67 Fun Facts About Blizzards

Under the US National Weather Service definition, a blizzard needs sustained winds or gusts of at least how many mph?

The National Weather Service requires sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph (56 km/h) or more together with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility; heavy snowfall itself is not required.

How far must visibility fall for a snowstorm to count as a blizzard in the United States?

US criteria require visibility frequently reduced to a quarter mile (400 metres) or less by falling or blowing snow; a storm with deep snow but better visibility is a winter storm, not a blizzard.

What distinguishes a 'ground blizzard' from an ordinary one?

No precipitation falls at the time; loose surface snow simply gets picked up, which is why the Northern Plains can have whiteouts under clear skies.

The Oxford English Dictionary suggests 'blizzard' is onomatopoeic and related to which words?

The OED judges 'blizzard' probably onomatopoeic, akin to blow, blast, blister and bluster; the word spread through American newspapers during the hard winter of 1880-81.

A 'severe blizzard' has winds over 45 mph, near-zero visibility, and temperatures at or below what?

The National Weather Service's 'severe blizzard' category requires temperatures of 10 °F (−12 °C) or lower alongside winds above 45 mph and near-zero visibility; the January 1978 storm over Ohio met that rare standard.

In Antarctica, blizzards are driven by winds spilling off the ice plateau at roughly what average speed?

Antarctic blizzards ride katabatic winds averaging about 99 mph (160 km/h): dense, cold air pours downhill off the ice sheet under gravity toward the coast.

In which year did Iran suffer the deadliest blizzard in recorded history?

The blizzard struck Iran from 3 to 9 February 1972, a week of snow that buried about 200 villages and ended a four-year drought.

Roughly how many people died in the deadliest blizzard on record, in Iran?

About 4,000 people died as a week of snow cut off villages across southern and northwestern Iran, where temperatures fell to −25 °C and food and medicine ran out before rescuers arrived.

How deep did the snow get in parts of southern Iran during its record-breaking blizzard?

Drifts reached about 26 feet (7.9 m) in southern Iran; the area around Ardakan was hit hardest, with entire villages buried and no survivors found in some.

Snowdrifts from the Great Blizzard of 1888 reportedly exceeded what height?

Contemporary reports put drifts at over 50 feet (15 m) in places, against an average of 30 to 40 feet, high enough to bury three-story houses from New York to New England.

Which New York town recorded the Great Blizzard of 1888's top total of 58 inches of snow?

Saratoga Springs measured 58 inches (147 cm), the storm's highest official total; New Haven recorded 45 inches and New York City 22.

The transport gridlock of the Great Blizzard of 1888 helped inspire which piece of infrastructure?

The paralysis of elevated trains and streetcars pushed cities to put transit underground: Boston's Tremont Street Subway, America's first, opened in 1897 and New York's first underground line in 1904.

After the 1888 blizzard downed its lines, what did New York City start doing with its telegraph wires?

The storm had cut off Montreal and most of the big northeastern cities from each other for days.

For how many days did the New York Stock Exchange close during the Great Blizzard of 1888?

The New York Stock Exchange shut for two days, March 12 and 13; Roscoe Conkling, a former Republican senator, died five weeks later from exposure suffered walking home through the storm.

The Great Blizzard of 1888 wrecked over 200 ships between New England and which bay?

From Chesapeake Bay north to New England more than 200 vessels were grounded or wrecked in the storm, and at least 100 seamen died.

The Schoolhouse Blizzard of January 1888 was so deadly largely because it struck under what conditions?

Temperatures had climbed 20 to 40 °F ahead of the front, luring people out to do chores and send children to school.

Which author's 2004 book The Children's Blizzard chronicles the Schoolhouse Blizzard?

David Laskin's 2004 book The Children's Blizzard reconstructed the 12 January 1888 storm through the families of Nebraska and Dakota Territory homesteaders; the title reflects the many schoolchildren among the dead.

Nebraska teacher Minnie Freeman became famous during the Schoolhouse Blizzard for doing what?

Her mile-and-a-half trek in Mira Valley made her a national heroine; songs and poems were written about it.

