Rare winter storm dumped record-breaking snowfall on the Mississippi Coast. Or did it?
New Orleans tied its single-day snowfall record in a rare winter storm on Tuesday, just as official reports of snow on the Mississippi Coast shattered previous records in a ‘rare’ and ‘historic’ winter storm.
The tempestuous snowstorms dumped just over 10 inches at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport by early evening, tying the previous record of 10 inches in February 1895, National Weather Service Meteorologist Hannah Lisney said Wednesday.
The rare winter storm that closed schools, roads, and bridges and shut down businesses in South Mississippi also dropped a historic amount of snow on the Mississippi Coast.
But, because the NWS doesn’t have an official recorder for snowfall totals at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, Lisney said they could not say that the snowfall broke records on the Mississippi Coast.
“It was a historic storm regardless,’ she said. “We just can’t say it’s an official record.”
An NWS employee who lives in the St. Martin community in Jackson County recorded 8.5 inches of snow at her home Tuesday, while residents in Hancock County reported up to nine inches of snow, Lisney said.
“But those, you have to kind of take with a grain of salt,’ she said, “It was a rare event.”
In addition to the snow totals in Hancock and Jackson counties, she said residents In Harrison reported up to 7 inches of snow Tuesday.
The NWS service has previously tracked record snowfall showing the following for South Mississippi:
- 7 inches on Dec. 3, 1963
- 6.3 inches in February 1895
- 2 inches on March 1993
As the freezing temperatures continue Wednesday, the NWS is urging residents in south Mississippi to stay off the roads because of refreezing.
This story was originally published January 22, 2025 at 11:43 AM.
