Image via Complex Original
A wise man once said, "You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather." 125 years ago, a blizzard knocked out power and transit all over Manhattan, shutting down the Stock Exchange for two days; 2 months ago, a hurricane did the exact same thing. No matter how advanced our society becomes, no matter if we have the Internet and cars that can drive themselves, we still get wet when it rains.
When it snows, we get cold and wet, making snowstorms especially destructive. This is your illustrated guide to some of the biggest, baddest snowstorms and icy disasters in recorded history. If it's the first day of winter, here is a look at what weather hath wrought in years past and a preview of what could come this season. If it’s the end of the world, maybe remembering these snowy scenes will help keep you cool when we’re all burning.
Bundle up for The 50 Most Famous Snow Storm Photographs.
50. The European Cold Snap
50. The European Cold Snap
Photographer: Dmitry Lovetsky
Year: January-February 2012
Location: Continental Europe
Casualties: 650
Predictably, Northern and Eastern Europe got the worst of the chill. Finland won the coldest award with a -38 degree Fahrenheit reading, while Latvia spent 24 hourswhen the whole country remained below -20. People made the best of all these "low" statistics, and some even created "highs" of their own. Serbia charged its highest ever energy consumption in those cold days, forcing a temporary ban on non-essential electronics and decorative lighting. Meanwhile, Ukraine had an increased instance of drinking-and-dressing, or putting on heavy vodka jackets and not real ones, as hospitals found that a majority of people with frostbite or hypothermia were also under the influence. Perhaps alcohol can explain what possessed this young fellow, in an utterly iced St. Petersburg, to jump in a frozen lake half naked.
49. The European Cold Snap 2
49. The European Cold Snap
Photographer: Peter Dejong
Year: January-February 2012
Location: Continental Europe
Casualties: 650
Europe said a brisk hello to 2012 with an extreme cold wave that reached almost every part of the continent. Amsterdam's canals and lakes froze solid, turning the city into a (free!) city-wide skate rink. Rare and record conditions even hit the the deep Mediterranean and North Africa, which received some very-rare snowfall.
48. The Siachen Glacier Avalanche
48. The Siachen Glacier Avalanche
Photographer: Khaqan Khawer
Year: April 2012
Location: Siachen Glacier, Kashmir
Casualties: 140
The Siachen Glacier makes up a blurry border between Pakistani- and Indian-administered regions of Kashmir, making it an especially disputed landmark and "the highest battlefield on Earth" between the two nations. India occupies the glacier and ridges while Pakistan controls the valleys - an arrangement that has kept the area peaceful for nearly ten years, though not free of horrific tragedy. Earlier this year an ice avalanche hit a Pakistani base, as is the trouble with occupying low, volatile ground. Soldiers like these badass-looking gentlemen came to aid rescue efforts, though ultimately no survivors were found while 129 soldiers and 11 civilians were lost. Despite constant military and political conflict in the region, its rugged weather and terrain take many more lives than combat.
47. North Dakota Mini-Blizzard
47. North Dakota Mini-Blizzard
Photographer: Tom Stromme
Year: March 2011
Location: Bismarck, North Dakota
Casualties: NA
A little blizzard stopped by fashionably late to North Dakota in late March, 2011, changing the the first days of spring back into winter wear.
46. The Groundhog Day Blizzard
46. The Groundhog Day Blizzard
Photographer: Tim Jean
Year: February 2011
Location: Midwest, East Coast, Eastern Canada
Casualties: 36
This incredible act of gravity, a car balancing on its nose in a snow bank in New Hampshire, was the result of a powerful winter storm that spanned the continent from the Southwest to the Northeast and Eastern Canada. Amidst the harsh and expansive storm, Punxsutawney Phil was unable to see his shadow, and therefore predicted an early spring for the year.
