Biggest Snowfalls in Missouri History

The biggest “Single Storm” totals in Show Me State History

If you live anywhere in the state of Missouri, you know the drill. It’s usually titled “The Blizzard of ’82,” “The Storm of the Century,” or that one specific “Bomb Cyclone” that buried your car for a week. The stores were sold out of bread and milk. There was more salt than sleds and so you cut up a cardboard box to glide down the hills. It is just a part of living in the Show Me State.

I will never forget the Blizzard of 1982 while living in Belle, Missouri. It was such a big deal that NBC News actually flew into the Rolla airport to report on the storm. That meant we finally “made it.”

Yes, we hear a lot of stories about the “so-called” biggest snowfalls in Missouri, but according to the National Weather Service, these are the records.

Ranking	Amount	Location	Date
1t	24″	Scott County (Sikeston area)	Feb 25, 1979
1t	24″	Nodaway County (Maryville area)	Feb 25, 1912
1t	24″	Johnson County (Warrensburg area)	Feb 2, 2011
1t	24″	Chariton County (Salisbury and Marceline area)	Dec 5, 1925
1t	24″	Cape Girardeau and Jackson	Feb 25, 1979
1t	24″	Bates County (Butler and Rich Hill area)	Feb 2, 2011
7	23″	Barry County (Monette and Cassville area)	Mar 15, 1999
8	22.5″	Cooper County (Boonville area)	Feb 2, 2011
9t	22″	Pulaski County (Waynesville area)	Feb 20, 1912
9t	22″	Newton County (Joplin and Neosho area)	Mar 14, 1999

Notable Regional and City Events

• St. Louis:
  1890 – 20.4″
  1982 – 13.9″
  2019 – 11.4″
• Kansas City:
  1912 – 16.1″
  2025 – 11″
• Feb 1-2, 2011 Blizzard:
  This event brought widespread, extreme totals, including 22 inches in Windsor/Calhoun and 21 inches in Sedalia.

The February 2011, January 1982, March 1999, and February 1979 events are frequently cited as the most significant in the state’s modern history.