The Great Blizzard of 1888 paralyzed the Northeastern United States for several days. In that blizzard, 400 people were killed, 200 ships were sunk, and snowdrifts towered 15 to 50 feet high. Earlier that year, the Great Plains states were struck by the Schoolhouse Blizzard that left children trapped in schoolhouses and killed 235 people.
The Midwestern Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940 caught many people off guard with its rapid and extreme temperature change. It was 60 °F in the morning, but by noon, it was snowing heavily. Some of those caught unprepared died by freezing to death in the snow and some while trapped in their cars. Altogether, 154 people died in the Armistice Day Blizzard. Unpredictable storms such as this one can come without much warning, causing damage and destruction to humans and infrastructure.
One hundred five years after the Great Blizzard of 1888, a massive blizzard, nicknamed the Storm of the Century, hit the U.S in 1993. It dropped snow over 26 states and reached as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico. In many Southern United States areas, such as parts of Alabama, more snow fell than in any averagely recorded winter. Highways and airports were closed across the United States of America. As a wider effect, the storm spawned 15 tornadoes in Florida. When the storm was over, it affected a quarter of the U.S. population; 270 people died and 48 were reported presumed dead at sea.
The Blizzard of ’77 was a deadly blizzard that hit Buffalo, New York and the area around it in New York and Ontario (and to a lesser extent, surrounding regions) from January 28 to February 1, 1977. Daily peak gusts of 69, 51, 52, 58 and 46 miles per hour (111, 82, 84, 93, and 74 km/h) were recorded during this period at the Buffalo National Weather Service office (National Weather Service Buffalo Office 2006a).
In the hardest struck areas snowmobiles became the only viable method of transportation. In Western New York and Southern Ontario,...