Florence, SC Snowfall Database since 1948

An official record of snowfall was maintained from 1948 until 1999 by weather observers at the Florence Regional Airport. An ASOS (Automated Surface Observing System) was installed and activated in Florence on May 1, 1999, ending the official record for snowfall observations. However with the help of WBTW meteorologist Frank Johnson, we have been able to reconstruct an unofficial extension to this snowfall record from 1999 to the present. Summarized data and a listing of all snowfall events in Florence are presented below. This extension of the snowfall record in Florence, SC is not official in a legal sense, but helps provide a continuing record of the number and size of snowstorms throughout Florence's history.

The largest snowstorm in Florence, South Carolina's history occurred February 9-10, 1973 when 17 inches was measured at the Florence Regional Airport. This storm dumped crippling amounts of snow from southern Alabama across Georgia and the Carolinas. (see map to the right)

Begin Date	Ending Date	Snowfall	Basic Snowfall Statistics for Florence, SC since 1948
1/23/1955	1/23/1955	0.3	Total Snowfall (inches)		139.5
2/13/1958	2/13/1958	2.8	Annual Mean Snowfall (in.)		1.9
12/11/1958	12/11/1958	4.8	Standard Deviation per event		3.0
3/2/1960	3/2/1960	1.0	Median Snowstorm Total (in.)		1.5
3/7/1960	3/7/1960	0.7	Mode (inches)		1.0
3/11/1960	3/12/1960	4.5
1/26/1961	1/26/1961	0.5	Total Snowfall by Decade (inches)
1/29/1961	1/29/1961	0.3	1940s: 0*	1990s: 3.0
2/3/1961	2/3/1961	0.2	1950s: 7.9	2000s: 15.0
1/12/1962	1/12/1962	0.3	1960s: 14.8	2010s: 17.0
2/26/1963	2/26/1963	1.0	1970s: 38.1	2020s: 6.5
1/30/1965	1/31/1965	1.1	1980s: 37.2
3/6/1965	3/6/1965	0.1	* only includes 1948 and 1949
1/27/1966	1/27/1966	0.5
2/9/1967	2/9/1967	3.0	Earliest Measurable Snow:	December 11, 1958
1/25/1968	1/25/1968	1.0	Latest Measurable Snow:	March 25, 1971
2/24/1968	2/24/1968	0.3
1/4/1969	1/4/1969	0.3	Measurable Snowfall Events Since 1948
1/23/1970	1/23/1970	2.5	Month	# of events
12/29/1970	12/29/1970	0.3	November	0			0% of all events
3/25/1971	3/25/1971	2.0	December	7			13% of all events
1/8/1973	1/9/1973	4.0	January	23			43% of all events
2/9/1973	2/10/1973	17.0	February	15			28 % of all events
12/17/1973	12/17/1973	1.3	March	8			15 % of all events
2/18/1979	2/18/1979	11.0	April	0			0% of all events
2/6/1980	2/6/1980	4.8
3/2/1980	3/2/1980	6.7
12/27/1980	12/27/1980	1.0	Snowstorm Historic Frequency Analysis
1/14/1982	1/14/1982	1.0	Snowstorm Amount	≥ 0.1"		≥ 1"	≥ 3"	≥ 6"	≥ 12"
3/24/1983	3/24/1983	2.0	# of events since 1940	53		39	19	5	1
1/26/1987	1/27/1987	3.9	Mean # of events per year	0.72		0.53	0.26	0.07	0.01
1/7/1988	1/7/1988	9.9	Mean return interval (years)	1.4		1.9	3.9	15	74
2/23/1989	2/23/1989	3.5
2/26/1989	2/26/1989	0.1
12/23/1989	12/24/1989	4.3
1/19/1992	1/19/1992	1.4
12/23/1993	12/23/1993	1.0
2/4/1996	2/4/1996	0.6	Blue-shading is official data, 1948-April 1999
1/24/2000	1/25/2000	7.0	Red-shading is unofficial data, May 1999-present
1/2/2002	1/3/2002	4.0
1/23/2003	1/23/2003	1.5
1/20/2009	1/20/2009	1.0
2/4/2009	2/4/2009	1.5
2/12/2010	2/13/2010	3.0
12/26/2010	12/26/2010	3.0
1/10/2011	1/11/2011	3.0
2/16/2013	2/16/2013	1.5
1/28/2014	1/29/2014	2.0
2/11/2014	2/13/2014	1.5
3/12/2017	3/12/2017	0.5
1/3/2018	1/4/2018	2.5
1/21/2022	1/22/2022	3.5
1/29/2022	1/29/2022	3.0

Page Author: Tim Armstrong
Page Created: March 15, 2015
Last Updated: April 28, 2022