The Blizzard of 2016 Gave New York City the Biggest Snowstorm It Has Ever Measured
Over a single weekend in late January 2016, the storm the Weather Channel called Jonas — and the internet called Snowzilla — dropped 27.5 inches in Central Park, the heaviest snow New York has recorded since measurements began, and buried the Mid-Atlantic from Washington to the New Jersey shore.
There is a straightforward way to measure how big the Blizzard of 2016 was: it gave the most-watched weather station in the country its highest number. Central Park’s 27.5 inches, confirmed in a NOAA review after the storm, is the largest single-storm snowfall in New York City’s entire record — more than the famous Boxing Day storm of 2010, more than the February 2006 storm it edged out.
But the record was shared. Baltimore, Washington’s Dulles airport, LaGuardia and the Lehigh Valley all cleared 28 inches, and West Virginia’s eastern panhandle topped out above 40. Here’s what the storm dropped across the corridor, straight from the NOAA station archive.
Blizzard of 2016, Winter Storm Jonas, or Snowzilla?
All three names point to the same storm, which is why searching for it can be confusing. The plain, official description is the January 2016 blizzard. Winter Storm Jonas is the name The Weather Channel assigned it under its (unofficial) winter-storm naming program. Snowzilla is the nickname that took over social media as the totals climbed — a callback to “Snowmageddon,” the name President Obama had given the 2010 Mid-Atlantic storm. The National Weather Service doesn’t name winter storms, so none of these is the “real” name; they just describe the same January 22–24 event.
New York’s Biggest Snowstorm on Record
Central Park’s official total was so close to the record that NOAA ran a formal post-storm review before confirming it. The verdict: 27.5 inches, which edged the 26.9 inches of the February 11–12, 2006 storm to become the single biggest snowstorm in New York City’s recorded history. The record had stood, in various forms, for well over a century; Jonas broke it in about 24 hours.
The city effectively shut itself down to let it happen. New York imposed a travel ban on its roads and suspended aboveground subway, bus and rail service — a near-total halt that is rare for a city built to keep running through anything. Washington, DC and much of the Mid-Atlantic went under their own travel bans as the snow fell at two to three inches an hour.
Snowfall by City
Single-storm totals for January 22–24, 2016 at each city’s official airport station, from our NOAA archive. Unlike most Northeast blizzards, this one shortchanged New England — Boston saw barely six inches — and loaded everything onto the Mid-Atlantic and the New York metro.
| City | Station | Storm total | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allentown, PA | ABE | 31.9" | airport record |
| New York (JFK), NY | JFK | 30.6" | airport record |
| Washington (Dulles), VA | IAD | 29.3" | |
| Baltimore, MD | BWI | 29.2" | airport record |
| New York (LaGuardia), NY | LGA | 28.2" | airport record |
| New York (Central Park), NY | NYC | 27.5" | NYC all-time record |
| Newark, NJ | EWR | 24.5" | |
| Islip (Long Island), NY | ISP | 23.7" | |
| Philadelphia, PA | PHL | 22.4" | |
| Washington (Reagan National), VA | DCA | 17.8" | |
| Wilmington, DE | ILG | 16.1" | |
| Atlantic City, NJ | ACY | 13.0" | |
| Richmond, VA | RIC | 11.4" | |
| Boston, MA | BOS | 6.1" | |
| Providence, RI | PVD | 5.3" |
Storm totals summed over January 22–24, 2016 from our NOAA GHCN-Daily station data on November 2, 2026, with a quality-control filter applied to the SNOW element. “Airport record” and “NYC all-time record” flags are from the official NWS/NOAA post-storm review, not this dataset. Higher elevations off the airport network ran higher — the storm peaked at 42 inches in the West Virginia panhandle.
103 Million People in the Storm’s Path
Jonas was enormous as well as deep. Roughly 103 million people lived in the area it covered, about 33 million of them under blizzard warnings, and at least 14 states picked up a foot or more of snow. The heaviest single total was 42 inches at Glengary, in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, where upslope flow against the Appalachians wrung out even more than the big coastal cities got.
The storm is blamed for at least 45 deaths, most in car crashes, from carbon-monoxide poisoning in snowed-in vehicles, and from hypothermia; it also drove significant coastal flooding along the New Jersey and Delaware shores, where a few towns saw tidal flooding that rivaled Hurricane Sandy’s. Damage estimates ran from several hundred million dollars into the low billions once lost business is counted.
Snowzilla vs the Blizzard of ’96
For anyone who lived through both, the obvious comparison is the Blizzard of 1996, the other great modern Mid-Atlantic storm. The split is tidy: 1996 hit Philadelphia hardest (its 30.7 inches still stands as the city record), while 2016 hit New York hardest (Central Park’s 27.5 inches is the city record). Philadelphia, in fact, got 8 inches more in 1996 than in Jonas — the storms traded bullseyes a few dozen miles apart. Both earned the top rating on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale; together with the 1993 Storm of the Century they are the only three category-5 “Extreme” snowstorms on record.
See how Jonas ranks among the worst blizzards in US history, which cities handle this much snow routinely in the snowiest cities in America, and the coastal storms that pair snow with surge in the worst nor’easters in US history. If you measured your own street in January 2016, look up what the record says for that day with our weather-history tool — and tell us if your total beat the airport’s.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was the Blizzard of 2016 New York City’s biggest snowstorm ever?
Yes. A post-storm NOAA review confirmed Central Park recorded 27.5 inches on January 23, 2016 — the largest single-storm total in New York City’s record, edging the 26.9 inches of the February 2006 storm. It was the heaviest snow NYC has measured since records began.
How much snow did Baltimore and Washington get in the Blizzard of 2016?
Baltimore-Washington airport recorded 29.2 inches and Dulles 29.3 — both among the largest totals those airports have measured. Reagan National in Washington took 17.8 inches. New York’s JFK (30.6) and LaGuardia (28.2) and Allentown, PA (31.9) set airport records of their own.
What is the difference between Winter Storm Jonas and Snowzilla?
They are the same storm. The official designation is simply the January 2016 blizzard. “Winter Storm Jonas” is the name The Weather Channel assigned it, and “Snowzilla” is the nickname that spread on social media as it buried the East Coast.
How many people were affected by the Blizzard of 2016?
About 103 million people were in the storm’s path, with roughly 33 million under blizzard warnings and at least 14 states getting a foot or more of snow. The blizzard killed at least 45 people, and the heaviest single total was 42 inches at Glengary, in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.
Sources & Method
Snowfall totals are the sum of daily snowfall over January 22–24, 2016 at each city’s first-order airport station, computed on November 2, 2026 from our Neon NOAA GHCN-Daily station table, with a quality-control filter applied to flagged SNOW readings. Central Park’s 27.5 inches as New York City’s all-time single-storm record — confirmed in a post-storm review and edging the February 2006 storm’s 26.9 inches — is from NOAA via The Weather Channel and NBC New York. People affected (~103M), blizzard-warning population (~33M), the 14-states-over-a-foot figure, the 42-inch peak at Glengary, WV, the airport records and the death toll (at least 45) are from the record of the January 2016 United States blizzard. The NESIS category-5 “Extreme” rating — one of only three such storms, with 1993 and 1996 — is documented by NOAA NCEI.