45. The Salang Avalanches
45. The Salang Avalanches
Photographer: EPA
Year: February 2010
Location: Salang, Afghanistan
Casualties: 172
Following an unexpected winter storm in Afghanistan, not one but dozens of avalanches toppled over the Salang Pass, an important connection between Kabul and Northern Afghan cities. In a short period the snow spill blocked the roads for miles and trapped thousands of people in their cars, in or near the road's mountain tunnel, some for days. Some vehicles were buried in the snow, others were totally mangled by it, like the one here being inspected by rescue workers
44. The Kohistan Avalanche
44. The Kohistan Avalanche
Photographer: Reuters
Year: February 2010
Location: Bagaro Serai, Pakistan
Casualties: 102
Avalanches in and around the village of Bagaro Serai cut the remote town off so entirely that rescuers had to hike for hours in the snow with no communication system to even attempt to provide aid. When help arrived, several people were able to be rescued, but many were found dead or remained missing.
43. The Lhunze Blizzard
43. The Lhunze Blizzard
Photographer: Tashi Delek
Year: October 2008
Location: Lhunze County, Tibet
Casualties: 7
An autumn 2008 a blizzard took Tibet by surprise, and, double surprise!, it was the worst one in the region's history. Up to six feet of snow fell in just 3 days. Herders lost huge numbers of animals, or had to move them elsewhere to find food.
42. Clearing Winter Storm
42. Clearing Winter Storm
Photographer: Ansel Adams
Year: 1944
Location: Yosemite Valley
Casualties: NA
Ansel Adams' career, legacy, and bountiful Estate are built on his brand of super crisp, contemplative landscape photography. His even keel is unfaltering, Clearing Winter Storm shows a panorama of storm clouds over Yosemite Valley that, instead of churning and slithering as winter weather does, seem to hover calmly. Adams has a way of freezing them, so to speak, making even a moving storm appear like a still life. Undoubtedly, that subdued, abiding, uncontroversial quality is what makes this picture so popular on guidance counselor's office walls the world over, as well as what makes it stand apart from other takes on weather photography.
41. The Kolka-Karmadon Rock-Ice Slide
41. The Kolka-Karmadon Rock-Ice Slide
Photographer: Anatoly Maltsev
Year: September 2002
Location: North Ossetia, Russia
Casualties: 125
A disloged chunk of ice from the Kolka Glacier turned into a 20-mile-long landslide of ice, rock, and mud down Mount Kazbek. It crashed over a small village in the Karmadon Gorge, where the popular Russian actor Sergei Bodrov Jr. and a film crew happened to be shooting that day. In total, 125 people were buried under 150 feet of ice, snow, and rubble.
40. The Evolène Avalanche
40. The Evolène Avalanche
Photographer: Fabrice Coffrini
Year: February 1999
Location: Evolène, Switzerland
Casualties: 12
A couple of warm late-February days loosened enough snow to trigger two quick and powerful avalanches that launched at the same time. They combined forces as they crashed down a mountainside in the Swiss Alps, clearing a path that included half a mile of forest, the Evolène Ski Resort, and 12 of its guests and workers.
39. The Sydney Hailstorm
39. The Sydney Hailstorm
Photographer: Emergency Management Australia
Year: April 1999
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Casualties: 1
The colorful tarps covering the roofs across this neighborhood acted like bandaids after Mother Nature delivered a ruthless beating to the greater Sydney area. For six hours, she pummeled the greater Sydney area with closed-fisted blows in the form of hailstones the size of tennis balls. The strength, breadth and duration of the storm caused enough damage to make it the most expensive natural disaster ever in Australia. Smashing through windows and roofs, the giant ice cubes left cars and homes vulnerable to subsequent problems like water damage, structural failure, or personal injury. Dozens of people were clobbered by the giant ice cubes, or forced into car accidents by them, however, the single casualty of the event was caused by a lightning strike on a fishing boat.
via
38. The April Fools' Day Blizzard
38. The April Fools' Day Blizzard
Photographer: The Boston Globe
Year: April 1997
Location: East Coast
Casualties: 3
Following a mild winter and a warm spring, the East Coast was easing their way into the summer of 1997, until nature played a cruel April Fool's joke and blasted the Mid-Atlantic and New England with a big, fat blizzard. In some areas, more snow fell in that one day than had the entire season prior. Despite the fact that Boston had enjoyed sunny 65-degree weather just 2 days earlier, Massachusetts declared a state of emergency after the storm. Snow and power outages shut down most roads, all public transit, and Logan airport for days, leaving few transportation options for someone like this woman, who battled snow and wind with just an umbrella.
