A look at how much snow fell in Columbia and totals across SC’s Midlands
Snow from a weekend winter storm had come to the Columbia area of South Carolina, but there was so much of the white stuff that it isn’t yet gone. Snow continued to cover much of the Midlands on Sunday.
Anywhere from 5 to 9 inches of snow was predicted to fall in the Midlands, according to the National Weather Service. Ultimately, slightly smaller totals of snow were recorded for most of the greater Columbia area.
“It’s always difficult to predict where snow bands will set up,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Chris Landolfi told The State on Sunday.
There was 2.9 inches of snow recorded at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, the National Weather Service’s home in central South Carolina, Landolfi said. But 4 inches of snow was recorded in other parts of Columbia, according to Landolfi.
“It was a bit lower than others taken around Columbia,” Landolfi said of the airport measurement.
To the naked eye, especially the eye of a South Carolina resident who gets snow less frequently than earthquakes and hurricanes, the amount of snow seemed to be even more.
Landolfi confirmed that, saying “It looks like a lot more than we actually got.”
To the west of Columbia, snowfall totals ranging from 3-3.4 inches were reported in Lexington County, according to the National Weather Service.
To the north of Richland County, there was 4.5 inches of snow recorded in Fairfield County, while just to the east of that in Kershaw County a measurement of 5 inches of snow was confirmed, the National Weather Service said.
The greatest amounts of snow in the Midlands were reported in the furthermost northern extremes. Eight inches of snow was confirmed in Lancaster County, according to Landolfi.
The highest totals in all of South Carolina were even further north, Landolfi said. In the area close to the state line with North Carolina, 11 inches of snow was recorded in the Fort Mill area, according to Landolfi.
Localized amounts were higher in some pockets of South Carolina that were surrounded by lesser recordings, National Weather Service data shows. This was true in areas in the southern portion of the Midlands, closer to Georgia and the CSRA.
There was even snow along the South Carolina coast, as an inch was recorded in the Charleston area, according to the National Weather Service.
This was the first significant snowfall of the year in Columbia. The forecast for winter weather Jan. 18, as well as another potential snowstorm Jan. 25, didn’t come to fruition. There was little precipitation in the former, while the latter saw precipitation that was mostly freezing rain and some sleet.
While some flurries were spotted in parts of the Midlands in each of the past two weekends, this week’s accumulation was the first measurable snowfall of 2026. There were two instances in 2025 when snow was recorded in Columbia — Jan. 10 and Jan. 21-22.
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This story was originally published February 1, 2026 at 12:02 PM.
