MOLINE, Ill. — Winter can be a particularly finicky season here in the Quad Cities. Some winters feature blockbuster snowfall and cold, while others, come and go with little fanfare. The winter of 2023-2024 was unique in many ways, which we will get into later. Tyler from Davenport, Iowa, was curious as to which winters in the Quad Cities have had the least amount of snow on record. Let's dig in!
Moline has more reliable snowfall records
Davenport only has snowfall records dating back to 1996, which doesn't give us a great data foundation to start with. So, for this instance, we'll be relying on neighboring Moline, Illinois, for snowfall data, which goes back to 1884. If you used the data from Davenport, it would result in the winter of 2015-2016 in which Davenport picked up 8.5 inches of snow.
In Moline's case, with a healthy sum of data, some years really stick out. Taking the top spot is the winter of 1936-1937. That winter only brought 4.9 inches of snow, most of which fell in January and February in small increments. Temperature-wise, the average winter temperature was fairly close to normal.
Nothing winters of recent to note
Looking at the top ten least snowiest winters in the Quad Cities, only the winter of 2002-2003 makes up anything of recent value. This past winter, 2023-2024 ranked in at a whopping 111th place as our seasonal snowfall was near-normal thanks to two significant winter storm systems. This is despite having record warmth in February!
Don't forget, we tracked the average trend in snowfall in a previous Ask Andrew segment. Since record-keeping began in the late 1800s, snowfall has been steadily trending up in the Quad Cities. However, if you cut that data off to only include say, the last 50 years or so, the trend would be in decline.
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