List: 20 of the most destructive winter storms of the 21st century

Catastrophic climate occasions can comply with predictable meteorological fashions, however the difference between rain and snow can be razor-thin. When such occasions—particularly winter storms—happen in distant areas, in states with historically heat temperatures, or spring up out of season, the outcomes will be disastrous and costly. States like Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and the Dakotas are accustomed to harsh chilly climate situations, however southern states like Louisiana and Texas are usually wholly unprepared when ice, sleet, and snow strike.

One maybe want look no additional for proof on this case than the fallout of the 2021 superstorm that knocked out power all throughout Texas. Even when storms are precisely predicted, solely a lot will be performed to arrange for the impending weight of snow on roofs and energy traces. Add excessive winds and low visibility, and snowstorms develop into full-blown blizzards, succesful of shutting down major roads and collapsing buildings or power transmission towers.

To set up the most destructive winter storms of the 21st century, Stacker consulted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Events Database from 2000 as much as April 2022 to rank storms in response to the greenback worth of property injury throughout the states affected. Winter storms might embrace a number of occasions throughout totally different National Weather Service zones. Damage estimates are summed from all occasions thought-about the identical storm episode in response to the NOAA.

While the NOAA’s database is complete, injury experiences typically come from native sources and will, due to this fact, be incomplete. Still, the following record comprises harsh winter climate of each selection—ice storms, blizzards, frosts, freezes, heavy snow, sleet, and mixtures thereof.

Read on to be taught the place and the way winter storms have triggered the most injury this century.

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#20. Dec. 24-26, 2000

– Total injury: $106M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Louisiana

Heavy and freezing rain hit Ouachita Parish on Christmas Day 2000 and lingered by the New Year. Nearby Shreveport hosted Mississippi State University and Texas A&M in the Independence Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Winter storm situations together with freezing rain and low temperatures had plagued the area for weeks, and on Dec. 31, snow blew into Shreveport half-hour earlier than kickoff. Snow turned the inexperienced synthetic turf to white, and plows cleared the area and marked the finish zones and purpose traces throughout time-outs. The followers who left early missed MSU beating Texas A&M 43-41 in the one and solely “Snow Bowl.”

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#19. Nov. 29-30, 2006

– Total injury: $111M
– Event kind: Winter storm
– State most affected: Missouri

A chaotic climate system embedded with thunderstorms heaped 2-3 inches of snow per hour all through Missouri’s bootheel area. Record highs, file precipitation, flooding, an ice storm, and file snowfall devastated Missouri in lower than two weeks.

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#17. Dec. 25-26, 2012 (tie)

– Total injury: $112M
– Event kind: Winter storm
– State most affected: Arkansas

A uncommon winter storm buried central and northern Arkansas counties beneath a foot of snow. Wind gusts upwards of 40 mph brought blizzard conditions leading to the first White Christmas for the area since 1926. Firetrucks responding to experiences of downed bushes received caught in the snow, as 450 downed bushes fell throughout 1,100 miles of roads in Pulaski County. Some vacationers had been stranded for eight hours or longer.

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#17. Jan. 5-6, 2005 (tie)

– Total injury: $112M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Ohio

January 2005 was the wettest January on file in Ohio, as file flooding adopted the second of two historic winter storms. Ice buildup triggered Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant in Ottawa County to temporarily shut down. The 2005 storm spurred Ohio’s American Electric Power firm to chop clear potential tree hazards, however the AEP didn’t start the tree clearance process till 2008.

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#16. Dec. 12-13, 2000

– Total injury: $123M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Texas

Icy situations coated all however the southern tip of Texas. Schools, companies, and airports closed. Hundreds of wrecks tied up roads, and a minimum of one traffic-related loss of life in Dallas was blamed on the storm. Hundreds of flights had been canceled. Northeast Texas was declared a catastrophe space.