via
37. The 2008 Chinese Winter Storms
37. The 2008 Chinese Winter Storms
Photographer: AP
Year: Jan-February 2008
Location: China
Casualties: 129
Every type of fearsome weather combined with below-average temperatures to bring much of China a hostile couple of weeks in 2008. Every element of a terrible winter storm made itself vastly present: collapsed homes, power outages, burst pipes, telephone failures, transportation blocks, airtraffic cancellations, etc. effected millions of people. Long, relentless storms and a slow, trudging recovery came as a package deal, and cost a shocking estimated $18 billion in damages and $13 billion to the economy. Everything's bigger in China.
36. The Afghanistan Blizzard
36. The Afghanistan Blizzard
Photographer: Mathieu Paley
Year: February 2008
Location: Afghanistan
Casualties: 926
The devastating blizzards of 2008 not only chilled the people of Eastern Afghanistan, but cut off roadways that would allow aid to arrive, and wiped out herds of livestock that could have meant both nourishment and capital. Almost a thousand people died Unlike in America, most people who die in Afghan winter storms freeze to death. On the other hand, here are some nice looking camels walking around with U.S. soldiers in the same snowstorm.
35. The Blizzard of January 1996
35. The Blizzard of January 1996
Photographer: Adam Scher
Year: January 1996
Location: Mid-Atlantic
Casualties: 154
New York City's limited subway, bus, and taxi service left this man to ski his way thorugh Times Square. Physical fitness is an important tool in winter conditions, since a large proportion of winter storm-related deaths happen due to heart attacks occuring while people shovel snow, or other mishaps with ploughs and blowers. The 1996 blizzard took numerous lives from snow-clearers. Warm weather following the storm caused severe flooding, which was another large portion of the casualties. Philadelphia felt the 1996 blizzard as the worst of all-time, and it ranked along much of the East Coast.
34. The Storm of the Century
34. The Storm of the Century
Photographer: BusinessWeek
Year: March 1993
Location: East Coast & Cuba
Casualties: 300
The Storm of the Century was a potent concoction combining elements of blizzards, hurricanes, and tornadoes that formed a powerful Superstorm. It swept up the continent from the Gulf of Mexico, and visited 26 states as well as Canada, Cuba, and Central America. The South and Appalachian regions felt hard blows from the snow storms in particular, which produced unprecedented conditions and called for resources and preparations that the areas just did not have. Over 300 people died all told, 48 were lost at sea, and at least 18 houses on Long Island simply dropped into the ocean. This guy did not seem to grasp the gravity of the situation, shielding his head with only a pizza box. Or maybe desperate times do call for desperate measures.
33. The Halloween Blizzard
33. The Halloween Blizzard
Photographer: Dave Ballard
Year: October 1991
Location: Minnesota & Iowa
Casualties: 22
These students from University of Minnesota, Duluth also weathered the weather in style on Halloween 1991, which kicked off a 3-day snowstorm in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. It could be worse thank 3 days of this.
32. Pool Party
32. Pool Party
Photographer: Unknown
Year: Unknown
Location: Unknown
Casualties: NA
Though I suspect that this photo was taken in the Geneva Freeze, I cannot find a source that verifies that. Wherever she is, she's definitely got the right idea.
31. The Geneva Freeze
31. The Geneva Freeze
Photographer: Jean-Pierre Scherrer
Year: January 2005
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Casualties: NA
A surreal city of ice sculptures arose around Lake Geneva when heavy winds blew spray off the water, and extreme cold temperatures caused it to freeze almost instantly. These icy breezes built up on whatever they touched, encasing boats, cars, and trees in slick white shells. The weight of the ice became enough to sink several small boats, as well as to rupture a pipeline, which burst into the street and coated the ground like an ice rink.
