All of these locations record average annual snowfall numbers of more than 200 inches (16 feet) of snow per year. Some of them get much more.
While it was snowing in Los Angeles, New York City experienced unusually warm temperatures in February. As of February 28, the Big Apple had barely kicked up half an inch of snow, while Buffalo, New York, had already experienced a blizzard that dumped more than 50 inches and killed 34 people in December.
Snow finally began to fall in places like New York City and Boston in late February. And while Buffalo is normally a snowy place, it still isn’t where the most snow falls.
There are many places in the US where snowfall is not officially recorded, and many of the places where it is recorded are remote and uninhabited. According Current ResultsA weather site summarizing published weather data and research, a station on Mount Rainier in Washington state recorded a whopping 92 feet of snow in 1971.
The snowfall figures in this list come from Current Resultswhich compiled them from 5,659 weather stations in the US that contributed quality data over the 30-year period from 1991 to 2020 to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Many of these places that are inhabited are naturally popular skiing spots.
These are the average annual snowfall figures for 20 locations that receive more than 200 inches of snow per year.
1. Headquarters Crater Lake Park, Oregon.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 463.1
The park in Oregon is centered around a blue volcanic crater lake, and the venue receives an average of nearly 39 feet of snow. Average snowfall has declined over the years, from an average of 51 feet in the 1930s to 41 feet in 2021. The most cumulative snowfall for a season was 879 inches, a whopping 73 feet, in the winter from 1932-33, according to the National Park Service.
Crater Lake National Park’s tremendous snowfall is a result of its position atop the Cascade Mountains. The lodge, shown here, overlooks the lake.
2. Alta, Utah
Average annual snowfall, inches: 458.3
Alta is in the Wasatch Range of Utah, near Salt Lake City. It is known for its ski resorts, naturally. As of the end of February of this year, Alta had gotten 552 inches of snow for the season.
The summer payoff for all that snow in Alta is stunning fields of wildflowers around July.
3. Soda Springs, Calif.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 445.0
Soda Springs is a small community and ski resort on Interstate 80, just west of Donner Summit in the Sierra Nevada. The pass is named for the Donner party, a group of pioneers who were trapped there by 29 feet of snow in the winter of 1846-47 on their way west.
Just a few miles from Soda Springs at Donner Summit is the city of Truckee, California, which averages 206 inches of snow per year. The area is known for its Lake Tahoe ski resorts.
4. Gothic, Col.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 389
An abandoned silver mining town north of Crested Butte has been home to the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory since 1928.
Charlie DeTar / Wikipedia
5. Valdez, AK
Average annual snowfall, inches: 325.3
This town of about 4,000 on Prince William Sound gets its share of snow and bills itself as the Snow Capital of the US.
6. Climax Mine, Colorado.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 294.7
Climax is another ghost town. It is located in central Colorado on the Continental Divide and was once the highest human settlement in the US It is still home to a molybdenum mine. The place has a mean annual temperature of 30.7 °F, just below freezing, and may be the coldest settlement ever established in the lower 48 degrees.
John Holm of Leadville, CO, USA/Wikipedia
7. South entrance to Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 293.6
In Yellowstone, in winter, most roads are only open for coach and snowmobile tours. The only trail open year-round is at the north entrance to Gardiner, Mont.
Winter temperatures in Yellowstone range from zero to 20°F. during the day. The park has a number of warm cabins for snow-loving skiers, snowshoes, and snowmobilers.
8. Mount Washington, New Hampshire
Average annual snowfall, inches: 281.8
crew members of he The Mount Washington Observatory’s mountaintop weather station lives on the summit for a week at a time, taking hourly weather observations, conducting research, and conducting educational programs.
Despite its beauty, Mount Washington can be an inhospitable place. Winds of 231 miles per hour have been recorded here.
9.Holden Village, Wash.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 273.7
Holden Village is a remote wilderness community and Lutheran Christian hub in the North Cascades with an average of nearly 23 feet of snow per year.
Wikipedia
10. Whittier, AK
Average annual snowfall, inches: 268.2
11. Main Bay, Alaska
Average annual snowfall, inches: 261.8
Main Bay, Prince William Sound, is located on the eastern shore of the Kenai Peninsula. There is a salmon farm there. Whittier is the closest city, about 40 miles away.
12. Haines Highway Border Crossing, Alaska
Average annual snowfall, inches: 245.1
Jay Cross from Berkeley, USA/Wikipedia
13. Peak of Mount Mansfield, Vt.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 234.9
Vermont’s highest mountain stands at 4,395 feet and is a popular ski spot. According to NOAA, snowfall has been recorded at the summit every month of the year.
Mount Mansfield averages nearly 200 nights a year with sub-zero temperatures and extreme temperatures from 85 F in 2020 to minus 39 F in 1968. It looms over the town of Stowe, Vermont, shown here.
14. Government Camp, Oregon.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 232.5
Government Camp sits at the base of Oregon’s mighty Mt. Hood and gets its share of snow.
Government Camp, with fewer than 200 people, is the gateway to several ski resorts on Mount Hood.
15. Lookout State Forest, Copenhagen, New York
Average annual snowfall, inches: 227.7
16. Skyline Mine, Scofield, Utah
Average annual snowfall, inches: 225.4
This small town was home to a coal mine that is remembered for an explosion that killed 100 people in May 1900. This image shows the dedication of the graves of the dead.
Wikipedia
17. Sherman, New York
Average annual snowfall, inches: 224.5
This city in Chautauqua County, New York, is situated near Lake Erie and Lake Chautauqua southwest of Buffalo.
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18. Lodgepole, Calif.
Average annual snowfall, inches: 220.4
Camp Lodgepole, at about 6,700 feet in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, receives an average of 220 inches of snow a year.
19. Alyeska, AK
Average annual snowfall, inches: 214.5
CurrentResults lists 214.5 inches of average annual snowfall, but the ski resort in Alyeska boasts over 600 inches of snowfall on the mountain.
20. Winter Park, Colorado
Average annual snowfall, inches: 214
Winter Park is 67 miles west of Denver in the Rocky Mountains. The resort makes the most of its abundant snow with everything from skiing and snowboarding to ski biking, snowshoeing, and stargazing from a SnoCat.
Take a look at more of the snowiest places at CurrentResults.com.
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