The Schoolhouse Blizzard was triggered by an Arctic cold front colliding with warm moist air from where?

Within hours the front dropped temperatures from just above freezing to −20 °F, and to −40 °F in some places.

Besides 'White Hurricane' and 'Big Blow', what was the 1913 Great Lakes Storm's third nickname?

The 1913 storm was also called the 'Freshwater Fury' for its hurricane-force winds over four of the five lakes; Lake Huron suffered worst, where eight ships went down with all hands.

How many ships were destroyed outright in the Great Lakes Storm of 1913?

The storm destroyed 19 ships outright and stranded 19 more; with more than 250 dead it was the deadliest natural disaster in the lakes' recorded history.

Which ship was found floating upside-down off Michigan after the 1913 storm?

The Charles S. Price, a 504-foot freighter, was the 'mystery ship' found floating hull-up off Port Huron on Lake Huron; the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a different November gale, in 1975.

Which city got 22 inches of snow and 79 mph winds in the 1913 storm and was paralyzed for days?

Cleveland took 22 inches of snow on winds of 79 mph, with streetcars stalled and power and telephone lines down for days; Duluth and Chicago were also hit as the storm crossed the lakes region.

The Knickerbocker Storm of 1922 was named after a building that collapsed in which city?

The Knickerbocker Theatre on 18th Street in Washington, D.C., lost its flat roof under 28 inches of snow during a Saturday-night film showing on 28 January 1922; the disaster gave the storm its name.

How many people were killed when the Knickerbocker Theatre roof collapsed in 1922?

The collapse killed 98 people and injured 133; among the dead was former Pennsylvania congressman Andrew Jackson Barchfeld, and the theatre's architect later took his own life.

The Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940 is remembered in Minnesota partly for killing large numbers of whom?

Unseasonable morning warmth had drawn hundreds of duck hunters onto the Mississippi backwaters; trapped on islands and sandbars by the sudden freeze, they made up about half of Minnesota's 49 deaths.

Which famous structure did the storm system behind the 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard destroy days earlier?

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed 'Galloping Gertie', twisted itself apart in a 40 mph wind on 7 November 1940 as the Pacific storm that later became the Armistice Day Blizzard came ashore.

Which future NFL coach, then a 13-year-old, was caught outdoors in the Armistice Day Blizzard?

Bud Grant, then a 13-year-old from Superior, Wisconsin, was caught outdoors by the storm and survived; he later coached the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowls.

About how many deaths were blamed on the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940?

The storm was blamed for about 146 deaths across the Midwest, including 66 sailors lost on the lakes; temperatures fell 50 °F in places and snow piled into 20-foot drifts.

The 1950 Great Appalachian Storm set a November record low of 3 °F in which southern city?

Atlanta fell to 3 °F, a November record for the city, and Birmingham to 5 °F as Arctic air poured down the east side of the Appalachians; hurricane-force winds cut power to about a million customers in the Northeast.

Which New Hampshire city clocked a 110 mph wind gust during the Great Appalachian Storm of 1950?

Concord recorded a 110 mph gust, one of several hurricane-force readings across the Northeast, including 108 mph at Newark; on the western slopes of the Appalachians the same storm brought blizzard conditions.

The Blizzard of 1977 buried which New York city, whose Lake Erie shore had frozen solid weeks earlier?

Buffalo had already taken near-record snow that winter, and once Lake Erie froze the loose powder lying on it was swept into the city by gusts of 69 mph, piling into drifts of 30 to 40 feet.

On what date had Lake Erie frozen over ahead of the Blizzard of 1977?

Lake Erie froze over on December 14, 1976, unusually early; a bitterly cold January kept the snow on the ice powdery, leaving plenty of loose material for the wind to move.

Which US president declared an emergency for New York and Pennsylvania during the Blizzard of 1977?

Jimmy Carter, inaugurated only eight days before the storm struck, declared a federal emergency for western New York and later a major disaster; the same freak winter had dropped snow on Miami on 19 January.

The Great Blizzard of January 1978, which hit Ohio and the Great Lakes, is also known by what nickname?

Meteorologists dubbed it the 'Cleveland Superbomb' because its central pressure fell about 40 millibars in 24 hours, far past the 24 needed to qualify as a 'bomb' cyclone.