30. The Freshwater Fury
30. The Freshwater Fury
Photographer: Chicago Daily News
Year: November 1913
Location: Great Lakes
Casualties: 235
The Great Lakes erupted with ocean-like force during November 1913 in an epic storm called The Freshwater Fury, The Big Blow, or The White Hurricane. Winds up to 90mph blasted 35-foot waves off the Midwestern waters, plunging 18 ships into the depths of the lakes, some of which have never been found to this day. The photo shows a wave crashing over a dwarfed onlooker. Trouble on the water was well matched by trouble on land, as huge amounts of snow cut power and telephone lines around Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario. The overall damage was thorough and extremely expensive, making this the worst blizzard to hit the Great Lakes region.
via
29. The Cleveland Superbomb
29. The Cleveland Superbomb
Photographer: C.H. Pete Copeland
Year: January 1978
Location: Midwest
Casualties: 100
Though it did not receive as much attention as the New England Blizzard of the same year, Cleveland's Great Blizzard hit Ohio like a bomb. Meteorologically speaking, it was - a weather bomb is considered the worst kind of winter storm, mixing the deadliest aspects of a blizzard and a hurricane. The state was paralyzed and declared a state of emergency. The Ohio National Guard compared the effects to those of a nuclear attack.
28. The New England Blizzard
28. The New England Blizzard
Photographer: Bill Curtis
Year: February 1978
Location: New England
Casualties: 100
Another image from the New England Blizzard spread shows the more mundane, but still really fun, side of the storm.
via
27. The New England Blizzard 2
27. The New England Blizzard
Photographer: Kevin Cole
Year: February 1978
Location: New England
Casualties: 100
Regional all-time snowfall records aside, the nor'easter that struck New England in 1978 was the most damaging of all time. Boston and Providence were the worst hit, as it struck the coastal cities during a period of very high tides, causing waves and flooding that wreaked considerable further damge. The tremendous, apocalyptic sense of the event is captured in a photo of a lighthouse blasted by 100-foot sprays. It was part of a Boston Herald American spread documenting the catastropic storm that won a Pulitzer Prize for photography.
26. The Buffalo Blizzard
26. The Buffalo Blizzard
Photographer: Buffalo News
Year: January-February 1977
Location: Western New York & Southern Ontario
Casualties: 29
Hiking over enormous drifts, children could touch streetlights and rooftops during the Buffalo Blizzard. These outstanding piles were partially a result of an early and through freeze on Lake Erie turned it into an additional surface for snow to accumulate, rather than melt, so the blizzarding winds blew powder from the lake into Buffalo in addition to regular snowfall. Due to these flurries, it appeared at times to be snowing when in fact nothing was coming from the sky. Though the total snowfall for the storm was only 12 inches, it buried entire houses.
via
25. The Super Bowl Blizzard
25. The Snow King
Photographer: Washington Post
Year: February 1899
Location: East Coast, Midwest & Southern U.S.
Casualties: NA
The Snow King, or The Great Blizzard of 1899, brought winter where no real, respectable winter had really ever gone before. Like Snow Miser, whatever it touched, from always-snowy Saskatchewan to usually-sunny Cuba, turned to snow in its clutch. Record snows and lows were set all over the country, notably in the Gulf South. As pictured, Tallahassee saw perfect snow fight weather, with blizzard snows and temperatures reaching -2 degrees Fahrenheit - the only sub-zero temperature ever recorded in Florida. Record chills went as far west as Nebraska in the North and Louisiana in the South. On February 14th, 1899, New Orleans shoveled snow off the parade route and celebrated Mardi Gras at a freezing 22 degrees, which remains the city's coldest day ever.
24. The Snow King
24. The Super Bowl Blizzard
Photographer: National Weather Service
Year: January 1975
Location: Midwest & Southern U.S.
Casualties: 58
As the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings got ready to play in New Orleans for Superbowl IX, their Midwestern hometowns were innundated by one of the area's worst-ever storms. As snow pounded the Northern border area, the same weather system helped dozens of tornadoes rip through the South. Homes were rearranged into junk heaps, like this tangled pile in St. Clair County, Alabama.
23. The Quebec Ice Storm
23. The Quebec Ice Storm
Photographer: Canadian Press File
Year: January 1998
Location: Ontario & Quebec
Casualties: 35
Hard, unforgiving ice, not soft, powdery snow, battered Ontario, Quebec, and parts of New England in 1998. Electrical pylons that were grotesquely bent and twisted in the storms looked really cool, but left millions without power for weeks.
