The Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale

Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale

The Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale was created to measure snowstorms in the U.S. Northeast in much the same way the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale records hurricane intensity and the Enhanced Fujita Scale with tornadoes.-The Scale:...

 (NESIS) is a scale used to categorize winter storms in the Northeast United States. The scale was developed by meteorologists Paul Kocin

Paul Kocin

Paul Kocin is a meteorologist and winter weather expert. He grew up on Long Island, New York and received his B.S. from Cornell University, followed by his M.Sc. from Pennsylvania State University. After graduation, he briefly worked for NASA as a contractor then was hired by the US National...

 and Louis Uccellini, and ranks snowstorms from Category 1 ("notable") to Category 5 ("extreme"). Only two historical storms—the 1993 Storm of the Century and the North American blizzard of 1996

North American blizzard of 1996

The Blizzard of 1996 was a severe nor'easter that paralyzed the U.S. East Coast with up to of wind-driven snow from January 6 to January 8, 1996. It was followed by another storm on January 12th, then unusually warm weather and torrential rain which caused rapid melting and river...

—are in the latter category. The scale differs from the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale and Fujita Scale

Fujita scale

The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...

, which are used to classify tropical cyclones and tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

es, respectively, in that it takes into account the number of people affected by the storm. The scale, as devised, is intended chiefly to assess past storms rather than assist in forecasts.

Kocin and Uccellini's 2004 book, Northeast Snowstorms, includes 70 significant storms and their NESIS rating. The following list documents these, as well as nine post-2004 cyclones profiled by the National Climatic Data Center

National Climatic Data Center

The United States National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina is the world's largest active archive of weather data. The center became established in late 1951, with the move into the new facility occurring in early 1952....

's list of NESIS storms. The most common category is "notable", encompassing 24 events. Most of the storms occurred between December and March, although a few took place in April and November. The earliest rated storm is the Great Blizzard of 1888

Great Blizzard of 1888

The Great Blizzard of 1888 or Great Blizzard of '88 was one of the most severe blizzards in United States' recorded history. Snowfalls of 40-50 inches fell in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and sustained winds of over produced snowdrifts in excess of...

, and the most recent is a cyclone in February 2010

Third North American blizzard of 2010

The February 25–27, 2010 North American blizzard was a winter storm and severe weather event that occurred in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of the United States between February 24–26, 2010...

.

List

Number	Date	NESIS rank	Category	Description
1		12.52	5	Extreme
2		11.54	5	Extreme
3		8.91	4	Crippling
4		8.34	4	Crippling
5		8.11	4	Crippling
6		7.63	4	Crippling
7		6.80	4	Crippling
8		6.28	4	Crippling
9		6.25	4	Crippling
10		6.34	4	Crippling
11		5.98	3	Major
12		5.90	3	Major
13		5.74	3	Major
14		5.63	3	Major
15		5.46	3	Major
16		5.19	3	Major
17		5.05	3	Major
18		4.93	3	Major
19		4.85	3	Major
20		4.81	3	Major
21		4.47	3	Major
22		4.45	3	Major
23		4.42	3	Major
24		4.42	3	Major
25		4.38	3	Major
26		4.19	3	Major
27		4.17	3	Major
28		4.10	3	Major
29		4.10	3	Major
30		4.10	3	Major
31		4.01	3	Major
32		3.99	2	Significant
33		3.92	2	Significant
34		3.82	2	Significant
35		3.79	2	Significant
36		3.75	2	Significant
37		3.73	2	Significant
38		3.64	2	Significant
39		3.63	2	Significant
40		3.53	2	Significant
41		3.51	2	Significant
42		3.50	2	Significant
43		3.47	2	Significant
44		3.46	2	Significant
45		3.34	2	Significant
46		3.32	2	Significant
47		3.17	2	Significant
48		3.14	2	Significant
49		3.10	2	Significant
50		3.08	2	Significant
51		2.93	2	Significant
52		2.87	2	Significant
53		2.76	2	Significant
54		2.65	2	Significant
55		2.54	2	Significant
56		2.48	1	Notable
57		2.39	1	Notable
58		2.37	1	Notable
59		2.33	1	Notable
60		2.26	1	Notable
61		2.23	1	Notable
62		2.20	1	Notable
63		2.17	1	Notable
64		2.10	1	Notable
65		2.03	1	Notable
66		1.99	1	Notable
67		1.95	1	Notable
68		1.86	1	Notable
69		1.75	1	Notable
70		1.70	1	Notable
71		1.65	1	Notable
72		1.59	1	Notable
73		1.59	1	Notable
74		1.56	1	Notable
75		1.46	1	Notable
76		1.37	1	Notable
77		1.32	1	Notable
78		1.29	1	Notable
79		1.20	1	Notable
80		1.18	1	Notable