Big snow storms pop up in the long-range models and fade away pretty routinely during the winter season. It’s hitting a point it seems more and more likely we’ll go another winter without “the big one,” a big snow storm dropping a foot or more of snow in Cedar Rapids.

The longest stretch without at least a foot of snow in a single event is still in place, hitting more than 17,125 days.

As of Feb. 28, 2020, it has been 17,125 days since the last snow storm produced a foot of snow. That’s nearly 47 years! You have to go back to April 10, 1973 when Cedar Rapids picked up 14” of snow over a two-day period.

Looking through the record books of Cedar Rapids (since 1892), there have been only seven winter storms which produced a foot of snow. On average, that’s a big winter storm about every 18 years.

The longest stretch without a 10”+ snow storm was between April 10, 1973 and Dec. 7 1994.

When turning the dial back to 10”, there have been 22 snow storms, or a storm about every six years. The longest stretch without a 10”+ snowfall over a two-day period was 7,911 days, set between 4/10/1973 and 12/7/1994.

Cedar Rapids is due for a ‘big one,’ when will that streak finally end?