22. The Eastern Canadian Blizzard
22. The Eastern Canadian Blizzard
Photographer: City of Montreal
Year: March 1971
Location: Quebec & Ontario
Casualties: 20
People walking along deserted streets, even after they had been ploughed, illustrate the halting effects of the 1971 blizzard that struck Quebec and surrounding areas. Gathering almost 17 inches in Montreal, and up to 31 inches in higher altitudes in Quebec, it goes on record as the biggest single-day snowfall in the city's history. Power and transportation were cut off for days, but the thing that sealed its place as Quebec's Storm of the century was far worse: for the first time in 50 years, a Montreal Canadiens hockey game was postponed due to the weather.
21. The Blizzard of 1967
21. The Blizzard of 1967
Photographer: Chicago Tribune
Year: January 1967
Location: Midwest
Casualties: 26
Chicagoans will tell you, "if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute." This is precisely what happened in late January, 1967, following days of sixtysomething-degree weather, when 23 inches of snow poured over the city in just over 24 hours. Transportation, business, and schools were shut down for days. Some reveled in the snowy city, like the boys seen playing 3-4 feet above their average altitude, on a drift nearly covering an automobile. Others had less innocent intentions in the in one case, gunfire between opportunistic looters and police caught a 10-year-old girl and killed her. The snowfall and impact on the city make it Chicago's worst storm ever.
via
20. The Blizzard of March 1966
20. The Blizzard of March 1966
Photographer: National Weather Service
Year: March 1966
Location: Midwest
Casualties: 18
A cow in South Dakota unwittingly had his tips frosted during a major Midwestern blizzard of 1966. Huge deposits of snow and ice blasted the plains, killing 18 people and tens of thousands of animals and crops.
19. The Mt. Huascaran Avalanche
19. The Mt. Huascaran Avalanche
Photographer: U.S. Geological Survey
Year: May 1970
Location: Yungay, Peru
Casualties: 20,000
The epic 1970 avalanche that crashed down from the top of Mt. Huascaran in Peru occurred when huge areas of ice and snow were dislodged by the Ancash/Great Peruvian earthquake. Like the 1962 avalanche before it, the snow took the entire city of Yungay and its 20,000 residents in its clutches. Even the photo looks like a giant hand of ice smothering the city.
via
18. The Ranrahirca Avalanche
18. The Ranrahirca Avalanche
Photographer: Unknown
Year: January 1962
Location: Ranrahirca, Peru
Casualties: 2700
Mount Huascaran ejected some millions of tons of snow, ice, rocks, and mud down to its base, stomping out the entire . Adding to the damage of the fallen debris, the added volume plunged into the River Santa raised the water by 26 feet, causing massive currents and flooding. The village of Ranrahirca and eight neighboring towns disappeared under the rock or into the water, as did 2,700 or more people.
17. The Iran Blizzard
17. The Iran Blizzard
Photographer: None
Year: February 1972
Location: Iran
Casualties: 4000
Almost a week of snow covered Western Iran in nearly 25 feet of snow in 1972. It wiped out nearly everywhere, everything, and everyone it touched, claiming an estimated 4,000 lives. Nevertheless, little information or documentation is available about what is likely to be the deadliest blizzard in history.
via
16. The Mount Shasta Snow
16. The Mount Shasta Snow
Photographer: Unknown
Year: February 1959
Location: Mount Shasta, California
Casualties: NA
Mount Shasta in Northern California holds the world record for most snowfall in a single storm, from February 13-19, 1959. Almost 15.5 feet of snow accumulated over six days, but thankfully it was not significantly destructive to the community. he mountain saw two personal triumphs that year - it also opened its first ski lift, the Shasta Ski Bowl, pictured.
15. The White Death
15. The White Death
Photographer: Unknown
Year: January 1954
Location: Blons, Austria
Casualties: 200
The first thundering avalanche on the morning of January 12, 1954 killed dozens of people and trapped many others in the small town of Blons, Austria. Just hours later, as rescuers worked to unbury survivors and take others to safety, a second avalanche hit and killed dozens more. The town was demolished and nearly 200 died, including rescuers and many who had been rescued from the first drop. This woman and her grandchild were among the lucky few villagers who survived both, though she was trapped in the snow for 17 hours before this photo was taken.
