Blizzards – Mother Nature’s Rage

About a year ago I wrote here about Winter Weather, citing a few examples of how cold snaps and ice storms have wreaked havoc. Last November I again described the cold weather we had in Baby, it’s cold outside!

Well, here we are again in the dead of winter experiencing more frigid weather and over-the-top precipitation. I have also said before, while it may be news, this is not new. We are not expecting blizzards where I live but right now it is very cold!

As I write this is the temperature is -28℃ (1℉) outside and the dogs were very quick to do their business and get back inside the warm house. The prognosis for the next few days is not great either.

14-day forecast for Calgary, Alberta

The week was forecast to be pretty nasty for much of North America as well.

A colorful surface forecast map by the 12Z GFS for 11 January 2020 depicting a multi-hazard event with significant snow (blue) and ice (purple, pink) on the cold side of a powerful storm system and heavy rain (green, yellow) on the warm side where there will be a severe weather threat as well. Map courtesy NOAA/WPC, tropicaltidbits.com

If you have lived on the prairies for any length of time you have observed cold and storms. Central North American is famous for its blizzards, going back as far as people can remember. The Eastern coast is not unfamiliar with harsh weather, either, especially in the winter. Europe has had its share of storms

Search the internet and you will find numerous stories of great storms that pounded farms and cities, almost every decade. Becky Oskin, writing for Live Science in 2013 listed The 10 Worst Blizzards in US History. :

·         The Great Blizzard of 1888 (11, 12 March 1888) hit the Northeast, killing over 400 people

·         The Great Blizzard of 1899 (11 February 1899) struck the region from Georgia to Maine

·         The Storm of the Century (12 March 1993) caused devastation and the deaths of 310 people from Cuba to Canada

·         The White Hurricane (7 November 1913) pummeled the Great Lakes region causing 250 deaths

·         The Children’s Blizzard (13 January 1888) swept across the Dakota Territory and Nebraska where 235 people died

·         The Great Appalachian Storm (24 November 1950) killed 353 as it moved from North Carolina around to Ohio (I wrote about this one here)

·         The Knickerbocker Storm (27, 28 January 1922) when several feet of snow fell on Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania

·         The Armistice Day Blizzard (11 November 1940) raged over the Midwest building 20-foot snowdrifts and killing 145 people

·         The Super Bowl Blizzard (9 January 1975) was a record low pressure system that spawned tornadoes in the Southeast US as well as high winds and snow in the Midwest

·         Snowmaggeddon (February 2010) was the name given to a major blizzard that broke snowfall records in the mid-Atlantic region

 

Cleaning up the street in New York City, February 1899

Other writers have described other major winter events. I wrote about a book that summarized many of these in a blog post last year, New England Storms. One of earliest winter storms listed struck New England on 6 February 1717, after an already cold and snowy two months. Snow drifted above tree tops, burying or causing great suffering for animals both domestic and wild, and the deaths of over 400 people.

Europe experienced the deadly Beast from the East in February 2018 as gales and blizzard conditions reached from Siberia to the Atlantic. The storm paralyzed the continent left thousands homeless.

Satellite view showing Europe, including Great Britain and Ireland partially covered in snow under the influence of the strong cold wave on 27 February 2018

Jodi Smith, writing for Ranker listed many other major winter storms in Europe and Asia:

·         Iran Blizzard (February 1972) dumped snow over 200 villages and claimed 4,000 lives

·         Carolean Death March (12 January 1719) was a forced retreat of Swedish soldiers who were caught in a raging storm in the Tydal Mountains with over 3,000 men killed.

·         Afghanistan Blizzard (February 2008) was the worst storm on record in the country when 900 people and 230,000 livestock died.

·         Hakkoda Mountains Incident (January 1902) that took a regiment of Japanese soldiers by surprise killing almost 200 of them

·         Chinese Winter Storms (January and February 2008) saw the worst storms in over 50 years, pummeling the countryside and crippling the transportation network

The United Kingdom witnessed a severe winter in 1894-95 when 100s of people died. Other devastatingly cold periods, many with great snowfalls, afflicted the country in 1946-47, 1962-63 (The Big Freeze), January 1987, 1990-91, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2012. The latter affected all of Europe. And then there were the Great Frosts of 1709 and 1739-40.

 

Extreme minimum temperature February 4 - February 11, 2012 across Europe

In March of 1891, The Blizzard in the West struck Cornwall and Devon, and with snow drifts piled up tens of feet in many areas, halting all trains and communication.

 

Train sent off the track by blizzard in Cornwall, England

The list of cold winters and major blizzards is endless. Each year many of us in the North Hemisphere experience at least one big snowstorm. Reading of historical news reports demonstrates these have been common events for at least the last few hundred years.

We are much better informed and protected now that people were 100 or 200 years ago, but severe winter storms still catch and kill people and cause significant damage.