Historical Overview: A Brief Review of Major Snowstorms of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

Through the centuries, severe winter storms have become part of the historical folklore of many regions. A comprehensive accounting of major winter storms in the Northeast over the past three centuries has been assembled by David Ludlum (1966, 1968, 1976, 1982, 1983).⁵ His unique studies document the distribution, depth, and duration of great snowfalls, along with their wind velocity, degree of cold, and effects on the general population. Nearly 300 years of such information provides important historical and climatological insight into the limits of severity these storms are capable of attaining. A sampling of the region’s legendary storms is briefly described below.