years in the Plains, Midwest and Northeast.

Just last May, New York City observed a trace of snow on May 9, which tied their record for the latest snowfall. Pittsburgh reported a trace of snow on May 8 and 9, while Detroit saw five straight days of at least a trace of snow.

In 2019, Winter Storm Xyler brought accumulating snow to parts of the Northern Plains, upper Midwest, Great Lakes and interior Northeast during the last weekend of April. Thundersnow was reported in South Dakota and Chicago picked up 2.7 inches of snow on April 27.

However, spring snow would be very beneficial in much of the West. Extensive drought persists across much of the region – particularly the Southwest, according to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor – where snowmelt during the summer helps to replenish reservoirs and rivers.

Snowfall for the 2020-21 season, through April 18.

We scoured National Weather Service records to compile both the average date of the final measurable snow (at least 0.1 inches) and the date of the latest spring accumulating snow on record. In some locations, that record-latest date was in the summer.

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The map below indicates the average month when you can put away the shovel or snow thrower for the season.

A couple of notes on this data:

• We only plotted cities and locations where the average last measurable snow of the season occurs in March or later. As a result, Washington D.C. was among cities not plotted; Its average date of the season's final snow is Feb. 24.
• Since accumulating graupel or hail is also officially classified as snow in daily and monthly climate reports, we made every effort to quality check each "latest snow" record, removing those dates when temperatures were clearly too warm for snow, and hail likely fell instead.

The colors of each dot correspond to the month of the season's average last snow.

Northeast

In the Northeast, areas closer to the coast usually see the last snowfall of the season during March. For areas farther north and inland, the last snowfall typically takes place in April. Snow has fallen as late as May in many parts of the region.

This winter was very different from last year, when little snow accumulated along the Interstate 95 corridor. However, some interior locations are below average and additional snow could help erase some of the deficits.

Syracuse, New York, has measured 70 inches this season, more than 50 inches below average to date. Meanwhile, New York City has totaled 38.6 inches, which is about a foot above average. Boston and Philadelphia have had about average snowfall this season.

Midwest

Areas across the Northern Plains into the upper Midwest and northern Great Lakes typically experience the season's final snowfall in April, while areas farther south usually say goodbye to additional snow in March.

The latest snowfall on record for most of the region is in May, even for areas as far south as Amarillo, Texas, where the latest snow on record fell May 4, 1935.

Snowfall this season has varied greatly across the region. Spring snow may be welcomed in Bismarck, North Dakota, which has received less than a third of its average snowfall to date. Farther east, Minneapolis is close to average for seasonal snowfall, while Chicago has seen almost 50 inches of snow – about a foot above average.

West

In the West, many locations wait until May or later to see the last snowfall of the season. One location not listed in the table below, Mount Rainier, Washington, has its average last snowfall on July 13.

There are even a few locations where April is the snowiest month of the year, including Casper, Wyoming (average April snowfall: 11.6 inches), and Breckenridge, Colorado (26.5 inches).

The latest snowfall for many locations in the western U.S. is in June, but a few have experienced the last snow of the season as late as July, including Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, and Yellowstone Lake, Montana.

Parts of the Northwest have seen ample snowfall this season, while areas farther south could benefit from spring snowfall. In California's Sierra Nevada, the snow water equivalent is only 39% of the April 16 average.

Alaska is not shown on the map at the top. Dates for average last snowfall there range from March 31 in Juneau to June 21 in Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow).

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.