In the January 1978 blizzard, wind chills across Ohio reached roughly what value?

Wind chills across Ohio reached about −60 °F as winds gusted past 80 mph; Ohio accounted for 51 of the storm's roughly 70 deaths, many of them people stranded in cars.

In which state was the January 1978 blizzard's lowest pressure, 956 millibars, recorded?

The storm's lowest pressure, 956 millibars (28.28 inHg), was recorded at Mount Clemens, Michigan, near Detroit, on 26 January 1978, a record low for the state at the time; Sarnia, Ontario, across the border, read 955.5.

New England's Blizzard of '78 dropped heavy snow for an unprecedented stretch of how many hours?

Snow fell on Boston for 33 hours straight as a strong Canadian high blocked the storm from moving out to sea; it stalled and dumped up to 4 inches an hour with thunder and lightning.

Fourteen people died on Route 128 near Boston during the Blizzard of '78 from what cause?

Fourteen motorists trapped on Route 128 died of carbon monoxide poisoning as exhaust fumes built up in their snowbound idling cars; about 100 people died across the Northeast and eastern Massachusetts banned driving for the rest of the week.

Which Boston college hockey tournament was interrupted by the Blizzard of '78?

The Beanpot, the annual tournament between Boston's four college hockey programs, was under way at Boston Garden on 6 February 1978 when the storm broke; about 11,666 fans were inside and many spent the night there.

Which Massachusetts governor became famous for sweater-clad TV briefings during the Blizzard of '78?

Michael Dukakis, then in his first term as governor, gave daily televised briefings in a cardigan and imposed a week-long driving ban; Connecticut's Ella Grasso closed her state's roads at the same time.

What lowest central pressure did the 1993 Storm of the Century reach over New York?

The storm bottomed out at 960 millibars (28.35 inHg) at White Plains, New York, on 13 March 1993, a reading lower than many hurricanes, after racing up the East Coast from the south.

How many deaths were attributed to the 1993 Storm of the Century?

The storm was blamed for 318 deaths from Cuba to Canada; in Florida a 12-foot storm surge on the Big Bend coast and a swarm of tornadoes killed dozens before the snow reached the North.

The 1993 superstorm's biggest snowfall, 56 inches, fell on Mount Le Conte in which state?

Mount Le Conte in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains recorded 56 inches, the storm's highest total; Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, the highest peak in the eastern United States, got 50 inches.

In the US capital, the Blizzard of 1996 earned what nickname because it followed a federal government shutdown?

Locals dubbed it the 'Great Furlough Storm': federal workers had just returned from the shutdown that ended on 6 January 1996 when the snow shut the government again; Dulles Airport measured 24.6 inches.

On which index were the 1993 Superstorm and the 1996 and 2016 blizzards each rated 5?

The Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS), developed by Paul Kocin and Louis Uccellini, rates storms 1 to 5 by weighing snowfall area against the population beneath it; a 5 is labelled 'Extreme'.

Which Canadian city declared a state of emergency during 'Snowmageddon' in January 2020?

St. John's, Newfoundland, declared a state of emergency on 17 January 2020 after about 76 cm (30 inches) of snow fell in a day, a record for the city; the army was called in to dig it out.

The January 2016 blizzard peaked with 42 inches of snow in Glengary, in which state?

Glengary, in West Virginia's eastern panhandle, measured 42 inches, the storm's top total; seven states saw more than 30 inches and at least 55 deaths were blamed on the storm.

The Weather Channel's unofficial name for the January 2016 East Coast blizzard was what?

The Weather Channel named the 22-24 January 2016 storm Winter Storm Jonas under the naming scheme it began in the 2012-13 winter; the National Weather Service declined to adopt the names.

Which governor imposed a travel ban on New York City and Long Island roads on January 23, 2016?

Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered the travel ban from 2:30 p.m. on 23 January 2016, covering New York City and Long Island; it also shut buses, commuter rail and above-ground subway lines until the next morning.

The 2008 Afghanistan blizzard led hospitals to perform at least 100 of what procedure?

