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Have you ever witnessed nearly 20 inches of snow in a single storm?

How about snow so deep that it would totally cover a VW Beetle?

Personally, my answer is no to the first question and yes to #2.

Past winter storms here in the Roanoke-Chowan area came to mind with last week’s snow/ice event. While we didn’t receive the 2-to-4 inches that was predicted, the blanket of snow, glistening with a thin layer of ice, was beautiful to behold as the sun rose this past Saturday morning.

Thankfully, the local roads were mainly clear by 12 noon.

Using the RC News-Herald archives (which, by the way, are now digitalized and available online), I was able to research a few of the local area’s biggest winter storms.

A front page story in The Herald from Dec. 16, 1958 carried this headline: Roanoke-Chowan Digging Out From Biggest Snow Since ’27. That story revealed that 12 inches of snow was estimated in a storm that passed across the region a couple of days earlier. There was another storm on its heels that was predicted to leave an additional 2-to-3 inches in its wake.

The story made reference to a snowstorm from March 1, 1927 that measured 14-to-18 inches in depth with drifts that would “top one’s head.”

There was a photo accompanying the December – 1958 story that showed the roof of the Basnight Brick Warehouse, located East Main Street in Ahoskie, collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow. It was reported that 30,000 baskets, crafted by Riverside Manufacturing Company, were inside the warehouse and were destroyed.

The heavy snow also caused the collapse of the roof on two chicken houses on the Powellsville Road. Owner/operator Donald Earley told The Herald there were about 6,000 chickens in each house, but most escaped injury or death because the roof did not fall all the way to the ground.

In a sidebar with that story, John Artz of Gatesville, who kept a weather station for the Department of Commerce, reported a low temperature of one below zero the night of Dec. 15, 1958.

Another sidebar shared that despite the heavy snow, at least one of The Herald’s delivery boys made his rounds. Mrs. W.G. Barnes, who lived “a couple of miles out on the St. John’s Road” called The Herald to say she wasn’t expecting to receive her newspaper because of the weather. However, she said she answered a knock at her door and there stood Eugene Early with her paper. Eugene told Mrs. Barnes that his daddy’s car wouldn’t start, so he walked his route delivering papers.

There were a trio of snowstorms that struck locally in the winter of 1973…one in January and two in February. The Herald reported that all three were in the 4-to-8 inch range. I can’t recall exactly which one (I think it was either of the two in February of that year) where I was at a friend’s house in Woodland and it snowed so heavy that we went out and purposely buried another friend’s VW Bug in the white stuff.

March 2, 1980 witnessed another big snowstorm. Locally, 15 inches were reported, but the biggest problem came with high winds, gusting up to 40 mph, causing snow drifts as high as four feet.

That storm brought everything to a halt. Businesses were closed and vehicles were buried in driveways or on the roads. Even James Baker, then the Sheriff of Hertford County, was stranded on NC 11 when his vehicle encountered a massive snow drift.

Deborah and I were working at that time at The Daily Southerner in Tarboro. Our boss – Sonny Creech – sent four-wheel drive trucks to transport his employees to and from work.

That March 1980 winter storm was preceded by one the first week of February that dumped 10-to-14 inches of snow across eastern ‘Carolina, including the R-C area.

If my memory is correct, there were five occasions where measurable snow fell in the R-C area during the Winter of 1980.

During the first week of January 1996, 5-to-6 inches of snow along with a layer of sleet and freezing rain arrived in the R-C area.

A crippling ice storm hit the RC area the second week of December in 1989, leaving tens of thousands without electricity for several days.

Then there was the Christmas night storm in 2010 that carried over into Dec. 26.

According to the National Service Office in Wakefield, VA, the storm’s bulls eye appeared to be in the Aulander area, basically east and southeast of town where the NWS estimated 11 inches fell.

In an egg shaped circle around that area, a swath of snow totaled in the 8-to-10 inch range in places such as Ahoskie, Powellsville, Askewville, Windsor, Lewiston-Woodville, Kelford, Roxobel and just east of Woodland. Heavy snow (at least eight inches) fell in Rich Square, Lasker, Conway, Pendleton, Murfreesboro, Como, Winton Cofield, Harrellsville and Merry Hill. Lesser amounts (4-to-6 inches) were estimated westward in a line from Jackson to Seaboard.

The first week of January 2017, a moisture-heavy low pressure system moved up the coast and left anywhere between eight to 12 inches of snow in the Roanoke-Chowan area.

Exactly one year later (Jan. 2018), 7-to-10 inches of snow fell across the Roanoke-Chowan area. This blanket of snow stuck around for a while as Artic air remained in place where daytime highs struggled to reached 25 degrees while overnight lows were at or near zero.

According to the Climate Office at North Carolina State University, the March 1-2, 1980 blizzard caused one of the heaviest snows ever in eastern North Carolina. A powerful low pressure system dropped more than a foot of snow across the region, with totals exceeding two feet in some spots.

Morehead City recorded 22 inches, Williamston had 24.4, and local reports of as much as 30 inches came in from Emerald Isle and Cherry Point.

That storm capped off the snowiest winter on record for much of the Coastal Plain. Elizabeth City had 45 inches total, including two separate events with at least a foot of snow on the ground.

The NC State researchers also revealed the coldest day on record in North Carolina. That blast of Arctic air reached our state on January 21, 1985 where it shattered records for our all-time coldest temperatures across much of the state.

Raleigh dropped to -9°F while Greensboro hit -8°F and Charlotte hit -5°F. Naturally, it was even colder in the mountains, reaching -16°F in Asheville and -24°F in Boone. And at our state’s highest point, Mount Mitchell hit -34°F, which still stands as North Carolina’s record low temperature and has been largely unchallenged by any event since then.

I don’t know about you, but that’s one record I don’t wish to see broken.

Cal Bryant is the Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact him at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.