We all know how rare a true snowstorm is in Houston, but every now and then, it happens.<\/p>\n
Just last year, January 2025 delivered a little magic. Adults felt like kids again, and kids fully embraced it, sledding down neighborhood hills, building snowmen, and soaking up a rare Gulf Coast snow day.<\/p>\n
But as special as that was, it still doesn\u2019t compare to what happened on Valentine\u2019s Day in 1895. Nearly two feet of snow fell across the city, a staggering total that remains unmatched in Houston\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The photo below shows a Houston home covered in snow during that remarkable storm. Courtesy: Matt Lanza.<\/p>\n
Snow! Courtesy: Matt Lanza<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to overstate just how extraordinary this event was. Many people either aren\u2019t aware it happened or simply can\u2019t imagine nearly two feet of snow falling in Houston. Which naturally leads to the question: could it ever happen again?<\/p>\n
At last month\u2019s American Meteorological Society\u2019s conference in Houston, Matt Lanza of Space City Weather, took a deep dive into that very topic. In his presentation, he compared the January 2025 snowstorm to the historic February 1895 event. Lanza combed through archived newspaper accounts and compiled snowfall totals from across the region to better understand the scope of what happened.<\/p>\n
The research shows this wasn\u2019t just a Houston event. Substantial snowfall stretched from Houston all the way to Lake Charles, Louisiana, underscoring how widespread and impactful the storm truly was.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s one of the newspaper accounts from that time:<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of Wednesday night polar spirits swept the earth until boundless snow had deformed the withered heath and the people of this section for the first time within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, looked out upon nature fringed with a beard made white with other snow than those of age.\u201d Brenham Daily Banner, February 15, 1985<\/p>\n
Courtesy: Matt Lanza<\/p>\n
The top four snowfalls since 1895 haven\u2019t gotten anywhere near this amount.<\/p>\n
Top 5 snowfalls in Houston history<\/p>\n
February 14, 1895:\u00a019 inches<\/p>\n
February 12, 1960:\u00a04.4 inches<\/p>\n
January 22, 1940: 3 inches<\/p>\n
January 30, 1949: 2.6 inches<\/p>\n
December 21, 1929: 2.3 inches<\/p>\n
I think within the next 10 years we\u2019ll get an amount close to 1895. In fact, we would have been close with the winter storm last month.<\/p>\n
You may remember the forecast called for freezing rain because the upper levels of the atmosphere were well above freezing. Winter forecasting along the Gulf Coast is tricky because being off by just one degree can completely change what falls from the sky.<\/p>\n
I remember waking up on the morning of January 25 to heavy rain at my home. The temperature was 33 degrees. I immediately thought: if the entire column of air above me had been below freezing, we could have been talking about several inches of snow instead of a cold rain. That\u2019s how close we were. Here is what I said at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n Getting snow in Houston takes perfect timing: <\/p>\n First, you need a strong cold front to drop temperatures below freezing.<\/p>\n Second, you need an area of low pressure approaching from the west to \u201coverrun\u201d that shallow cold air and generate precipitation.<\/p>\n It sounds straightforward, but aligning those two ingredients at just the right time is rare along the Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n For perspective, here\u2019s what happened during the historic February 1895 storm:<\/p>\n 19 inches fell on February 14<\/p>\n 1 inch fell on February 15<\/p>\n A total of 20 inches, a benchmark that still defines Houston\u2019s greatest snowfall.<\/p>\n The notes show 19″ of snow fell! Courtesy: Matt Lanza<\/p>\n The work Lanza did on this storm was exhaustive and thorough. He is the expert on the 1895 event and wrote what is widely considered the definitive history of the storm in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n