Tag Archives: Columbus Ohio snow

Winter 2025-2026 Running Tally

Posted on by
Reply

**Here are this winter’s running statistical tally of Winter 2025-2026.

**Last Updated 12/15/2025= Updated through 12/14/2025. 

Temperatures

Average High Temperature
October: 67.7
November: 51.6
December: 32.7

Cold Season Average to Date: 54.7
Winter Season Average to Date: 32.7

Average Low Temperature
October: 46.8
November: 34.1
December: 21.6

Cold Season Average to Date: 37.0
Winter Season Average to Date: 21.6

Mean Temperature
October: 57.3
November: 42.9
December: 27.1

Cold Season Average to Date: 45.9
Winter Season Average to Date: 27.1

Mean Departure from Normal
October: +2.1
November: -0.7
December: -9.4

December 2025 through the 14th has been the 13th coldest since 1878.

Coldest High Temperature
October: 51 on the 22nd and 30th
November: 33 on the 10th
December: 18 on the 14th

Coldest Low Temperature
October: 34 on the 24th and 25th
November: 19 on the 29th
December: 4 on the 14th

Coldest Mean Temperature
October: 46 on the 24th and 30th
November: 28.5 on the 10th and 29th
December: 11 on the 14th

Warmest High Temperature
October: 85 on the 4th
November: 67 on the 5th
December: 44 on the 10th

Warmest Low Temperature
October: 59 on the 7th
November: 49 on the 15th
December: 31 on the 7th and 10th

Warmest Mean Temperature
October: 70.5 on the 3rd and 4th
November: 57.5 on the 15th
December: 37.5 on the 10th

Temperature Records
October: 0
November: 0
December: 0

Total Precipitation Days
October: 7
November: 16
December: 8

Precipitation

Monthly Precipitation Total
October: 3.88″
November: 2.32″
December: 0.84″

Cold Season Total to Date: 7.04″
Winter Season Total to Date: 0.84″

Monthly Precipitation Departure from Normal
October: +0.98″
November: -0.57″
December: -0.44″

Cold Season Departure from Normal: -0.03″
Winter Season Departure from Normal: -0.44″

Greatest Precipitation
October: 1.84″ on the 7th
November: 0.70″ on the 25th
December: 0.38″ on the 2nd

Monthly Snowfall
October: 0″
November: 1.8″
December: 10.1″

Cold Season Total to Date: 11.9″
Winter Season Total to Date: 10.1″

The 2025 cold season through December 14th has been the 6th snowiest since 1878.

Monthly Snowfall Departure from Normal
October: -0.2″
November: +0.6″
December: +5.0″

Cold Season Departure from Normal: +5.4″
Winter Season Departure from Normal: +5.0″

Greatest Snowfall
October: 0″
November: 1.3″ on the 10th
December: 5.4″ on the 13th

Precipitation Records
October
10/7/2025: Record daily precipitation of 1.84″, breaking the old record of 1.61″ set in 1998.
November
None
December
12/2/2025: Record daily snowfall of 4.7″, breaking the old record of 3.0″ set in 1936.
12/13/2025: Record daily snowfall of 5.4″, breaking the old record of 3.6″ set in 1945.

Largest Measurable Snowfalls by Date
1. 12/13/2025: 5.4″
2. 12/3/2025: 4.7″
3. 11/10/2025: 1.3″
4. 11/9/2025: 0.5″

December 2, 2025 Event

Total Snow Days
October: 0
November: 9
December: 8

Average Daily Wind Speed in MPH
October: 6.8
November: 8.2
December: 8.7

Highest Wind Gust in MPH
October: 42 on the 21st
November: 43 on the 5th and 26th
December: 42 on the 10th

The December 2007 Clipper and Cold

Posted on by
Reply



Forecasts on December 4th, 2007 called for a weak, fast-moving clipper to affect much of the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and east to the Mid-Atlantic coast. Most forecasts in Ohio had the area south of I-80 down to just north of the Ohio River getting 1-3″ of snowfall, with a potential max of 2-4″ in south-central Ohio from Dayton to Chillicothe.