14. The Winter of Terror
14. The Winter of Terror
Photographer: Unknown
Year: Winter 1950-51
Location: Swiss & Austrian Alps
Casualties: 265
Heavy ice and snow storms in the winter of 1950-51 compounded their destruction by causing over 600 avalanches in the Swiss and Austrian Alps. On one extreme day, the Swiss town of Andermatt endured six avalanches and lost thirteen people in just one hour.
via
13. The Blizzard of 2006
13. The Blizzard of 2006
Photographer: Jean Miele
Year: February 2006
Location: New York City
Casualties: 3
Nevermind that it was not technically a blizzard, this 2006 storm became known as the biggest to ever hit New York City. The 26.9 inches of snow that fell in Central Park broke snowfall records held since 1947, and closed all three major airports for the first time since 9/11. With New Yorkers shut away in their homes, snow occupied the city instead.
via
12. The Blizzardopolis
12. The Blizzardopolis
Photographer: Associated Press
Year: December 1947
Location: New York City
Casualties: 77
The 1947 New York City Blizzard was silent and selective in its destruction. Snow began to fall on Christmas Day, and with no high winds or pressure systems to predict it or move it elsewhere, by December 26th there were drifts as high as ten feet. Streets were blocked and subways were shut down, crippling commerce and communication throughout the city. Smaller effects were felt in surrounding regions, but the brunt of the storm had landed almost directly on top of the Big Apple.
11. Antarctic Blizzard
11. Antarctic Blizzard
Photographer: Frank Hurley
Year: November 1912
Location: Cape Denison, Antarctica
Casualties: 2
For all the havoc a blizzard can wreak, in Antarctica, innately equipped for bad weather, it can also cause some serious cuteness. Here, five little Adélie penguins shake off a blizzard. This photo was taken on an Australian Antarctic Expedition, a research trip to explore and chart Antarctic environments.
10. The German Himalayan Expedition
10. The German Himalayan Expedition
Photographer: Unknown
Year: July 1934
Location: Nanga Parbat, Pakistan
Casualties: 9
A 1934 expedition of German mountaineers, setting out to scale Nanga Parbat, seems to have been doomed from the start. Early in the trip, one of the group died at the base camp and the climbers returned for his funeral. When they set out again they made it just hours from the summit, but decided to wait a day to finish the climb as a team. In that day, the weather turned to blizzards, monsoons, and generally terrible, and even as they tried to retreat back down the mountain, they did not make it as a team. Nine people got caught in the storm, which lasted nine days, and never returned. In 1937, another German team returned to attempt the same expedition. Partway up the mountain, an avalanche took out 7 climbers and 9 sherpas in one fell swoop. The following year, yet another German expedition attacked Nanga Parbat and failed to summit it. Instead, they discovered the gruesomely preserved bodies of several of their 1934 predecessors, crumpled and frozen, or hanging from nooses in their icy graves. This 1938 expedition did, however, leave the mountain alive. The mountain was finally summitedin 1953 by an Austrian man who was par of a German-Austrian expedition.
9. The Knickerbocker Storm
9. The Knickerbocker Storm
Photographer: Library of Congress
Year: January 1922
Location: Washington, D.C.
Casualties: 98
The Knickerbocker Theater in Washington, D.C. was converted from an enclosed movie screen to an outdoor amphitheatre in no time flat. It fell on January 28, 1922, under heavy snow that had piled up over a foot and a half in just one day. The collapse crushed 98 moviegoers and injured 133 more. The damage was so profound and so confined that victims were treated in neighboring homes, and a nearby Christian Scientist Church took bodies into its basement like a morgue. Both the architect and the owner of the building later committed suicide, harboring remorse about the theater.
