If there is one source of endless fun and wonder when we are kids but endless grief and frustration when we are adults, it is snow. Sledding, snow angels, and pristine white blankets give way to shoveling, trudging through slush, and dealing with having a snowed-in car. And every state has had its fair share of snow. 

Certain parts of the country are basically synonymous with snow. If Alaska and Vermont make it through the winter without any significant snowfall, then we are in serious trouble. But it is not every day that you see more than 3 feet of snow piling up in Arizona or New Mexico – yet sometimes even that happens.

To identify the places with the biggest snowfall in history in every state, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed historical snowfall data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information database of Snowfall Extremes. The counties and county equivalents listed had the largest three-day snowfall on record in the state. (The date listed represents the final day of the two or three-day snowfall period. The two-day and one-day record totals listed are the highest in the county or county equivalent and not necessarily the state as a whole.) 

It is expected that northern and Midwestern states are going to get mountains of snowfall every winter, but the snow events that found their way into the record books in these states are truly exceptional. For example, the deadly blizzard that hit Buffalo, New York, over Christmas 2022 dumped 4.25 feet of snow on the area. The state record, however, which also fell on Buffalo, pummeled the city with more than 7 feet of snow in three days in November 2014. (Here are the 25 worst holiday storms of all time.)

Surprisingly, perhaps, Arizona’s biggest three-day snowfall was even larger, at nearly 8 feet, in Coconino County, which encompasses Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, on Jan. 22, 2010. Not surprising, the biggest snowfalls in Florida amounted to 4 inches only – in Santa Rosa in March 1954. 

Alaska had the biggest three-day snowfall when 12 feet 3 inches fell in the last few days of 1955 in the Chugach Census Area along the Gulf of Alaska. The second biggest three-day snowfall was in Siskiyou County, the northernmost county in California, when 11 feet 3 inches fell in February 1959. (See also the coldest day ever recorded in every state.)

Click here to see the biggest snowfall on record in every state,