New world record for single-day snowfall? 78 inches (198 cm) reported in Capracotta, southern Italy

L'Italo-Americano
Sun, 08 Mar 2015 13:06 UTC

© L'Italo-Americano

Snow prevented people from leaving their houses during the day

In Molise, it has been snowing for almost two days and the situation became critical in Campobasso, where this morning the snow first reached 16 inches and later on the day 19 inches. In areas above 1000 meters, snow accumulations reach beyond 39 inches. At the end of the day, reports say the village of Capracotta had been covered by 78 inches of snow.

Capracotta is a tiny village in the Isernia area, with less than a thousand people. It is known that the first traces of human presence date back to the Paleolithic age, with some remains of the Neanderthal man whereas the first settlements come from the 11th century.

The name comes from Longobards who used to sacrifice a goat to honor their Thor god.

Record snow in Abruzzo, 5 and March 6, 2015

Comment: The previous 'official' world record for most snow measured in 24 hours was 75.8 inches (193 cm) in Silver Lake, Colorado, over the night of April 14-15, 1921.

However, this article translated from Italian by iceagenow.info cites a 1961 meteorologist report that this was not the largest snow fall in the area:

But surely between Abruzzo and Molise it has snowed more than this many times. The great meteorologist Edmondo Bernacca wrote in the Italian Meteorological Magazine of December 1961 that in Roccacaramanico, in the municipality of Sant'Eufemia, just 878 meters above sea level in the province of Pescara, fell 365cm (11.92 ft) of snow in 24 hours.