2024 – 2025 Season

Anecdotally, I’ve always heard that Garrett County receives more snow than Fairbanks, Alaska. Fairbanks receives about 100 inches of snow a year. My measurements are taken in Oakland, Maryland.

Below are the running snow totals for Garrett County and Deep Creek Lake, MD in the 2024 – 2025 season:

TOTAL THROUGH
Monday 1/20/2025:

73.50″

 

MEASURED YESTERDAY 9am): 

skiff

MEASURED TODAY (7:15am):

8.75 

FUN FACT: Wisp Resort shared that their snowmaking pumps (pumping snow from the holding pond to the machines) pumps 15,500 gallons per minute. Each holding pond at the top of the mountain holds 11 million gallons.

 

2023 – 2024 Season Total:
Season snowfall totals reported: 73″

2022 – 2023 Season Total:
Season snowfall totals reported: 39.75″

2021 – 2022 Season Total:
Season snowfall totals reported: 68.55″

2020 – 2021 Season Total:
Season snowfall totals reported: 109.26″

2019 – 2020 Season Total:
Season snowfall totals reported: 59.8″

1940 - 2023 Snowfall Totals at Deep Creek Lake, MD

“Because of its mountainous terrain and relatively high elevation (3360 ft on Backbone Mountain), Garrett County is susceptible to heavy rains and winds during summer thunderstorms and heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions during the late fall and winter months.

Precipitation averages between 40 and 48 inches annually, of which a significant portion falls as snow or ice between the months of November and March. Most communities in Garrett County record between 60 and 80 inches of snow per season. Some communities at higher elevations, like Bittinger, at an elevation of 2700 feet, receive more than 100 inches of snow per season.

Unlike the remainder of Maryland, Garrett County receives much of its snowfall from air masses generated over the Great Lakes that rise and cool as they cross the Allegheny Plateau. This “Lake Effect” snow can result in 10-12 inches of snow while areas downslope to the east receive little or no snow. By contrast, Allegany County, just to the east, averages 32- 36 inches of precipitation and less than 40 inches of snow per season.

Temperatures usually average 5-10 degrees cooler in Garrett County than in the rest of Maryland throughout the year.”

-excerpt from the Garrett County Hazard Mitigation Plan