A man in Capracotta, Italy, stands on a high snow drift, next to a second-story window, after 100.8 inches of snow fell in just 18 hours on 5 March 2015. Photo: MeteoWeb

By Angela Fritz
11 March 2015 (Washington Post) – The Italian weather Web site MeteoWeb reports that Capracotta, Italy, saw 100.8 inches of snow in just 18 hours on March 5 — a total that, if verified, would set a new world record for snowfall in a 24-hour period. However, the reports from Capracotta at this time are not official. An investigation of the measurement by the World Meteorological Organization would need to be conducted in order for this to go down in the “official” record books, but the WMO does not currently track snowfall for any location. According to Randall Cerveny, WMO’s chief rapporteur of weather and climate extremes, this is because accurate snowfall measurements are fairly limited and have been “markedly difficult” to verify. But there is hope for an investigation of the Italy total. “The WMO is currently evaluating the addition of world snowfall extremes as a new category for the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes,”  Cerveny said. “We will likely be adding it to the Archive in the near future. When we do so, we certainly will be investigating this interesting report from Italy as a possible record snowfall extreme.” [more]

World record? 100 inches of snow may have clobbered Italy in 18 hours, review pending.