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#15. Feb. 14-16, 2021

– Total injury: $124M
– Event kind: Extreme chilly/wind chill
– State most affected: Texas

The Valentine’s Day Storm was half of the Great Texas Freeze of February 2021. For the first time ever, the complete state was beneath a wind chill warning, and Houston’s temps dropped near zero. The storm crippled the Texas power grid and greater than 200 individuals died throughout the most expensive climate occasion in Texas historical past. While frozen tools was finally blamed for the disaster, a minimum of 20 energy crops had no winterization plans. The prolonged interval of freezing temperatures shattered record lows throughout the state, with some as outdated as 1895.

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#14. Dec. 11, 2007

– Total injury: $137M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Kansas

The value of this ice storm was pushed by antiquated power equipment. Infrastructure from the Forties couldn’t simply get replaced; it needed to be introduced as much as adjust to 21st-century codes. A thick coating of ice covered the central U.S., and a minimum of 12 individuals died.

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#13. Jan. 12-16, 2013

– Total injury: $147M
– Event kind: Frost/Freeze
– State most affected: Arizona

The National Weather Service warned residents in Arizona to brace for record-cold weather. The extended chilly triggered file lows in Flagstaff, which had an average temperature of 7.6 degrees F during the snap. The low in Flagstaff was –9 F, which was 26 degrees below normal.

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#12. Dec. 9-10, 2007

– Total injury: $150M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Oklahoma

By the time this ice storm ended, over 1 inch of ice had accrued, and Oklahoma’s governor declared a state of emergency for all 77 counties in the state. Waves of freezing rain felled energy traces and poles, and 100-year-old bushes needed to be reduce or minimize down. Oklahoma produces about 5% of the country’s pecans, and the crop loss from the storm was estimated at $25 million.

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#11. Oct. 12-13, 2006

– Total injury: $155M
– Event kind: Lake-Effect Snow
– State most affected: New York

Despite a minimum of every week of advance warning, the climate occasion that dumped 2 toes of snow over Buffalo was nonetheless thought-about a shock. The out-of-season climate destroyed bushes and knocked out energy for 1 million residents in the Niagara Frontier. Hitting so early in the 12 months, most bushes had been nonetheless in full leaf, making the injury brought on by falling bushes exponentially worse than “normal” storms.

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#10. April 3-5, 2003

– Total injury: $161M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Michigan

Multiple rounds of winter storms froze Michigan beneath 2 inches of sleet and nearly an inch of ice. Warming temperatures melted ice on the floor, however the heavy ice remained on bushes and different elevations for 5 days. Large branches broke beneath the weight, and a falling department struck a 74-year-old man in the head. His loss of life was one of five fatalities immediately associated to the storm.

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#9. Dec. 24-26, 2000

– Total injury: $165M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Arkansas

The worst icing event in Arkansas history since an identical occasion in 1932 left as much as 6 inches of ice in the southwestern half of the state. At least 500,000 individuals had been left with out energy, some of whose properties remained chilly and darkish properly into January. Structural injury to properties was widespread and ice accumulation toppled tree limbs, which contributed to the injury.

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#8. Nov. 30, 2006

– Total injury: $199M
– Event kind: Winter storm
– State most affected: Missouri

During this late autumn storm, thundersnow was broadly reported throughout the state. Snow with ice accumulations reached over 15 inches at the Columbia Regional Airport, which at the time was the second most ever reported there. The japanese half of the state accrued as much as 9 inches of snow and a half inch of ice.

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#7. Jan. 30-31, 2002

– Total injury: $300M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Oklahoma

In 24 hours, this ice storm left 250,000 individuals with out electrical energy and triggered lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in injury. Ice stacked up 1-2 inches thick from Elk City to Pawhuska. In areas the place floor temperatures had been under freezing, the precipitation, which coated the complete state, turned to ice. Only 50 miles aside, Norman was spared the icy destiny El Reno endured. Power firm Oklahoma Gas and Electric upgraded tools like backhoes and put in mills to provide backup power for hospitals and all different very important service suppliers.

