Just for fun, let's climb aboard the Snow Blowers Direct time machine and go back to 1991 for a fun and fluffy white recap of the top ten blizzards of the last two decades.
The Halloween Blizzard of 1991
As our time machine lands, we see the date is October 31st, 1991. Children are wearing snow gear with their costumes, and candy is being accompanied by hot chocolate. An early season snowstorm developed along a cold front that took a due North path along the Mississippi River and intensified as it passed through Illinois. Eastern Minnesota and the great North Woods of Wisconsin were pummeled by two feet of snow! Some areas in the north, including Duluth, Minnesota, got over 3 feet of snow! Heavy wind gusts blew snow into drifts reaching 5-10 feet high.
Superstorm of 1993
Jumping forward to March 12, 1993, an insanely intense superstorm dubbed the Storm of the Century stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Massachusetts. The storm dumped a foot of snow on Alabama and over three feet of snow on New York. However, the biggest snowfall of this storm took place in the
The Blizzard of 1996
Let's head east to New England as our time machine takes us forward to January of 1996. A major snowstorm that developed in the Gulf of Mexico moved through the Southeast United States, growing stronger along the Mid Atlantic coast. It's the great Blizzard of 1996! The storm swept into Philadelphia with 30.7 inches of snow, the greatest snowstorm accumulation ever recorded in the area. With wind gusts reaching 60 miles per hour, drifts exceeded 5-8 feet in many areas. Along with five-dozen casualties, the storm also brought upon more problems. Just a week later, rain swept through and temperatures increased, melting the snow and producing significant floods throughout the Northeast.
The President's Day Blizzard of 2003
Covering nearly the entire northeastern United States, the President's Day Blizzard dropped an average of two-feet of snow. While not as large as some of the other storms, The President's Day Blizzard covered a very large area with consistently large amounts of snow, affecting many people.
Ohio River Snow Storm of 2004
The fine people of southern Indiana, Ohio, and northern Kentucky must have been praying for a white Christmas. As we move ahead to December 22, just days before Christmas, a large storm system brought two days of snow to the area accumulating one to two feet in some areas. Heavy 20 mile per hour winds with frequent gusts exceeding 40 miles per hour created large drifts. The storm caused over $703,000,000 in damage and lost business expenses.
Blizzard of 2005
As an unusual type of blizzard formed over the Great Lakes, it moved east southeast toward New England. We find ourselves now in New England where heavy snowfall and high winds make it hard to see. Although the Upper Midwest only got approximately 5-13 inches of snow, southern New England and areas around Boston got as much as 37 inches of snowfall. In addition, high winds with gusts exceeding 60 miles per hour in the Midwest and gusts up to 85 miles per hour in southern New England caused white-out conditions, shutting down entire cities throughout the Northeast. In some areas of Massachusetts, snow drifts were reported as high as 6 feet.
Northern Wisconsin Spring Snow Storm of 2006
Let's take a Spring fishing trip to the North Woods of Wisconsin. We touch down in Gile, Wisconsin, a small community northwest of the Eagle River chain. It's March 13, but unfortunately we're not going to be doing any musky fishing. Instead, we're here to fish for a major storm. A surge of moist air traveling up from the gulf mingled with cold air as it crossed the West Great Lakes. This brought wet, heavy snow. The heaviest snowfalls accumulated between northwest Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, covering "God's Land" with an average of two feet of snow. The greatest accumulation of snow took place in Giles, Wisconsin with a total of 32 inches.
Late Spring Blizzard of 2008
Blasting forward to April of 2008, we see a storm brewing in the Northern Plains. Heavy rainfall spread across Minnesota and Wisconsin. As the rainfall mixed with cold air in eastern South Dakota and northern Minnesota, snow was created. A heavy band of snow was generated from Ely Minnesota to Grand Rapids Minnesota, and 24-32 inches of snow was dropped. This blizzard stands as one of the greatest late spring snowstorms in the United States.
The Post Christmas Storm of 2010
We move ahead to Christmas, but we're just too late for presents. Initially, lows in the states surrounding the Gulf of Mexico created a storm producing a half-foot of snow and dropping it on parts of the Dixie Valley. The storm then quickly intensified as it traveled up the East coast and became a "Nor'easter," curling inward from the northeast and producing 12-23 inches of snow in the Northeast United States.
The Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011
Set the controls to February 1st, 2011. This was the start of an incredible and historic snow storm that affected nearly 100 million people. The Groundhog Day Blizzard brought cold air, very heavy snow, wind, and mixed precipitation from New Mexico and northern Texas to The far Northeast.
The Chicago area got hit hard, seeing as much as 2 feet of snow and blizzard conditions. Winds over 60 miles per hour created large drifts in the Chicagoland area and many roadways and airports were forced to shut down. Lake Shore Drive, a major roadway in Chicago running along the lakefront, had hundreds of cars stuck and forced to be abandoned as conditions worsened.
The blizzard didn't stop there however. it kept moving north affecting Toronto Canada. Other areas affected by the storm were Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, El Paso, Las Cruces, Des Moines, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Dayton, Cleveland, New York, and Boston. Even unusual areas such as Albuquerque, Dallas, and Houston were strongly affected. Northern Illinois accumulated as much as 20-28 inches of snow.
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