Honestly, you don’t have to look back very far. In January 2019, Dayton broke a record for daily snow with a storm producing a range of totals from 5 to 9 inches. The storm occurred over the weekend, so many were able to enjoy the snow rather than be out on the roads.
One of the harshest winters was in 2014. Not only was it a winter with record-breaking cold, there were multiple significant snowstorms as well. February 4-5 brought a messy winter storm that included snow, freezing rain and sleet to the Miami Valley.
It caused major travel issues and caused schools and businesses to close for February 5. Across the Miami Valley, snow totals ranged from 2 to 10 inches. Fort Loramie reported 8.3 inches of snow while Shiloh saw 5.6 inches, and Middletown was covered with a glaze of ice up to a tenth of an inch thick.
LOOK BACK: The 2004 Christmas snowstorm that buried the Miami Valley
Roughly 10 days later, on Valentine’s Day, another snowstorm walloped the Miami Valley. As commuters were driving home from work or getting ready for evening plans, heavy snow blanketed southwest Ohio. A 10-car crash along with many others was reported that evening. Many cities south of I-70 received up to three to five inches of snow.
February 2010 ended up being the second snowiest on record. Two major storms helped propel Dayton to that spot. Early in the month, record-breaking snow fell with a storm that dropped 7.7 inches on February 5, a record for the day. Quick to follow was another snowstorm on President’s Day that accumulated anywhere between 6 to 11 inches of snow.
Digging deeper into the snow, we must look at the Ohio Valley Blizzard of 2008. The storm total in Dayton was more than 15 inches. March 7 and 8 both broke the daily weather records for snowfall. The entire Miami Valley was covered by a foot of snow or more! People were stuck in their homes and, unfortunately, five people in Ohio lost their lives.
The Christmas week storm of 2004 was another big storm to rock the Miami Valley and one that residents still talk about today. On December 22-23 a strong winter storm dropped more than 16 inches of snow in Dayton, breaking the record for a single storm total. Other cities like Greenville picked up 24 inches throughout the storm. It goes down in history with the highest snowpack on Christmas Day for Dayton.
The most crippling storm to rock the region is by far the Blizzard of ’78. It still holds the record for the most snow in a single day in Dayton history. This paralyzing snow and gusty winds led to snowdrifts as high as 25 feet. This storm also contributed to ranking January of 1978 as the snowiest month of all time for Dayton!
Let’s hope we don’t see any snow like that this winter season. Even our biggest snow lovers would have to agree.
Christmas extremes: A look at record highs, lows here
This Christmas will bring abnormally warm weather to the Miami Valley, but it’s been even warmer in the past.
In fact, the current record high temperature was set at 65 degrees in 1893.
The coldest temperature recorded on Christmas Day occurred in 1983 with a low temperature of -13 degrees. On that same day the high temperature only climbed to -1 degrees.
The record for the most snow on December 25th in Dayton is 5.2 inches. The area typically sees a White Christmas — an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas morning — one out of every four years.
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