The Great Blizzard of 1978: Why we can’t forget it

When I was just 4 years old, I can remember seeing something I had never seen before. While I was very young, I can remember this event very clearly, as most of my family and neighbors back then do.

»PHOTOS: Blizzard of 1978

In fact, it was the first time in recorded history that snow fell in the town I was born, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Yes, it snowed as far south as Miami on that Jan. 19, 1977. To my knowledge, other than perhaps a passing flurry nearby, I don’t believe it has happened again since.

The snow was so rare, that it stole the news headlines from Jimmy Carter, who was being sworn into office the next day. Yes, that event likely wouldn’t have been the big story for a while, but almost exactly one year later, another major storm system stole the weather spotlight.

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That year, my father, who was working as an air traffic controller in Miami, decided to transfer to Denver. While I did get to see some amazing snow that following winter, nothing would compare to what people around this area would experience 40 years ago this week.

On the morning of Jan. 24, 1978, a storm system began to form over western Texas. It was very weak, but it was beginning to feed in some moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, a strengthening Alberta Clipper was just entering the Northern Plains, and was on the move toward the Great Lakes.

In Ohio, temperatures had climbed into the 40s that afternoon, where they remained into Jan. 25. But moisture was moving into the Miami Valley, and by that evening, fog and drizzle had started to develop. It was at that time that meteorologists across Ohio started to realize that both storm systems were on a collision course.

They also realized that - not only would the collisions of the storms likely create a megastorm – but that the Great Lakes, mainly Ohio, would be ground zero for that massive system. Weathercasters began to immediately send out warnings of an impending blizzard, one that would be like no other in recent memory.

Early the next morning, on a Thursday, temperatures began to rapidly drop from the 30s into the single digits in just a few hours. Wind gusts ramped up from 50 to 70 miles per hour by just after midnight on Jan. 26 and lasted into the 27th.

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Heavy snow began falling, being whipped up by the strong winds and producing white-out conditions for nearly 36 hours. Wind chill readings plunged to 50 degrees below zero and colder. An ore carrier stranded in thick ice on Lake Erie just offshore from Sandusky reported sustained winds of 86 mph with gusts to 111 mph. While snowfall was difficult to measure due to the strong winds, official storm-total snowfall amounts from Jan. 25-27 ranged from 4.7 inches in Columbus to 12.9 inches in Dayton. Other areas across the region saw well over a foot of snow from the storm.

The death toll rose to over 70 across the region with 51 of those in Ohio. Of the Ohio fatalities, 22 were the result of exposure as stranded motorists abandoned their vehicles or homes with no heat. Two others died in buildings that collapsed under the weight of heavy snow. Falls and heart-attacks caused by snow shoveling were among the other causes of death across the region. With so many highways closed, there were no traffic-related deaths in Ohio that weekend.

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Agricultural losses from the storm totaled around $73 million in Ohio as the result of dead livestock, lost production, property damage, and milk/egg losses. Unable to store or transport milk because of highway closures, farmers were forced to dump milk in the days following the blizzard.

While I did not live through this massive blizzard, I know there are many here in the Miami Valley that did, and will never forget it, including WHIO-TV’s Cheryl McHenry. During the anniversary of the storm last year, I remember talking with Cheryl, who told me she has vivid memories of that storm. While I know Cheryl to be very adventurous, I also remember her clearly saying she hopes she never experiences a storm like the Great Blizzard of 1978 ever again.

Eric Elwell is WHIO StormCenter 7 Chief Meteorologist. Contact him at eric.elwell@coxinc.com or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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