On March 14th, Winter Storm Stella rolled into the east coast of North America, bringing with it multiple feet of the white stuff, just days before spring was due to begin. Major cities were brought to a virtual halt, as roads and businesses were either closed or inaccessible for the day. This left millions of people at home with nothing else to do but wait out the storm… and to visit Pornhub! Our friends at Time Out New York checked in to see how people put their time out on Tuesday to good use.
Much like 2016’s Snowzilla (aka winter storm Jonas) and 2015’s storm Juno, our statisticians found major traffic increases in several snow covered states on March 14th. Compared to an average Tuesday, Maryland topped the list with a +20% increase in traffic over 24 hours, followed by New Jersey up +17%, Massachusets +16% and Connecticut +15%.
The following chart shows how traffic varied hourly on the 14th. The percent changes are compared to normal traffic levels (0%) during the same hour on an typical Tuesday. The traffic changes follow almost identical patterns throughout the day. Around 2am as the storm began to roll in, traffic was above average as much as 75% in Connecticut and 63% in New Jersey. At 6am we see traffic dip 21% to 33% below normal levels, and then increase well above average between 10am and 2pm.
The following chart shows hourly traffic changes in New York City and Boston. At 2am as the storm began, traffic in New York was up +43% above an average Tuesday, and +60% in Boston. At 6am, traffic in both cities was nearly 20% below average. At 11am, Boston traffic increased by +43% and at 1pm New York traffic reached a peak increase of +34%. Later in the evening, New York traffic was still well above average, but Boston was down by -20% compared to a typical Tuesday night.
Our statisticians also took a look at how March 14th traffic changed with our neighbors to the north in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario. Toronto’s traffic was up +29% at 2am, and +9% in Montreal around midnight. In both cities, traffic was down well below average at 6am with a change of -16% in Montreal and -17% in Toronto. Interestingly, Montreal’s traffic stayed near or below average for most of the morning and afternoon, while Toronto’s traffic changed by +18% at noon-hour and remained above average until 4pm. At 6pm Montreal traffic was up by 11%, but Toronto saw an increase of only 5%, although that is still a significant change in traffic for one of Pornhub’s largest traffic cities worldwide.
To see how Pornhub’s traffic fluctuates throughout an average day, be sure to check out our complete Fappy Hour study. You can even see how daily traffic varies between men and women, and different age groups.