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#6. Jan. 12-14, 2007

– Total injury: $349M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Missouri

Missouri’s (second to) final look on this record resulted from a minimum of 1 inch of ice accumulation along the I-44 corridor. The metropolis of Springfield was with out energy for a number of days, however residents worked with City Utilities employees to take away bushes and different particles blocking roads.

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#5. Dec. 12-13, 2000

– Total injury: $360M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Arkansas

Two ice storms hit Arkansas in December 2000. The worst of the storms occurred over Christmas, however in depth ice from the earlier storm on Dec. 12-13 exacerbated the damage. Almost all of Entergy Corp.’s electrical prospects had been with out energy, many for nearly every week.

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#4. Dec. 26-27, 2015

– Total injury: $401M
– Event kind: Blizzard
– State most affected: New Mexico

While this storm ranks near the high of our record, the injury was lower than it would in any other case have been because of advance preparations knowledgeable by “spot-on” weather reports. Whiteout situations and historic snowfalls closed stretches of I-40 and packed inns with stranded vacationers. In Roswell, meteorologists reported snow drifts 12 toes excessive and wind gusts as much as 70 mph.

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#3. Dec. 9-10, 2007

– Total injury: $676M
– Event kind: Ice storm
– State most affected: Oklahoma

Late on Saturday, Dec. 9, heavy rains from thunderstorms turned to ice when temperatures dropped under freezing. Temperatures rose rapidly, however the storm is the costliest one in Oklahoma historical past. Freezing rain fell for 3 days and coated Oklahoma with 3 inches of ice. An estimated 200,000 properties misplaced energy for a number of days.

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#2. Mar. 7-8, 2008

– Total injury: $774M
– Event kind: Winter storm
– State most affected: Ohio

Sometimes known as “North American Blizzard of 2008,” Ohio’s winter storm lacked sustained blizzard-condition winds, however that technicality is misplaced in the deep layer of snow that coated the complete state. Most areas in Ohio acquired as much as 4 inches of snow on Friday, March 7, however the following day introduced 16 extra inches throughout the state. Columbus beat its earlier snowfall file of 15.3 inches again in February 1910, as over 20 inches of snow coated the metropolis. Two-thirds of all counties declared Level Two or Level Three Snow Emergencies.

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#1. Jan. 26-28, 2009

– Total injury: $1.2B
– Event kind: Ice and Winter storm
— Total injury in Arkansas: $783M
— Kentucky: $301M
— Missouri: $115M

The storm system minimize an unlimited swath throughout the southern portion of the Midwest, affecting a number of states however having the direst impression in three.

In Arkansas, ice dragged power lines to the ground, snapped energy poles, and felled bushes as a chilly entrance camped out alongside the Gulf Coast collided with a storm system blowing in from the Southern Rockies and Plains, entrenching freezing temperatures throughout the northern half of the state. Almost 2 inches of ice accrued, weighing down energy traces and tree limbs. Snapping tree branches had been reported to have gave the impression of gunfire in a struggle zone. As many as 18 fatalities resulted from the chilly temperatures and icy situations, together with a sheriff killed by a falling tree department and an aged lady—who had tried to remain heat by filling her bathtub with sizzling water—succumbed to hypothermia as the water cooled.

In Kentucky, ice over 1 inch thick triggered the state’s largest power outage on record. In Louisville, 69 colleges misplaced energy, with many closing for every week. The state’s governor (at the moment Steve Beshear) acquired approval for an emergency Presidential Disaster Declaration and called on the National Guard to assist utility employees, clear paths for emergency automobiles, and implement curfews.

The National Guard wound up aiding in restoration efforts in Indiana and Missouri as properly. Nearly 100% of Missouri was with out energy, and rural areas didn’t get the energy again for 3 weeks. By Jan. 30, greater than 2,000 people crowded 35 of Missouri’s shelters. In New Madrid County, a lady and her teenage daughter died from carbon monoxide poisoning, whereas in Scott County alone, a minimum of 20 severe accidents resulted from carbon monoxide fumes from gas-powered mills.