5 Major Early Fall Snowstorms in Recent Memory

Chris Dolce
Published: September 22,2016
Fall has arrived, and that means the window of opportunity for major early-season snowstorms has officially opened in some parts of the country.
Typically the first part of fall brings thoughts of cool, clear nights, resulting in perhaps the first frost or freeze of the season. But recent years have shown us that we can see big snowstorms prior to Halloween, and sometimes they are very destructive.
Here are some examples from the past 10 years.
(MORE: Winter Storm Central)

2013: Winter Storm Atlas: Blizzard Conditions, Tree Damage, Power Outages

A view of the roads in South Dakota after Atlas dumped up to four feet of snow on the state. (stormchasingvideo.com)

One only has to look back to three years ago to find a crippling early-fall snowstorm that began just over 10 days after the Autumnal Equinox.
Winter Storm Atlas pummeled the northern High Plains and northern Rockies with feet of snow and fierce wind gusts to 70 mph Oct. 3-5, 2013.
The top snow total from the storm was 58 inches - or nearly 5 feet - in northwest Lawrence County, South Dakota. Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota clocked the top wind gust at 71 mph. Needless to say, the combination of heavy snow and strong winds led to blizzard conditions in some areas, resulting in road closures, tree damage and power outages.
Rapid City, South Dakota, was one of the locations that saw blizzard conditions, with visibility dropping as low as 1/8 of a mile. According to The Associated Press, first responders in Rapid City were overwhelmed with calls for stuck vehicles and downed trees and power lines making some roads impassable. Officially, 23.1 inches of snow fell during the storm in Rapid City, making it the second heaviest storm total ever recorded there.
Tree damage and power outages were also reported in Wyoming. Casper saw its heaviest snowstorm so early in the season with 16.2 inches.
The storm had a major impact on ranchers in the region, causing them to lose thousands of cattle.
Because of the widespread heavy snowfall, NOAA rated Atlas as a Category 3 winter storm on its Regional Snowfall Index for the Northern Rockies and Plains region.
(MORE: Atlas Full Recap)

2012: Superstorm Sandy Dumps Up to 3 Feet of Snow

An ambulance stuck in snow Oct. 30, 2012, near Belington, West Virginia.
(AP Photo/Robert Ray)

One of the more mind-boggling aspects of Superstorm Sandy were the snowfall forecasts being projected by computer models for the Appalachians region several days in advance of its approach to the East Coast. Watching moisture from a hurricane that originated in the Caribbean go on to produce prolific amounts of snow is not something meteorologists get a chance to analyze very often, if ever, in their careers.
Sandy's moisture in combination with cold air from a southward dip in the jet stream over the eastern states buried parts of the Appalachians with up to 3 feet of snow, from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. More than 50 locations saw at least a foot of snow Oct. 28-31, 2012.
The heavy, wet snow caused tree damage, knocked down power lines and closed roads in the region. Some roofs collapsed under the weight of the snow in West Virginia.
(MORE: Sandy's Snowy Side)

2011: "Snowtober" Knocks Out Power to 3 Million

Satellite image from Oct. 30, 2011, showing the swath of snow produced by Snowtober from West Virginia to southern New England.

This rare, major October snowstorm dumped more than a foot of snow from northeast Pennsylvania to southern Maine Oct. 29-30, 2011. Incredibly, parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire saw more than 30 inches.
Trees were damaged and power lines were downed by the heavy, wet snow, causing more than 3 million to lose power. In some of the hardest hit areas, power was out for more than a week. Playing a role in the tree damage caused by "Snowtober" was the fact that many trees still had their leaves.
A storm event review by NOAA says that 39 direct and indirect deaths were blamed on the storm.
The name "Snowtober" was widely used to refer to the storm by those following it on social media and elsewhere.

2010: "Octobomb" Brings Blizzard Conditions to the Northern Plains

Satellite image of the intense storm on Oct. 26, 2010.
(NOAA)

Although this storm did not deliver huge amounts of snow, we thought it should be included given how unique it was meteorologically.
The term "Octobomb" was used by some to describe an intense low pressure system that impacted parts of the Plains and Midwest Oct. 25-27, 2010. All-time record low barometric pressure readings were set by the storm in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. For reference, lower barometric pressure readings are associated with stronger areas of low pressure. The storm underwent what meteorologists call bombogenesis, which is used to describe a rapidly strengthening low pressure system that has a pressure drop of 24 millibars in 24 hours.
A wide range of impacts were spawned by the storm system, ranging from strong non-thunderstorm winds and snow along the periphery of the low, to severe storms and tornadoes ahead of the cold front in the Ohio Valley and Mid-South.
The Dakotas, eastern Montana and northern Minnesota saw the most significant winter weather associated with the storm. Blizzard conditions were reported in the northern Plains, according to the storm event review by NOAA.
Duluth, Minnesota, saw 7.9 inches of snow and wind gusts over 35 mph Oct. 26-27, 2010. North Dakota and South Dakota also had top snow totals over a half foot. Wind gusts in the Dakotas topped 60 mph in many locations.

2006: Buffalo Crippled by Lake-Effect Snow 

Local residents watch as crews clear fallen trees Oct. 16, 2006, in Amherst, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. (John Normile/Getty Images)

While the other recent October snowstorm examples above are of the large-scale variety, this next one occurred on a more localized scale almost ten years ago.
A band of heavy lake-effect snow pummeled the Buffalo, New York, area Oct. 12-13, 2006, downing trees and power lines, and knocking out power to about a million customers in the area. As we've seen with the other storms above, many trees still had their leaves, worsening the impacts of the snow. In fact, there was already plenty of damage reported with just the first few inches of snow that fell, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Buffalo said.
The storm total of 22.6 inches in Buffalo easily beat the all-time previous October monthly snowfall record of 6 inches in 1909.
Lightning and thunder were constant during the height of the storm, according to the (NWS). This was due to the very unstable environment in place with relatively mild lake waters at 61 degrees, and an air mass that was just cold enough aloft to produce the heavy snow.

Why Are Fall Snowstorms So Damaging?

The heavy, wet nature of most early-season snowfalls can weigh down tree branches and power lines, causing them to break.
Also playing a role is the fact that many trees may still have their leaves, adding extra weight to branches already being weighed down by snow.
Finally, if gusty winds accompany the storm, they will blow those snow-covered trees and power lines around, potentially leading to a very damaging situation.

PHOTOS: Winter Storm Atlas (Early Fall 2013)