The snowstorm that hit the Upstate Sunday is significant compared to past storms, but not record-setting. State climatologist Hope Mizzell says that, for Greenville-Spartanburg, "The records actually show that this event would be the 11th highest snowfall total since 1962, with 4.3 inches officially going down in the records. Now these are daily snowfall totals."
However Anderson County got 5 inches, which puts this storm 7th on the all-time list for that area, going back to 1948.
The one-day record for snowfall for Greenville-Spartanburg was 12 inches, which fell on January 7, 1988. That storm was very similar to the current one, with I-85 at a standstill and drivers stranded.
Mizzell says the all-time record snowfall for the month of March for South Carolina is 18 inches, which happened on March 2-3, 1942, recorded at the Spartanburg Water Works.
Another memorable March snowstorm in the Upstate happened March 13, 1993. It was a huge storm, dumping snow from the Florida panhandle all the way up to New England. During the storm, Greenville-Spartanburg got 9.4 inches of snow, which is the record high total for March for that reporting station.
However the all-time record snowstorm for South Carolina wasn't even in the Upstate. The "Storm of the Century" lasted from February 8-11, 1973. Starting on the late afternoon of Feb. 9, snow fell for 24 hours straight. The largest amounts fell on a swath parallel to the coast about 75 miles inland. The highest total was recorded at the small town of Rimini in Clarendon County, where 24 inches of snow fell.
Running right through the path of the heaviest snow was I-95, which brought traffic to a halt. About 30,000 tourists were stranded in their cars, with many having to be rescued by helicopter. Eight people died from exposure. At least 200 buildings collapsed. The cost of the storm was estimated at $30 million in building and road damage, snow removal and rescue efforts.
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