The forecast for Columbus on December 4th, 2007 from the Wilmington National Weather Service:

OHZ045-046-054>056-065-051015-
UNION OH-DELAWARE-MADISON-FRANKLIN OH-LICKING-FAIRFIELD-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…MARYSVILLE…DELAWARE…LONDON…
COLUMBUS…NEWARK…LANCASTER
355 PM EST TUE DEC 4 2007

…SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM EST
WEDNESDAY…

.TONIGHT…FLURRIES WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW THIS
EVENING…THEN SNOW LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW LATE. SNOW
ACCUMULATION AN INCH OR LESS. LOWS IN THE MID 20S. LIGHT NORTHEAST
WINDS…BECOMING SOUTHEAST AFTER MIDNIGHT. CHANCE OF SNOW 100
PERCENT.
.WEDNESDAY…SNOW IN THE MORNING…THEN SNOW LIKELY IN THE
AFTERNOON. TOTAL ACCUMULATION OF 2 TO 3 INCHES. HIGHS IN THE
LOWER 30S. NORTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH…BECOMING NORTH 10 TO
15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF SNOW 100 PERCENT.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE EVENING…THEN BECOMING
PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 15 TO 20. NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH…
DECREASING TO AROUND 5 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

Snowfall began in western Ohio at about 10pm and reached central Ohio by midnight on the 4th. It began as flurries and light snow showers but gradually increased in intensity overnight and into the morning of the 5th, becoming heavy at times. By the time that the snowfall ended around 2:30pm in the afternoon, 4-6″ covered most of central Ohio, with the heaviest accumulations right near the I-70 corridor. Another max of snow occurred along a Mansfield to Canton line where a general 4-6″ also occurred.

The night of the 5th-6th brought a cold night for most of Ohio as clear skies after the storm and snow-covered ground sent temperatures far below normal. Most areas saw temperatures in the single digits, and many even fell into the single digits below zero. For Columbus, the low of 9 was the second lowest temperature ever recorded for the 6th of December.



Late Season Snowfalls Through History

Posted on by
Reply




Much to the potential annoyance of many, parts of Ohio- including Columbus are predicted to see a late-season snowfall Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. As late as it may seem, Columbus has seen even later season snowfalls since 1878. Though rare, these events do happen, and have sometimes been significant.

late season snowfalls Columbus, Ohio

The US weather map on the morning of May 21, 1883.

The absolute latest measurable snow occurred on May 21st, 1883, when 0.4″ fell. The amount was not impactful, but the date certainly was. People are normally thinking about summer by then, but instead got a nasty taste of winter. The present-day I-71 corridor in the state generally had had an inch or less- Cincinnati had upwards of 2″, with 3″ near Hamilton. However, areas just to the north and west were hammered with the heaviest May snow ever recorded.

An excerpt from the book “Thunder in the Heartland” by Thomas W. Schmidlin:
“A drizzling rain on Monday morning, 21 May, turned to snow at 9AM, and the air was filled with large, damp flakes all day. The Sidney Journal reported that ‘though it thawed, it lay six inches deep on Tuesday morning.’ Considering that much of the snow melted as it fell, a total of fifteen to twenty inches was estimated for Sidney. Snow depts of ten inches were measured on the north side of buildings at Houston in Shelby County.”

The Columbus Dispatch reported that snow fell in every major city from Lancaster north and west. Crops and trees were damaged by the heavy, wet snow across Western Ohio during the event. Temperatures at most locations were at or above freezing during the snow, so it did not stick around long after. Just 3 days later, it hit 80 degrees in Columbus.

Dates of Measurable Snowfalls After April 15th
1. May 21, 1883: 0.4″
2. May 9, 1923: 0.3″
3. May 7, 1989: 0.8″
4. April 30, 1908: 2.4″
5. April 24, 2005: 3.0″
6. April 22, 1893: 0.8″
6. April 22, 1901: 0.1″
7. April 21, 1934: 0.4″
7. April 21, 1936: 0.2″
7. April 21, 1953: 0.2″
8. April 20, 1910: 2.4″
8. April 20, 1962: 0.1″
9. April 19, 1887: 0.1″
9. April 19, 1907: 0.4″
9. April 19, 1969: 0.5″
9. April 19, 2019: 0.3″
10. April 18, 1983: 0.1″
10. April 18, 1984: 0.3″
11. April 17, 1961: 1.0″
11. April 17, 2001: 0.6″
12. April 16, 1935: 0.4″
12. April 16, 1956: 0.3″
12. April 16, 1996: 0.1″

Trace amounts have occurred many additional times after April 15th, including into early May. Measurable snow, however, has only occurred 23 times after April 15th since 1878. So snow after that date has occurred roughly once out of every 6.2 years. That rate is not going to be matched this time, as measurable snow fell on April 19th last year. Snow is predicted sometime tomorrow night, the 20th. If it ends up being measurable, it would fall into the tie of 8th latest such ever recorded.

