In the wintertime it’s easy to feel like you live in the snowiest place on the earth,
but that distinction belongs to the Japanese Alps, on the island of Honshu.
Snowfall in those mountains can reach between 100 and 125 feet in a single year.
The large snowfall is due to Siberian winds that sweep in off the nearby Russian landmass, bringing moisture and cold air.
The snowfall in the Japanese Alps is so heavy that it’s become a tourist attraction. A road called the Yuki-no-Otani Snow Canyon is kept open all winter, and is often surrounded by snow walls around 30 feet high.
Back in the U.S., the National Park Service considers Paradise Ranger Station on Mt. Rainier, in Washington State, to be the snowiest spot. The station averages around 53 feet of snow a year. And in the winter of 1971-1972, more than 90 feet of snow fell, the mountain's snowiest on record.
But the snowiest single day on record in the world belongs to the Rocky Mountain town of Silver Lake, Colorado. During April 14 and 15, 1921, a storm dropped 76 inches of snow in 24 hours – more than six feet in one day. Strong winds off the Great Plains frequently cause large snowfall amounts in the Eastern Rockies.
Most of these snowy places are sparsely populated, but for U.S. cities with more than 50,000 people, the snow crown goes to Syracuse, New York, which averages around 9 feet of snow every year.
So if you live in upstate New York, you really can claim to live in one of the snowiest places. Hopefully, Santa brought everyone in Syracuse a snow shovel this year for Christmas.(Yahoo! news)