Did You Survive One of Boise, Idaho’s Top 10 Snowiest Winters on Record?

If you relocated to Boise from somewhere else, one of the things that may have surprised you the most is the amount of snow the City of Trees sees in an average winter. The nature of your surprise? Well, that varies depending on where you came from. 

Early this year, we analyzed Census Data and discovered that about 57% of Idaho’s current population is made up of people who were born somewhere outside the Gem State. To no one’s surprise, California was the state where the most significant number of non-native Idahoans were born. It’s this group, along with those who moved to the Boise area from Texas that may think that Boise sees A LOT of snow. 

READ MORE: Snowier National Weather Service Winter Outlook for Boise Updated

On the flip side, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York and Colorado are on the list of 15 states sending the most new residents our way, as well. Those states alone are responsible for six of the 10 snowiest cities in America. To them? Boise’s annual snowfall is nothing. In fact, they were probably wondering why the city came to a screeching halt during “Snowpocalypse.” 

Get our free mobile app

This author had a friend visiting from Northeast Ohio, another rather snowy place, and he couldn’t really wrap his mind around the fact they closed the mall due to snow. Where he grew up? Once the roads were passable around lunch time, the mall is where high school kids went to go hang out once school was canceled. 

We’re not going to lie. Snowpocalypse wasn’t fun. The snow that piled up led to roof collapses, people being trapped in their subdivisions for days and some pretty nasty flooding when all of it started to melt. But guess what? The 39.1 inches of snow we got in during that Winter 2016-2017 was far from the snowiest winter on record. It just squeezed in the Top 10 list at #10. 

Which winters were snowier? Did you survive them? We took a look at the "Monthly Seasonal Snow" data the National Weather Service has kept for Boise all the way back to 1892 to find the snowiest winters on record.