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The 36 year anniversary of the Blizzard of '78

It Hit!

Storm ravages Ohio

The worst winter storm in Ohio history struck beforedawn on Thursday, 26 January 1978. The Blizzard of 78continued through Thursday and intoFriday. Transportation, business, industry, and schools were closed statewide for two days, with thenormal pace of society not returning to the state for five days.

Wednesday evening, 25 January 1978, was relatively quiet in Ohio. Rain and fog werewidespread, some freezing rain was falling in the northwest, and temperatures were in the 30s and40s. Wednesday evenings weather map, however, presented an ominous combination of weather

headed for Ohio. A strong winter storm was moving northward from the Gulf of Mexico troughTennessee and Kentucky, bitterly cold air was moving along the Atlantic Coast. Computer models othe National Weather Service forecast a major winter storm over Ohio for Thursday.

The southern storm intensified as it tracked northward, entering Ohio near Portsmouth atmidnight and exiting across Lake Erie from Cleveland at 4:00 A.M. Thursday. Records for lowatmospheric pressure were already being set Wednesday evening in eastern Tennessee, and morerecords fell as the storm intensified through Ohio.

Atmospheric pressure of 28.28 inches at Cleveland

was the lowest pressure ever recorded in Ohio. This was

also the second lowest pressure not associated with ahurricane recorded this century in the forty-eight contiguousstates (Blackburn 1978). Other low pressure recordsincluded Akron-Canton with 28.33 inches, Youngstown with28.39 inches, Columbus with 28.46 inches, Toledo with 28.49inches, and Cincinnati with 28.81 inches (Blackburn1978). Old pressure records were exceeded by .3 inch omore at most cities.

The rapidly intensifying storm pulled bitter cold air from the west across Ohio on winds of fiftyto seventy miles an hour by Thursday morning. These conditions, combined with heavy snow and

blowing of deep snow already on the ground, caused full blizzard conditions all across Ohio. Blizzardconditions arrived first with the arctic cold front in Cincinnati at 1:00 A.M., reached Dayton an hourlater, Columbus and Toledo at about 3:00 A.M., and extended northeast to Akron, Youngstown, andCleveland by 7:00 A.M. on 26 January.

The arrival of the cold front and blizzard were unmistakable. Temperatures fell thirty degreesin two hours, winds increased to more than 50 miles an hour, and blinding wind-blown snow filled theair. Wind gusts of more than 40 miles an hour continued through most of the day, reaching 69 miles

an hour at Dayton and Columbusand 75 at Akron (Blackburn 1978). A wind gust to 82 miles an

hour at Cleveland Hopkins Airport was the strongest ever measured in Cleveland. The ore

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carrier J. Burton Ayers, stranded in thick Lake Erie ice offSandusky, reported sustained winds of 86 miles an hour andgusts to 111 on Thursday morning, according to the ClevelandPlain Dealer. Temperatures fell to near zero as the blizzardbegan and remained near 10 degrees for most of the day. Windchills were below -50 degrees all day.

Widespread wind damage occurred across

Ohio. Thousands of trees and miles of electric and telephonelines were blown down, cutting many important communication links. Countywide electric failureswere reported, with a total of about 175,000 homes without power Thursday. About 100,000 homeswere still without electricity Friday night, and the effort to restore electric power continued through theweekend. Most home heating failed because electric power was needed even for gas and oil-burningfurnaces. Winds also caused structural damage on buildings, blew down barns, broke manywindows, and blew down signs. A two-hundred-foot crane was toppled by the wind at the PerryNuclear Power Plant in Lake County.

Snowfall was difficult to measure during the blizzard due to the strong winds. Officialmeasurements ranged from five to ten inches at most weather stations and up to fifteen inches

reported at some sites. The actual depth of new snow is of little consequence in a blizzard becausethe greatest effects of the blizzard are the huge amounts of snow blowing through the air and thedrifts of fifteen to twenty-five feet. Drifts caused roofs to collapse on dozens of buildings.

~~The Winter Chronicle~~

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/wx_events/Blizzard78/blizzard/blizzard78.html

The table below displays selected U.S. snowfall totals during January 2529, 1978.

State City/location Amount (inches)

OH Dayton *12.2

MI Detroit 8.2

MI Flint 9.9

MI Grand Rapids 19.2

MI Houghton Lake *15.4

IN Indianapolis *15.5

IN South Bend 36.0

MI Lansing 19.3

MI Muskegon 27

MI Traverse City 22-28

IL Chicago

12-13

Note: * = Total data for a 24 hour period.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/wx_events/Blizzard78/blizzard/blizzard78.htmlhttp://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/wx_events/Blizzard78/blizzard/blizzard78.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Ohiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Rapids,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Rapids,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houghton_Lake,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bend,_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bend,_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskegon,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskegon,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicagohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicagohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicagohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_City,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskegon,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bend,_Indianahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houghton_Lake,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Rapids,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michiganhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Ohiohttp://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/wx_events/Blizzard78/blizzard/blizzard78.html