The Great Snowfall of April 27th and 28th, 1928

87 years ago a strong nor'easter dumped a rare, widespread late season snowfall across the mid Atlantic.

The system formed in the Gulf of Mexico before taking a Pensacola, FL to Raleigh, NC to Atlantic City, NJ type-track.  At the same time, a strong area of high pressure trekked from Manitoba, Canada all the way down into the lower Mississippi Valley.  Between the two, very cold Canadian air filtered southward allowing precipitation across the higher elevations of western Virginia, West Virginia, and western Maryland to fall as heavy wet snow.

Saturday (4/28/1928) Daily Weather Map from the US Dept of Agriculture Weather Bureau

Since the month had been off to a relatively warm start (10 of the first 26 days of April, 1928 actually hit 70 in Harrisonburg), vegetation had started to bloom.  The weight of the wet snow along with strong winds caused many trees to come down resulting in widespread power outages.  

A Daily News Record article even reported closed roads from blowing and drifting snow in Rockingham County.

Although observations from the time are hard to come by, it looks like generally 5-10" fell across the Shenandoah Valley with as much as 2-3 feet across the higher elevations of the Allegheny Mountains.  Below are a few accumulation totals compiled (mainly from the NOAA Online Weather Database).

Woodstock, VA: 7.0"

Dale Enterprise (Harrisonburg), VA: 9.0"

Roanoke,VA: Trace

Hot Springs, VA: 9.0"

Moorefield, WV: 20.0"

Romney, WV: 13.0"

Martinsburg, WV: 10.0"

Grantsville, MD: 30.0"

Bayard, WV: 35.0"

If anyone happens to have any pictures from this event (long shot I know), would love to see them. Email to noapologyvameteorology@gmail.com.