To see more winter season records and local weather information and forecasts, go to the below links.
Wilmington National Weather Service
Winter Season Records
Winter Storms



The Biggest Snowstorms of All Time

Posted on by
Reply




The biggest snowstorms of all time Columbus, Ohio

East Broad Street after a snowstorm in March, 1906.

In light of yesterday’s strange storm that challenged local forecasters, I thought it might be time to look at the biggest snowstorms of all time in Columbus, or at least since records began in 1878. I looked up the total snowfall over different periods of time.

Top 20 Largest Single Snowstorms of Any Duration
1. 3/7-3/8/2008: 20.5″
2. 2/14-2/17/2003: 15.5″
3. 2/16-2/19/1910: 15.3″
4. 11/23-11/29/1950: 15.2″
5. 1/6-1/7/1910: 12.7″
6. 4/3-4/5/1987: 12.6″
7. 1/7-1/9/1884, 2/11-2/12/1910: 10.6″
8. 2/15-2/16/2010, 2/4-2/5/2014: 10.4″
9. 3/19-3/20/1906, 1/13-1/14/1917: 10.0″
10. 2/7-2/8/1971, 1/16-1/17/1978, 2/5-2/6/2010: 9.9″
11. 1/6-1/7/1996: 9.8″
12. 1/13-1/15/1968, 2/27-2/28/1984: 9.5″
13. 2/13-2/14/1914: 9.3″
14. 3/5-3/6/1962: 9.2″
15. 12/19-12/20/1960: 8.8″
16. 1/14-1/15/1918: 8.5″
17. 2/25-2/26/1934: 8.4″
18. 1/31-2/1/1881, 2/25-2/26/2014: 8.3″
19. 3/11-3/12/1906: 8.2″
20. 12/3-12/4/1957: 8.1″

Top 12 Largest 1-Day Snowfalls
1. 3/8/2008: 15.5″
2. 4/4/1987: 12.3″
3. 1/6/1910: 11.9″
4. 2/15/2010: 9.7″
5. 3/19/1906: 9.6″
6. 2/5/2010: 9.0″
7. 2/8/1971, 2/16/2003: 8.9″
8. 1/7/1996: 8.8″
9. 3/5/1962: 8.6″
10. 1/8/1884: 8.5″
11. 2/16/1910: 8.2″
12. 12/3/1957: 7.9″

Top 12 Largest 2-Day Snowfalls
1. 3/7-3/8/2008: 20.5″
2. 3/8-3/9/2008: 15.5″
3. 2/16-2/17/1910: 15.0″
4. 1/6-1/7/1910: 12.7″
5. 4/4-4/5/1987: 12.5″
6. 4/3-4/4/1987: 12.4″
7. 2/15-2/16/2003: 12.0″
8. 1/5-1/6/1910: 11.9″
9. 2/16-2/17/2003: 10.8″
10. 2/11-2/12/1910, 2/4-2/5/2014: 10.6″
11. 2/15-2/16/2010: 10.4″
12. 1/8-1/9/1884: 10.2″

Top 12 Largest 3-Day Snowfalls
1. 3/6-3/8/2008, 3/7-3/9/2008: 20.5″
2. 3/8-3/10/2008: 15.5″
3. 2/16-2/18/1910: 15.3″
4. 2/15-2/17/1910: 15.0″
5. 2/15-2/17/2003: 13.9″
6. 2/14-2/16/2003: 13.6″
7. 1/5-1/7/1910, 1/6-1/8/1910: 12.7″
8. 4/3-4/5/1987: 12.6″
9. 4/4-4/6/1987: 12.5″
10. 4/2-4/4/1987: 12.4″
11. 1/4-1/6/1910, 1/7-1/9/1996: 11.9″
12. 11/25-11/27/1950: 11.5″

Players struggle during the infamous Ohio State-Michigan Snow Bowl game on November 27, 1950.



