In January 1950, Seattle got 20 inches of snow, which was the biggest single-day snow event in the area’s recent history.

Western Washington is gearing up for another round of snow, but it probably won’t come close to the biggest snow storm the area has ever seen.

Seattle’s snowiest day was on January 13, 1950 when 20 inches fell in one day, according to the National Weather Service.

Other memorable snowfall days were in January 1969 when almost 15 inches fell at Sea-Tac Airport and November 1978 when 10 inches fell in Olympia two days in a row.

In December 1996, Seattle experienced one of its biggest snowstorms where over a foot fell. That storm was immediately followed by heavy rainfall that triggered urban flooding and landslides. However, exact snowfall measurements from that storm were missing from National Weather Service data and are not included in charts here.

Average annual snowfall totals have dropped over the last 50 years. During the 1950s and 1960, Sea-Tac Airport averaged nearly 18 inches of snow each year compared to just 4.9 inches since 2004.