Remembering the Blizzard of January 1978

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- On this day 47 years ago, Ohio residents continued digging out, after the state's worst winter storm in history blasted the region on Jan 26, 1978, which became known as the "Great Blizzard of 1978."

The first three weeks of 1978 brought several snowstorms and persistent cold. Between January 9 and 23, the snowpack reached a January record of 17 inches in Columbus, with a total accumulation of 28 inches.

The worst was yet to come.

The temperature rose to 41 degrees in Columbus on the evening of Jan. 25, a mild, soggy day that brought 0.65 of an inch of rain. Computer models, which were comparatively primitive compared to today's suite of forecast simulations, had indicated that a major winter storm would be brewing in the Gulf about 900 miles to the south.

Low pressure would team up with arctic air over the Northeast to develop explosively into what we now call a "bomb cyclone" that tracked northward through Tennessee and Kentucky.

Around midnight, low pressure entered Ohio near Portsmouth and raced northeastward to Cleveland by 4 a.m. A sharp drop in temperature of 30 degrees in two hours followed the passage of an arctic cold front that turned the gentle rain into a wind-driven snowstorm.

Ohioans were jarred awake during the middle of the night by violent winds rattling windows — reflecting a surge of frigid air injected into the sprawling winter cyclone.

The center of low pressure intensified dramatically, shattering low barometric pressure records in Ohio cities with long-standing records. The pressure in Columbus tumbled to an all-time low of 28.46 inches (963.8 millibars) — comparable to a Category 3 hurricane. The lowest recorded pressure in the early morning hours of Jan. 26, 1978, plunged to 28.28 inches (957.7 millibars) at Cleveland.

At daybreak, the temperature in Columbus had fallen to 7 degrees, with a sustained wind of 30 mph blowing the snowflakes horizontally, as the visibility dropped to less than a quarter-mile. The wind chill would drop to around -25 and lower.

A reflection of the storm's intensity as it exited Ohio was measured by a stranded ore carrier in Lake Erie that recorded sustained winds of 86 mph and a gust of 111 mph (NOAA). Wind gusts at airports around the state peaked at 82 mph at Cleveland, 75 mph at Akron, and 69 mph at Columbus and Dayton.

The official Columbus total of 4.7 inches was likely conservative, because the new snowfall was almost impossible to measure due to the high winds and drifting. Snowfall totals around the state ranged from 3 to 6 in the southeast, to between 8 and 15 inches farther north and west, The greatest storm snowfall was 19 inches at Novelty, Geauga County, in the northeast.

Mountainous drifts of 10 to 25 piled up through the day, as wind gusts reached topped 50-70 mph. The high winds ripped the roofs off some buildings and blew down trees and power lines.

Highway travel was at a standstill and most rural roads were impassable, blocked by drifting and shifting masses of snow, even after a plow had come through. Interstate 75 in western Ohio and the Ohio Turnpike in the northern part of the state were shut down. Some motorists abandoned their vehicles because the roads had become clogged with deep snow and endless drifts.

Gov. James A. Rhodes declared a state of emergency Thursday morning, Jan. 26, and urged all residents to stay home, declaring the blizzard was the “greatest disaster in Ohio history.”

The exceptionally fierce winter storm took 51 lives in Ohio, and 70 nationally. Residents in areas that lost power were trapped in their homes in frigid conditions, unable to obtain food or medical supplies.

Authors Thomas and Jeanne Schmidlin, in Thunder in the Heartland, described the unprecedented impacts of the Blizzard of '78:

"Nearly 6,000 motorists were stranded on state roadways. Forty-five Ohio National Guard helicopters flew 2,700 missions across the state, rescuing about 10,000 Ohioans, including people in need of supplies or suffering medical emergencies. U.S. Army helicopters were also part of the rescue missions."

An estimated 175,000 Ohio customers were without power for several days and suffered in homes without heat. Schools and businesses were shuttered for up to a week after the storm.

Nearly half of the deaths in Ohio (22) caused by the historic storm occurred when motorists were either trapped in their stranded vehicles without heat, or departed in search of help and later perished in the extreme elements. Other fatalities occurred in homes without heat or the result of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The extreme combination of elements rarely experienced in a blizzard over the interior U.S. will never be forgotten by those who experienced the fierce winds, cold and massive drifts.

Other infamous blizzards in Ohio that occurred in dangerously frigid conditions -- Jan. 1918 and Nov. 1950 -- did not cause nearly as many fatalities in Ohio.

The deepest modern snowstorm in Columbus happened on Mar. 7-8, 2008, depositing 20.5 inches of snow (and a record snow depth of 18 inches on Mar. 9), producing blizzard-like conditions, but did not come close in severity to the Great Blizzard of January 1978.