10 Least Snowiest Winters in New York City History

These are the ten least snowiest winters in New York City history. The data dates back from 1869 to the present as measured by snow totals in Central Park and reported by the National Weather Service.

New York City has never had a recorded winter where no snow fell. The lowest total ever is 2.8 inches. Every year on this list of least snowiest years in New York City history is below 1 foot of snow.

The average annual snowfall in New York City is 28 inches. In most recent winters the city has exceeded that total including last winter when New York City experienced its snowiest month in history in February of 2010.

New York City can receive snow that has moved across the country from the west and it can also receive snow from Nor'easter storms when moisture moves up the Atlantic coast and meets arctic cold coming down from Canada and the north. In general snowfall from the west tends to mostly peter out before reaching the city and usually snowfall from the west does not amount to much. The big snow totals come from the Nor'easter storms which can often drop a foot or more of snow in a day or a few hours time.

The Great Blizzard of 1888 was a huge Nor'easter that dumped 22 inches of snow in New York City in March.

New York city is not really subject to lake effect snow and hence has much lower annual snow averages than all the upstate cities like Buffalo, Rochester and Albany. New York State has the most large cities that have the highest annual snow totals in the United States but that does not include New York City.

New York City rarely experiences drought conditions so when snow totals are low it's usually due to warmer temperatures which bring rain instead of snow.

10 Least Snowiest Years in New York city History

1) 1972 to 1973 - 2.8 inches of snow

2) 2001 to 2002 - 3.5"

3) 1918 to 1919 - 3.8"

4) 1931 to 1932 - 5.1"

5) 1997 to 1998 - 5.5"

6) 1988 to 1989 and 1877 to 1878 - 8.1"

7) 1900 to 1901 - 9.1"

8) 1996 to 1997 - 10.0"

9) 1941 to 1942 - 11.3"

10) 1954 to 1955 - 11.5"

From the weather statistics on the list one can see that New York city experiences a foot or less of snow about once every dozen or bakers dozen winters or so.

The last one was in 2001 to 2002 so New York City is probably due for a low snowfall winter this year or next.

For more see Snowiest Winters in New York City History

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Sources:

National Weather Service