On this day in 1966, a calendar-day record 12.0 inches of snow fell in the District. “The nation’s capital was paralyzed,” reported a news broadcast about the storm. “For 11 hours not a train moved in or out of Union Station. Not a plane flew. The roads surrounding the District of Columbia were impassible. And there was little traffic in the capital itself.”
An additional 1.8 inches fell Jan. 30, pushing the storm total to 13.8 inches, the 13th greatest on record. The same storm dumped from 2 to 8½ feet of snow in central and western New York state.
Just three days before the storm, 7.5 inches of snow had fallen in the District (on Jan. 26 and 27) resulting in snow depths over 16 inches in the wake of the two events.
Here are other notables for the day:
- Average high: 45
- Average low: 30
- Record high: 76 (1975)
- Record low: 2 (1873)
- Record precipitation: 1.02 inches (1912)
- Record snowfall: 12 inches (1966)
