If you consider yourself more of a “winter person”, the first appearance of snow can be an exciting thing. However, we can all pretty much agree that dealing with a snowstorm can be a hassle. Lucky for us, they don’t come very often. But when they do, it can be a huge setback. Nevada has seen several snowstorms during the last century or so, but none come close to the winter season when one region of the state saw the largest snowfall ever.
It all started on January 17, 1916, when 22.5-inches of snow fell over Reno in a time period of just 12 hours and 40 minutes. At the time, the Reno Evening Gazette predicted that "January 17 will go down in the history of Reno as a record breaker so far as snowfall is concerned."
Snowstorms would continue to hit the Reno area throughout the month of January. All in all, the month would bring over 65-inches of snow, a record that still stands to this day.
As a result, the city came to a standstill. The V&T Railroad couldn't get through Washoe Valley, so Reno was completely isolated from the state capital of Carson City. In Virginia City, the streets were covered in 7-feet of snow. Shops shut down and transportation was completely cut off.
The storm came from a series of powerful Alaskan-bred cold fronts. It began in the Bay Area, where strong winds and awful rain storms actually killed three people in San Francisco. The storm began to move east, ascending the Sierra, and heading straight for western Nevada.
Of course, the higher elevation communities did not escape the weather conditions. Tahoe City was also extremely affected. Nearly 20-feet of snow fell on the town, isolating it from the outside world for almost two weeks.
The fact that Reno saw 66-inches of snow in just one month when the annual average is just 22-inches really puts this epic storm into perspective. This massive snowfall may have occurred over a century ago, but it was an event that is still well-remembered by Nevadans.
