Columbus and Central Ohio Weather
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A white desert of snow piled up through Ohio 46 years ago, leaving cars stranded and more than 50 people dead during what would be known as the Great Blizzard of 1978.
A buildup of smaller snowstorms combined with low temperatures ahead of the main blizzard. Columbus already had a record snow cover of 17 inches from the earlier days in January. The night of Jan. 25 brought a rise in temperatures to 41 degrees along with rain.
After midnight passed on Jan. 26, a band of low pressure surged into Ohio from the south, resulting in temperatures dropping sharply and turning the rain into snow. Wind gusts reached speeds of 69 mph in Columbus, 82 mph in Cleveland and 86 mph over Lake Erie, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Snowfall in Ohio reached nearly 20 inches specifically in Novelty. While the state saw lower totals between 5 and 15 inches in other areas like Columbus, 50-70 mph wind gusts stacked the snow into huge drifts between 10 and 20 feet high.
Then-Gov. James A. Rhodes declared a state of emergency, calling the blizzard “the greatest disaster in Ohio history,” as it wreaked havoc on highways and rural roads. The snow and accompanying weather left around 6,000 drivers stranded. The Ohio National Guard had helicopters and trucks moving around the state to provide rescues and supplies, Thomas and Jeanne Schmidlin wrote in their book “Thunder in the Heartland.”
Of the 51 recorded deaths from the storm, around half of them died stranded in their cars. The storm left around 175,000 Ohioans without power for days, and schools and businesses shut down for up to a week in the aftermath.
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