The North American blizzard of 2008 was a winter storm that struck most of southern and eastern North America from March 6 to March 10, 2008. The storm was most notable for a major winter storm event from Arkansas to Quebec. It also produced severe weather across the east coast of the United States with heavy rain, damaging winds and tornadoes, causing locally significant damage. The hardest hit areas by the wintry weather were from the Ohio Valley to southern Quebec where up to a half a meter of snow fell locally including the major cities of Columbus, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, and Ottawa, Ontario. For many areas across portions of the central United States, Ontario and Quebec, it was the worst winter storm in the past several years. The blizzard and its aftermath caused at least 17 deaths across four US states and three Canadian provinces, while hundreds others were injured mostly in weather-related accidents and tornadoes.
Meteorological synopsis and event
March 6
During the day, a low pressure system developed across Texas and rain gradually turned into snow in parts of Oklahoma and northern Texas giving locally a few inches of snow particularly just east of Oklahoma City. Across southern Texas, an EF1 tornado touched down near the Corpus Christi region.
March 7
From Texas north and east through Ohio, heavy snow fell. According to The Weather Channel and the National Weather Service, Dallas and Fort Worth received anywhere from to . Sherman, Texas received , while Collinsville, TX got . Cincinnati, Ohio received which broke the daily snowfall record for March 7. The Memphis metropolitan area received anywhere from in Lakeland, Tennessee to at the NWS office in East Memphis, with the Memphis International Airport picking up , its heaviest snowfall in 20 years. In Arkansas, some areas received locally up to of snow.
In Florida, several tornadoes hit the Jacksonville area, as well as in parts of Georgia. The Storm Prediction Center said one person was injured and two were killed. In total, 17 tornadoes were reported during the outbreak across the two states including duplicated reports and at least thirteen were confirmed including five EF1's and three EF2's.
Tornadoes confirmed
March 8–9
As of 9 am, Cincinnati had received of snow. Louisville, Kentucky reported of snow, while Columbus, Ohio got . Several Ohio locations reported thundersnow early Saturday morning. Parts of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio were under Blizzard Warnings.
As the snow wound down Saturday night, snowfall totals were over for parts of central Ohio, with most areas of Ohio reporting over . Port Columbus reported total snowfall of , the most ever recorded for central Ohio. Large sections of Ohio including the Dayton and Cincinnati areas were under snow emergencies. fell across Mississippi with over of snow in parts of Kentucky (including Louisville) and Tennessee. Residents reported in Leitchfield, KY that snow accumulated to , with at most in rural areas. For portions of Middle Tennessee, it was the worst snowstorm since 2003. Humphreys and Perry Counties along the Tennessee River both exceeded of snow while portions of the Nashville area received ; its biggest snowfall since March 19, 1996, where fell. A large area of Tennessee affected by the winter storm were hit by several strong and deadly tornadoes just over one month earlier on February 5.
In southern Ontario, some areas especially near the Niagara Peninsula received in excess of of snow. Some areas in southeastern Ontario and southern Quebec saw in excess of of snow with Ottawa receiving the highest amount with . Several areas across Ontario reported thundersnow with locally ice pellets and freezing rain closer to the Highway 401 corridor The storm also affected much of Atlantic Canada and New England with extensive freezing rain across most of New Brunswick although northern sections of the province received from in Campbellton. Heavy snow fell on some areas that already had close-to-record-breaking amounts of snow for that winter.