SNOWFALL AT LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

SNOWFALL AT LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

Written and  Courtesy of National Weather Service in Little Rock, Arkansas
Last updated:  Febuary 26, 2015 (posted on their Facebook page)


Snowfall at Little Rock...

Snowfall records for Little Rock began in 1875.

Snow falls at Little Rock every year. Snow has fallen in the months of October, November, December, January, February, March, and April. Going by the 1981-2010 climate normals, the most snow tends to fall in January (average of 2.1 inches), followed by February (0.5 inches), March (0.1 inches), and December (0.1 inches).

The earliest that snow has ever fallen was October 28, 1925, and the latest was on April 19, 1983. The earliest measurable snow to ever fall was November 2, 1951 (0.4 inches), and the latest measurable snow was on March 30, 1987 (0.8 inches).

The most snow to ever fall in one day was 12.0 inches on March 6, 1875, and the highest 24-hour snowfall amount was 13.0 inches on January 17-18, 1893. The most snow to fall in one month was 20.0 inches, in January of 1918.

The longest time measurable snow has been on the ground was 27 days, from January 10, 1918 through February 5, 1918. The deepest that snow has ever been was 15 inches, on January 21, 1918.

In 139 years of snowfall observations at Little Rock, there has never been a calendar year with no snowfall. However, occasionally, some years go without measurable snowfall, but over all this tends to be rare. Since 1875, the only years without measurable snow have been 1890, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1938, 1953, 1961, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, and 2001.

There has only ever been one winter season (December 1-February 28) with absolutely no snowfall. This was the winter of 1889-1890.

There have been long periods of consecutive years with measurable snowfall, the longest of which has been 36 years, from 1891 through 1926. 2015 marks the 14th consecutive year with measurable snowfall, with this streak beginning in 2002.

Snowfall in Little Rock was excessive from the 1960s through the 1980s (from 1958 through 1989 to be more exact). Snowfall averaged 6.7 inches per year from 1960 through 1989 and there were nine years during that period with at least 10 inches of snowfall. There was measurable snowfall every year from 1962 through 1980, or 19 consecutive years.

In contrast...there were no years with at least 10 inches of snowfall from 1930 to 1959, which leads us to 1960. Snowfall in the year of 1960 alone (32.6 inches) was more than the total snowfall for the decade of the 1950s.

There was a big drought in snowfall during the 1990s. Only one year had at least five inches of snow and only three years had more than two inches of snowfall. Six years had no measurable snowfall.

No measurable snow fell from March 6th 1989 through January 6th 1994, which was the longest period without measurable snowfall at Little Rock, a total of 1768 days, or 4 years, 10 months, and 1 day. However, measurable snow did fall in other parts of Little Rock.

The next longest measurable snow drought was from February 14th 1997 through January 27th 2000, a total of 1078 days or 2 years, 11 months, and 14 days.

The longest time between any snowfall, measurable or not, was from February 6th 1907 through February 19th, 1908, or 378 days.

The total snowfall in Little Rock from 1875 through 2015 so far has been 723.4 inches...or 60.3 feet. When considering all years of observations, that is an annual average of around 5.2 inches.
The snowiest decades, from greatest to least, have been...

1. 1960-1969 90.5 inches
2. 1890-1899 75.8 inches
3. 1910-1919 71.3 inches
4. 1880-1889 59.9 inches
5. 1970-1979 55.9 inches
6. 1980-1989 55.2 inches
7. 1920-1929 47.5 inches
8. 1940-1949 46.1 inches
9. 1900-1909 31.9 inches
10. 2000-2009 30.7 inches
11. 1950-1959 27.2 inches
12. 1930-1939 24.5 inches
13. 1990-1999 14.9 inches

In six short years, from 2010-2015, 47.7 inches of snow has fallen so far. This is more snow that what fell in the  2000s, 1990s, 1950s, 1940s, 1930s, 1920s, and 1900s. It is more than the previous two decades combined. So, a little  more than half way through the 2010-2019 decade, it now ranks as the 7th snowiest decade on record.