Top 12 5-Day Snowfalls
1. 3/4-3/8/2008, 3/5-3/9/2008: 21.2″
2. 3/6-3/10/2008, 3/7-3/11/2008: 20.5″
3. 1/16-1/20/1978: 17.6″
4. 3/31-4/4/1987: 16.4″
5. 2/15-2/19/2003: 15.9″
6. 4/2-4/6/1886: 15.7″
7. 2/13-2/17/2003, 2/14-2/18/2003, 3/8-3/12/2008: 15.5″
8. 2/14-2/18/1910, 2/15-2/19/1910, 2/16-2/20/1910: 15.3″
9. 2/13-2/17/1910: 15.0″
10. 4/3-4/7/1886, 2/12-2/16/1910, 2/5-2/9/2010: 14.3″
11. 1/17-1/21/1978: 14.2″
12. 2/12-2/16/2003: 14.0″

Top 12 Largest 7-Day Snowfalls
1. 2/11-2/17/1910: 25.6″
2. 2/12-2/18/1910: 21.4″
3. 3/2-3/8/2008, 3/3-3/9/2008, 3/4-3/10/2008, 3/5-3/11/2008: 21.2″
4. 3/6-3/12/2008, 3/7-3/13/2008: 20.5″
5. 1/14-1/20/1978: 19.0″
6. 2/10-2/16/1910: 18.8″
7. 3/30-4/5/1987: 18.3″
8. 3/29-4/4/1987: 18.1
9. 1/15-1/21/1978, 1/16-1/22/1978: 17.8″
10. 2/13-2/19/2003, 2/14-2/20/2003: 17.5″
11. 2/10-2/16/2003: 17.0″
12. 4/1-4/7/1886, 4/2-4/8/1886: 16.9″

Top 12 10-Day Snowfalls
1. 2/9-2/18/1910: 28.4″
2. 2/8-2/17/1910: 28.1″
3. 2/10-2/19/1910, 2/11-2/20/1910: 25.9″
4. 3/11-3/20/1906: 23.5″
5. 3/10-3/19/1906: 23.1″
6. 2/28-3/8/2008, 2/29-3/9/2008: 21.7″
7. 2/12-2/21/1910: 21.4″
8. 2/7-2/16/1910: 21.3″
9. 3/1-3/10/2008, 3/2-3/11/2008, 3/3-3/12/2008, 3/4-3/13/2008, 3/5-3/14/2008: 21.2″
10. 2/10-2/19/2003: 20.9″
11. 1/12-1/21/1978, 1/2-1/11/1996: 20.8″
12. 1/11-1/20/1978: 20.6″

Top 12 Largest 15-Day Snowfalls
1. 2/8-2/22/1910, 2/9-2/23/1910: 28.8″
2. 2/3-2/17/1910: 28.5″
3. 2/4-2/18/1910, 2/5-2/19/1910, 2/6-2/20/1910, 2/7-2/21/1910: 28.4″
4. 2/10-2/24/1910, 2/11-2/25/1910: 26.3″
5. 2/2-2/16/2010: 25.8″
6. 1/7-1/21/1978, 1/8-1/22/1978: 25.7″
7. 1/6-1/20/1978, 2/3-2/17/2010, 2/4-2/18/2010, 2/5-2/19/2010: 25.5″
8. 1/12-1/26/1978: 25.2″
9. 2/1-2/15/2010: 25.1″
10. 3/10-3/24/1906, 3/11-3/25/1906, 1/13-1/27/1978: 24.8″
11. 1/14-1/28/1978, 2/10-2/24/2003: 24.5″
12. 3/6-3/20/1906, 3/7-3/21/1906: 23.8″

Top 12 Largest 30-Day Snowfalls
1. 1/20-2/18/1910, 1/21-2/19/1910: 37.9″
2. 1/19-2/17/1910: 37.6″
3. 1/22-2/20/1910: 35.3″
4. 1/2-1/31/1978, 1/3-2/1/1978, 1/4-2/2/1978, 1/5-2/3/1978: 34.0″
5. 1/8-2/6/1978: 33.8″
6. 1/1-1/30/1978, 1/7-2/5/1978: 33.6″
7. 12/30/1977-1/28/1978, 12/31/1977-1/29/1978: 33.4″
8. 12/29/1977-1/27/1978: 32.8″
9. 12/28/1977-1/26/1978: 32.5″
10. 1/6-2/4/1978: 32.0″
11. 2/8-3/8/2008: 31.8″
12. 1/24-2/22/1910, 1/25-2/23/1910, 1/26-2/24/1910, 1/27-2/25/1910, 1/28-2/26/1910, 1/29-2/27/1910, 1/30-2/28/1910, 1/26-2/24/2003: 30.7″

Certain years show up on all the lists, including 1906, 1910, 1978, 2003, 2008 and 2010. These winters all had periods of extreme snowfall and are considered “historic”.
Check out more winter and other local weather data with the following links.
Winter Storms
Winter Season Records
Annual Weather Records
Wilmington National Weather Service