NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1981-2010 include a suite of descriptive statistics for snowfall and snow depth alongside the typical temperature and precipitation statistics. In addition to the average monthly snowfall totals and average numbers of days with snowfall and snow depth exceeding various thresholds that were provided in previous normals releases, the 1981-2010 snow normals contain some new parameters. These include month-to-date and year-to-date totals for each day of the year, daily probabilities of occurrence, and daily percentiles of nonzero amounts. Statistics for both snowfall and snow depth are available at approximately 5300 stations, a larger number of stations than was included in previous sets of normals. For a further 1100 stations, only snowfall statistics are available because their records of snow depth were insufficiently complete.

Compared to 1971-2000, the average annual snowfall for 1981-2010 is lower in a band that extends from Montana through Kansas to the Carolinas as well as in the Pacific Northwest. In this presentation, we will show additional comparisons between the two 30-year periods and illustrate the utility of the newly available daily statistics by way of sample plots for stations from various climate regions.