On average the 2 snowiest days on record for Charlotte are tomorrow & March 2nd.

Tomorrow is February 26th which is the 2nd snowiest date on average for Charlotte. On this date, we have seen 30.9″ of snow over the 140 years of record keeping. The snowiest day of the year on average is March 2nd where we have seen 34.8″ of snow over the years on the date. These are the only 2 days on the calendar throughout the year where we have seen 30″ or higher.

The reason February 26th ranks so high is in part to one of our biggest storms. 15 years ago this Wednesday we woke up to one of the biggest snowstorms in Charlotte history. In an amazing two days of snow that saw the city come to a standstill at noon time on the 26th when everyone left work and school at the same time. We saw two waves of snow with this storm. One during the day and another at night into the 27th. We even saw thundersnow several times throughout the event.

I remember it so vividly, driving to work the morning of the 27th with my jeep in 4×4 mode and the snow being over a foot deep on most of the roads on the way into the station. The city and county at the time only had like four plows, and the snow was so deep people were just bottoming out their cars. You actually needed to plow not brine or salt to get this heavy snow off the roads.

Records set during this storm:

Charlotte set a daily snowfall record on Feb 26, 2004, of 11.6”. This was also the 3rd biggest one-day total on record.

The storm total at the airport was 13.2 “ the 3rd biggest storm in city history.

The heaviest amounts were just south of Uptown Charlotte in south Charlotte and into York County. Rock Hill and Winthrop University recorded about 22” of snow. This was York Counties biggest snow on record and a top 3 storm in South Carolina state history.