Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content
  • Feedback

    • Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS)

    Metadata Updated: September 19, 2023

    While the Fujita and Saffir-Simpson Scales characterize tornadoes and hurricanes respectively, there is no widely used scale to classify snowstorms. The Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS) developed by Paul Kocin of The Weather Channel and Louis Uccellini of the National Weather Service characterizes and ranks high-impact Northeast snowstorms. These storms have large areas of 10 inch snowfall accumulations and greater. NESIS has five categories: Extreme, Crippling, Major, Significant, and Notable. The index differs from other meteorological indices in that it uses population information in addition to meteorological measurements. Thus NESIS gives an indication of a storm's societal impacts. NESIS scores are a function of the area affected by the snowstorm, the amount of snow, and the number of people living in the path of the storm. The aerial distribution of snowfall and population information are combined in an equation that calculates a NESIS score which varies from around one for smaller storms to over ten for extreme storms. The raw score is then converted into one of the five NESIS categories. The largest NESIS values result from storms producing heavy snowfall over large areas that include major metropolitan centers. For details on how NESIS scores are calculated at the National Climatic Data Center, see Squires and Lawrimore (2006).

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date June 23, 2023
    Metadata Created Date October 28, 2022
    Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2023
    Reference Date(s) January 1, 2006 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from ncdc

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    NESIS rankings and maps for snowstorm events.

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date June 23, 2023
    Metadata Created Date October 28, 2022
    Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2023
    Reference Date(s) January 1, 2006 (publication)
    Responsible Party DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce (Point of Contact)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.ncdc:C00453
    Access Constraints Use Constraints: Acknowledgement of the Data Originator when using the Data Item as a source is required., Distribution liability: NOAA and NCEI make no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding these data, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA and NCEI cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data. If appropriate, NCEI can only certify that the data it distributes are an authentic copy of the records that were accepted for inclusion in the NCEI archives., Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.
    Bbox East Long -65.0
    Bbox North Lat 50.0
    Bbox South Lat 30.0
    Bbox West Long -100.0
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned
    Graphic Preview Description NESIS rankings and maps for snowstorm events.
    Graphic Preview File https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/images/C00453_NESIS-rankings.png
    Graphic Preview Type PNG
    Harvest Object Id d7472229-e59d-46d8-9e50-8fe0a3b0f6e2
    Harvest Source Id 2cb3ef77-1683-4c2a-9119-dc65e50917c6
    Harvest Source Title ncdc
    Licence
    Lineage NESIS scores are a function of the area affected by the snowstorm, the amount of snow, and the number of people living in the path of the storm. For more information, please review documentation relating to the dataset.
    Metadata Language eng; USA
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-100.0, 30.0], [-65.0, 30.0], [-65.0, 50.0], [-100.0, 50.0], [-100.0, 30.0]]]}
    Progress deprecated
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 1956-03-18

    Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.