SnowWatt

Snow zones

Fourteen zones, sorted by how much snow actually falls

Fourteen North American snow zones with annual snowfall, snow-day counts, winter electricity rates and whether a portable mat can keep up — every figure from NOAA, ECCC or EIA.

The table

ZoneSnowfallDesign dayClears inRunning/yrElectricityVerdict
Sierra Nevada & Cascade Mountain Communities184.9 in≥ 10 in5.0 h92 h18.19¢ USDOverwhelmed
Great Lakes Snowbelt (MI, northern OH/IN, western NY)94.7 in≥ 5 in2.5 h47 h20.42¢ USDMarginal
Atlantic Canada (NS, NB, PE, NL)87.1 in≥ 10 cm2.0 h44 h—Marginal
Appalachian Highlands (WV, western VA/NC, western PA, eastern TN)83.5 in≥ 5 in2.5 h42 h15.52¢ USDMarginal
Interior New England (VT, NH, western MA, interior ME)81.2 in≥ 5 in2.5 h41 h27.88¢ USDMarginal
Upper Midwest (MN, WI, IA, northern IL)54.4 in≥ 5 in2.5 h27 h15.59¢ USDMarginal
Interior Mountain West (Front Range, Wasatch, Inland Northwest)53.8 in≥ 5 in2.5 h27 h13.51¢ USDMarginal
Northern Plains (Dakotas, eastern MT, western MN)51.2 in≥ 5 in2.5 h26 h12.29¢ USDMarginal
Canadian Prairies (MB, SK, AB)44.8 in≥ 10 cm2.0 h22 h9.97¢ CADKeeps up
Coastal New England (eastern MA, RI, CT, coastal ME/NH)43.8 in≥ 5 in2.5 h22 h30.08¢ USDMarginal
Ontario-Quebec Corridor (Windsor-Quebec City, incl. Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal)42.7 in≥ 10 cm2.0 h21 h12¢ CADKeeps up
Ohio Valley (southern OH/IN/IL, KY, WV lowlands)26.7 in≥ 3 in1.5 h13 h15.84¢ USDKeeps up
Mid-Atlantic Corridor (NJ, eastern PA, MD, DE, northern VA, NYC metro)22.4 in≥ 3 in1.5 h11 h20.78¢ USDKeeps up
Pacific Northwest Valleys (Puget Sound, Willamette, lower Columbia)6.8 in≥ 1 in30 min3.4 h14.24¢ USDKeeps up

Verdicts are for one reference product — the HeatTrak HR20-60, at the 2 in/hr the manufacturer claims — so the zones can be compared with each other. Design day is the deepest daily-snowfall threshold the zone's reference station crosses at least once a year.US and Canadian rows are not directly comparable: NOAA publishes day-counts at inch thresholds and ECCC at centimetre ones, so no Canadian zone can produce a 5 in design day however much it snows.