What Are The 15 Snowiest Winters On Record In Duluth?

There's been lots of talk about how the winter of 2023 is one of the snowiest on record for Duluth. With early-season storms like the one in November and the history-making December 2022 storm setting the tone, things haven't really slowed down since.

After the March 11-12 storm that brought over a foot of snow to the Duluth area, we officially found ourselves in the top-10 snowiest winter territory for this season That storm brought us squarely into that list, bringing us to 9th snowiest on record for Duluth. Since then, we've received even more snow, just pushing into the top-5 realm as of the first weekend of April.

MORE: Believe it or not, March isn't Minnesota's snowiest month of the year - here's what is

With additional snow falling since that March 11-12 storm, the winter of 2023 has crept up the list to #5 as of the time of this post, with the season not over yet.

For reference, Duluth's average winter snowfall is 86.1 inches, or 7 feet 2.1 inches, in a season. Keep that in mind as you look at the totals below. So, what are the snowiest winters on record for Duluth? Here's the list.

The 15 Snowiest Winters On Record In Duluth History

Since the National Weather Service began keeping weather records in Duluth in the late 1800s, here are the 15 winters with the highest snowfall totals on historical record.

It is worth noting that the official records from 1941-today have been recorded at the area now known as the Duluth International Airport (away from the lake, on top of the hill). Before then, various locations closer to Lake Superior had been used for official weather recording data. For anyone that knows anything about how Lake Superior and the hill play a role in temperature and snow, you can see how this makes older records inherently different.

While these records note the "snowiest winters", they actually include all seasonal snowfall from July 1 through June 30 of the following year.

Source: What Are The 15 Snowiest Winters On Record In Duluth?