The Most Snow-Fatigued Cities in the U.S. Right Now

A siege of winter storms and cold weather since late January has induced full-fledged snow fatigue in a number of cities in the South, Midwest and Northeast.

Of course, the fatigue of clearing your sidewalk or driveway multiple times can't possibly measure up to the misery of power outages, water outages, burst pipes, lack of heat and impassable roads people have endured in Texas and other parts of the South.

(MORE: Relief May Be In Sight For Cold-Weary Texas)

So this is meant as more of a light-hearted highlight of some of the cities in the United States that have been pummeled most by snow over this recent string of nine named winter storms since late January, and over the winter season as a whole.

Let's begin in the South.

Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City kicked off its snow season with a dusting – 0.2 inches – five days before Halloween, tying Oct. 26, 1913, for their record earliest first measurable snow of the fall.

They had a pair of 3-inch snowfalls within three days in mid-December, then rang in the New Year with a 5-inch snowstorm.

Mid-February kicked winter into higher gear, with a 6-inch snowstorm on Valentine's Day, followed by a 4-inch storm two days later.

As of the time this article was published, the capital city was less than 3 inches from its snowiest season on record – 25.2 inches in 1947-48, fueled by five significant storms.

Little Rock

While Oklahoma City is flirting with its seasonal record, and has seen snow since late October, Arkansas' capital city has upstaged its Sooner State counterpart.

In the span of four days from Valentine's Day through Wednesday, Little Rock picked up an astonishing 20 inches of snow from two separate winter storms.

They never before had two calendar-day 6-inch-plus snowfalls in the same winter season, much less within four days.

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Wednesday's 11.8-inch snowfall was their second-snowiest day on record, just shy of their March 6, 1875 record of 12 inches. The city averages 3.5 inches of snow a year.

Unsurprisingly, the city tied its all-time record for snow on the ground, reporting a 15-inch snow cover on Thursday. That snow depth record was set in 1918, just before a flu pandemic flared up. You can't make this stuff up.

Chicago

There's plenty of snow fatigue to cover in the Midwest.

Since late January, Chicago has essentially picked up almost an entire season's worth of snow in about three weeks.

This siege was punctuated by a winter storm that not only dumped its snow on Chicagoland but also was accompanied by a period of heavy lake-effect snow as icy, cold winds blew over stretches of unfrozen Lake Michigan. Parts of Cook County and northwestern Indiana picked up 18 inches of snow.

Measurable snow fell nine days in a row at O'Hare International Airport, tying a record snow streak in the city set just three years ago.

Cincinnati

It may have taken until February, but the Queen City's snow fatigue shifted into overdrive this month.

A heavy band of snow with snowfall rates up to 4 inches per hour parked over southern Ohio on the night of Feb. 8-9. This unexpectedly severe event became the city's heaviest two-day snowstorm in almost 13 years, wringing out about 10 inches over the city.

One day later, snow once again fell at a rate of 1 inch per hour over the metro, though only 3 inches accumulated at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

With almost 22 inches of snow as of the time this article was published, February was already a top 5 snowiest month all-time for the city in records dating to 1893, and less than 10 inches from the all-time monthly record (31.5 inches) set in January 1978.

Measurable snow had fallen on 11 of 18 days so far in February.

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Any snow fatigue in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley may be largely due to a couple of major snowstorms this season.

Most recently, Winter Storm Orlena pummeled parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and southern New England with over a foot of snow as January gave way to February.

Allentown picked up 27.3 inches of snow in this pre-Groundhog Day storm, the city's second-heaviest snowstorm all-time behind only a January 2016 snowstorm that dumped 31.9 inches of snow in two days.

The weight of this snow collapsed the roof of a bowling alley just north of Allentown.

In mid-December, Winter Storm Gail wasn't nearly as prolific a storm in Allentown (11.5 inches) but was an all-time record snowstorm in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Binghamton, New York.

Those two snowstorms accounted for over 80% of Allentown's snowfall this season, which is more than 2 feet snowier than average so far.

As of the time this article was published, Allentown was knocking on the door of their top 5 snowiest months, all-time, with 33.6 inches through Feb. 18.

New York City

After picking up less than 5 inches of snow all last winter season, perhaps the bar for snow fatigue in New York was set lower heading into this winter.

Similar to Allentown, New York City was clobbered both by mid-December's Winter Storm Gail (10.5 inches) and February's kickoff Winter Storm Orlena (17.4 inches). Orlena was the city's first one-foot-plus snowstorm in five years.

But that wasn't it for February.

Another 4 inches of snow fell four days after Orlena, then another 1 to 2 inches on Feb. 11. On Thursday, Winter Storm Viola dropped another 3 to 4 inches of snow in the city.

With over 2 feet already this month, February 2021 could end up as a top 10 or even top 5 snowiest month all-time in the city.

From the "it could be worse" file, the two snowiest months on record in New York City were rather recent: February 2010 (36.9 inches) and January 2011 (36 inches).

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