Frostbite forced doctors to carry out at least 100 amputations, mostly of fingers and toes, after villagers walked through snow and freezing mud without proper footwear as temperatures fell to −30 °C.

The Great Storm of January 1975 across the Upper Midwest is remembered by what nickname?

The storm struck 10-12 January 1975, with the Minnesota Vikings losing Super Bowl IX on its final day, hence 'Super Bowl Blizzard'; it spread heavy snow over one of the widest areas of any US storm.

How does Environment Canada's wind threshold for a blizzard compare with the US one?

Environment Canada's blizzard criterion is winds of 40 km/h (25 mph) or more with reduced visibility lasting at least four hours (six north of the treeline), a lower wind bar but a longer duration than the US definition.

What is a 'whiteout' in the strict sense?

On the treeless Northern Plains, ground blizzards can produce whiteouts even when no new snow is falling.

According to the US National Weather Service, what separates a blizzard from an ordinary snowstorm?

The National Weather Service's definition turns on the strength of the wind: strong sustained winds or frequent gusts must whip falling or blowing snow into low visibility; snow depth and temperature play no part.

A nor'easter takes its name from what?

These macro-scale storms form off New England and Atlantic Canada, sometimes originating as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.

To count as a blizzard, a storm's conditions must typically persist for at least how long?

The National Weather Service requires blizzard conditions to persist for at least three hours; severe cold and deep drifts often accompany blizzards but are not part of the definition.

Which Laura Ingalls Wilder book recounts her family's struggle through the blizzards of 1880–81?

The Long Winter (1940) recounts the Ingalls family's seven months snowbound in De Smet, Dakota Territory: the first blizzard struck in October 1880 and trains could not reach the town until May 1881.

The record 1947 snowfall that dumped 26 inches on Central Park in 24 hours began on which day?

Snow began falling on Christmas Day 1947 and, with little wind, kept falling into 26 December, leaving 26.4 inches in Central Park, a record that stood until 2006; the storm was blamed for 77 deaths.

Besides 'Super Bowl Blizzard', what other nickname does the great Upper Midwest blizzard of January 1975 carry?

Minnesotans also call the 10-12 January 1975 storm 'Minnesota's Storm of the Century': wind chills between −50 °F and −80 °F accompanied heavy snow, and the same system spawned a tornado outbreak across the South.

Which southern port was totally iced over during the unusual Great Blizzard of February 1899?

Ice choked the port of New Orleans and floes drifted out of the Mississippi's mouth; with Mardi Gras falling on 14 February 1899, revellers waited for parade routes to be shovelled clear.

The Ash Wednesday storm of March 1962 dumped 42 inches of snow in which state?

Big Meadows in Virginia's Blue Ridge measured 42 inches; along the coast the storm stalled through five successive high tides at the spring-tide peak, flooding Assateague Island.

Which Pacific Northwest city was buried by about four feet of snow in January 1880?

Seattle was buried under roughly four feet of snow between 5 and 9 January 1880; barns collapsed and all transport halted in what stood as the city's biggest snowstorm for well over a century.

In which year does the OED record the first use of 'blizzard' for weather, meaning a 'violent blow'?

The OED's earliest citation is from 1829, when 'blizzard' meant a 'violent blow'; it had taken its modern snowstorm sense by 1859 in the western United States and was common in the press by the winter of 1880-81.

The Hessian Storm of December 1778 was named for German troops stranded by snow in which state?

The storm of 26 December 1778 froze to death Hessian soldiers garrisoned around Newport, Rhode Island, during the British occupation; drifts of 15 feet were reported as the blizzard swept from Pennsylvania to New England.

At least how many people died in the January 2008 Afghanistan blizzard?

The toll reached at least 926 people, many in remote western provinces such as Herat where villages were cut off for weeks; more than 100,000 sheep and goats and nearly 315,000 cattle also perished.

Which town in today's South Dakota was mostly washed away when the 1881 thaw flooded the Missouri?

Vermillion, then sited on the Missouri bottomland, was largely destroyed when ice jams from the 1881 spring break-up sent the river over its banks after a winter of unbroken cold; the town was rebuilt on the bluffs above.