If the lack of snow this winter is alarming to you, you're not alone.
As New York City is set to break a record for the latest recorded measurable snowfall on record (Jan. 29 is the current record, set back in 1973), it's important to note that the dearth of snow is far from normal. Only six times in the past 50 years has the city gotten less than 10 inches of snow for a season, according to the National Weather Service.
It'll be February before the five boroughs see any legitimate snowfall whatsoever, so breaking the double digit mark at this point would likely require multiple snow events, or one really big storm.
The latter is very rare: Only 20 times since 1869 has it snowed more than a foot in one day in the city. Though to be fair, two of those days were in the past decade: 14.8 inches fell on Feb. 1, 2021, and the all-time record daily snowfall was 27.3 inches on Jan. 23, 2016.
While it's impossible to predict if we're in store for a big storm during the final month and a half of the season, as of now we can very safely say NYC is on pace for one of its least snowy winters of the past 150 years. The city has not seen a truly snowless winter in recorded history, so the current total would immediately be a record.
Here's a list of the 10 least snowiest seasons for Central Park, according to the National Weather Service:
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| Snowfall Total for Season (in inches) | Years | |
| 1 | 2.8 | 1972-1973 |
| 2 | 3.5 | 2001-2002 |
| 3 | 3.8 | 1918-1919 |
| 4 | 4.8 | 2019-2020 |
| 5 | 5.1 | 1900-1901 |
| 6 | 5.3 | 1931-1932 |
| 7 | 5.5 | 1997-1998 |
| 8 | 7.4 | 2011-2012 |
| 9 | 8.1 | (tie) 1988-1989 and 1877-1888 |
| 10 | 9.3 | 1950-1951 |
