February 2019: Seattle’s snowiest month in 50 years

At the dawn of February, this winter was threatening to become just the second on record without a single flake of snow in Seattle.

Ten days later, it’s now the city’s snowiest month in 50 years.

Seattle’s staggering turnaround in the snowfall department—from worst to nearly-first, as far as February is concerned—reached a new milestone Monday evening as another 6.1 inches of snow fell at the official record-keeping site at Sea-Tac Airport. The hefty snowfall (a daily record) bumped the city’s monthly snowfall total to 20.2 inches, making February 2019 Seattle’s snowiest month in a half-century. Not since 45.4 inches buried the city in January 1969 has more snow fallen on Seattle in a calendar month.

Put another way, man had yet to walk on the moon the last time Seattle was blanketed by this much snow.

SnOMG in Seattle

It’s been the snow show ever since arctic air first spilled into Puget Sound on Super Bowl Sunday, dropping 2.7 inches at the airport, and up to 10 inches in spots further north. Since then, the city has either been gripped by snow or biting cold—or in some cases, both.

Here’s a handy breakdown of Seattle’s historic February, which now stands as the second-snowiest February of all time—and the seventh-snowiest month in recorded Seattle history. More snowfall (albeit much lighter) is possible through next week, so these numbers may not be final.

February 2019 snowfall by the numbers (as of 6 p.m. Feb. 11)

Total: 20.2 inches

• 1.0 inches on Feb. 3
• 1.7 inches on Feb. 4 (tied daily record from 1949)
• 6.4 inches on Feb. 8 (daily record)
• 1.5 inches on Feb. 9
• 3.5 inches on Feb. 10
• 6.1 inches on Feb. 11 (daily record)

Snowiest months in Seattle (1894-present)

1. January 1950: 57.2 inches
2. January 1969: 45.4 inches
3. February 1916: 35.4 inches
4. January 1916: 23.3 inches
5. December 1968: 22.1 inches
6. November 1896: 20.5 inches
7. February 2019: 20.2 inches
8. January 1954: 20.0 inches
9. January 1943: 18.4 inches
10. March 1951: 18.2 inches

Snowiest Februarys in Seattle (1894-present)

1. February 1916: 35.4 inches
2. February 2019: 20.2 inches 
3. February 1923: 17.4 inches
4. February 1949: 13.1 inches
5. February 1910: 10.7 inches
6. February 1894: 10.0 inches
7. February 1990: 9.8 inches
8. February 1956: 9.4 inches
9. February 1937: 8.2 inches
10. February 2017 and February 1957: 7.2 inches