Workers clear the snow from sidewalks around Minden Park on Feb. 5, 2024, after a record 25 inches of snow fell.
It has been 13 years since the last time Minden had a December without measurable snowfall.
While snowfall records are sketchy for most of 2011, there’s definitely a zero in the column for the 12th month.
Snowless Decembers in Carson Valley aren’t that common, with 16 since 1906, according to National Weather Service records.
The last time both December and January posted goose eggs was in 1983-84. Two decades prior December, January and February, the three months that typically see the most snow in Carson Valley, saw none.
That was 1963-64, when Jacobsen Distributing Co. operated by Consignee Lawrence E. Jacobsen listed the first snows in an R-C ad for Union furnace and stove oils, coal and presto logs.
According to the ad, which listed every year between 1949 and 1963, there was snow on Nov. 20, 1963.
The Record-Courier reported .09 inches of precipitation that day, which was likely similar to this year’s light dusting, in that it wasn’t sufficient to register in National Weather Service records.
There hasn’t been measurable snowfall in the Valley since last spring.
The year started out pretty strong with 10 inches in January, well above the average 5.6 inches. It’s hard to fathom that February 2024 had a record-breaking 26 inches, thanks to a single day total of 25 inches.
Because the National Weather Service day ends at 6 a.m., the 7 inches that fell in Minden before then was counted as part of Feb. 4. The 18 inches that fell after 6 a.m. was counted for Feb. 5. Both days were records.
Something similar happened on March 2-3 when the two-day snow total of 13 inches accounted for most of the 16 inches that fell during the month. March 31, 2024, was the last day snow was recorded in Minden when 2 inches fell containing .37 inches of moisture.
As far as precipitation goes, 2024 will likely end up in the records as an average year with around 9 inches.
