Are You Sick Of Snow? Here's When It Usually Ends In Spring And The Latest On Record It Has Snowed

When The Snow Is Usually Over

S​now can be exciting to see in the fall or early winter, but by the time the calendar flips to March, many are sick of seeing flakes fly as we make the gradual pivot to spring.

Although the date of that pivot to the final accumulating snow varies year-to-year, we examine the data for dozens of cities to see when the season typically ends and the latest it's snowed in spring.

Big Picture: March Or April Final Snow Is Typical For Most

T​he map below shows which month the final measurable snow (at least 0.1 inches) of the season has usually occurred, based on the 1991-2020 average from NOAA. Here are the key takeaways.

• Central And Eastern States: The final snow happens in March for most cities in the Northeast Megalopolis, Ohio and mid-Mississippi valleys and Central Plains. It's April from northern New England and parts of the interior Northeast to the Great Lakes, upper Midwest and Northern Plains.
• West: Geography plays a big role here, with some of the higher elevations waiting until May, or even June or July. But locations in valleys and along the Colorado Front Range corridor see their final snow earlier. Alaska isn't shown on the map, but dates for the average last snowfall range from March 31 in Juneau to June 24 in Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow).

D​eeper Dive: Region-By-Region Dates

Northeast: Once the spring equinox happens, snow is not typical in areas close to the Northeast coast. Areas farther north and inland can expect the last snowfall to take place in April. Washington, D.C., is a bit earlier with its average date of the season's final snow on Feb. 27.

However, snow has fallen into May in parts of the region, including in Burlington, Vermont, which experienced its latest snowfall on record on Mother's Day in 1996.

Midwest: Areas across the Northern Plains into the upper Midwest and northern Great Lakes typically experience the season's final snowfall in April, but 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.

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.

Geek Out More: Snow Winners And Losers This Season

Snowfall compared to average east of the Rockies has been a bit topsy-turvy this season, based on the analysis below from Penn State University, which uses data from NOAA. It shows how snowfall this season compares to the average since 2008 as of March 6, with areas in blue and purple above average, and locations in red lagging behind pace.

H​istoric Winter Storm Enzo brought record-breaking snow to the Gulf Coast, sending that region way above average. Parts of the mid-South, Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic have also seen snowfall surpluses.

To the north, it's been the opposite with below-average snow in the Northern Plains, upper Midwest and along much of the Northeast Interstate 95 corridor. The exception is the Great Lakes snow belts where lake-effect snow was active this season.

I​t's a mixed story in the West with many locations below average, especially the Southwest. The exceptions are parts of the interior Northwest as well as northeast New Mexico and portions of eastern Colorado.