8. The Allalin Ice Avalanche
8. The Allalin Ice Avalanche
Photographer: Unknown
Year: August 1965
Location: Saas, Switzerland
Casualties: 88
Stirred by imperceptible forces deep in the earth, a huge portion of the Allalin glacier in the Swiss Alps crashed over the Mattmark Lake. A million cubic meters of cold, hard ice fell from 3 miles above into Mattmark Lake below, taking along a construction crew that was building a dam in the lake. These before (left) and after (right) photos show the enormous volume of matter that simply slipped off the mountain and revealed a totally new topography - like a geological drop of trou. Of the 88 people crushed in the tremendous fall, 81 have never been found. After extensive surveys of the area's safety and stability, construction continued and the Mattmark Dam is now the largest in Europe. As global temperatures rise, however, the glacier continues to retreat and melt, which creates higher risk for avalanches.
7. The Rogers Pass Avalanche
7. The Rogers Pass Avalanche
Photographer: British Columbia Archive
Year: March 1910
Location: Roger's Pass, British Columbia
Casualties: 62
Just days after the US had its deadliest avalanche ever at Wellington, Canada had its deadliest as well. On March 10, 1910, sixty two men died in an avalanche at Roger's Pass in the Selkirk Mountains, in a tragically ironic tale: The group, workers for the Canadian Pacific Railway, had been sent to the pass to clear railroad tracks after a recent avalanche. Just as they were finishing, a slide came from a neighboring mountain and sealed them, and their newly clear tracks, under the icy deluge. A team of 200 rescuers, seen above, was then sent to clear them from the railroad tracks that they had just dleared. The fall had been so quick that many bodies were found standing upright under some 30 feet of snow; several bodies were not recovered until the snow melted months later. Eventually, the Railway ran a tunnel through the area, ending the deadly dig-avalanche-repeat cycle.
via
6. The City of San Francisco Incident
6. The City of San Francisco Incident
Photographer: Unknown
Year: January 1952
Location: Emigrant Gap, California
Casualties: 2
Passengers aboard the City of San Francisco, a Southern Pacific steamliner riding through California, were much luckier than their ill-fated peers aboard the train in Wellington when their ride was also buried in a massive avalanche. Although they were stuck on board for three days, all 226 passengers and crew were spared. Two of the heroic rescuers died, one in another avalanche that struck as he approached the scene with a plough, and the other of a heart attack from laboring in the heavy snow and winds that stormed as rescue efforts proceeded.
5. The Wellington Disaster
5. The Wellington Disaster
Photographer: Unknown
Year: March 1910
Location: Wellington, Washington
Casualties: 96
"Two trains travelling across Washington State..." sounds exactly like the beginning to a "Train Disaster" story. And it is, but not in the way you'd expect. Two trains were headed along the same route encountered a bad blizzard in February 1910 and both stopped tiny mountain depot of Wellington, Washington to safely wait out the storm. It raged on, and crewmembers and passengers alike stayed on the parked trains for six days. On the night of March 1st, a thunderstorm released a massive chunk of snow that blasted down the mountain in what seemed to be a beeline for the depot. It barreled into the the trains, which then toppled down the slope, twisting and mangling the trains, tracks, and those on board. Only 23 survived the stationary train wreck, with injuries, while 96 perished, making it the worst avalanche in U.S. History.
via
4. The Armistice Day Blizzard
4. The Armistice Day Blizzard
Photographer: Unknown
Year: November 1940
Location: Minnesota
Casualties: 150
What started out as a warm November morning on Armistice Day (better known as Veteran's Day) encouraged hundreds of duck hunters on the MIssissippi River to play hookey and take advantage of the nice weather. When temperatures dropped from the 60s into the 30s and snow began to fall, they were less than equipped and many froze in the terrible conditions. Many found them trapped in the abrupt storm, which swiftly travelled over a thousand mile stretch from Nebraska to Minnesota, dropping up to 27 inches of snow. On Excelsior Boulevard in Minneapolis, cars became more like stepping stones to traverse the snowy city.
via
3. The Children's Blizzard
3. The Children's Blizzard
Photographer: Unknown
Year: January 1888
Location: Midwest
Casualties: 235
This storm hit the plains states in the Midwestern U.S. quickly and and ferociously in the afternoon of an otherwise relatively warm January day. It was not as forceful as the Great White Hurricane that followed it only two months later, it took a great toll because it took the region by surprise. People out and about in their daily lives were unprepared and found themselves caught in the storm or stranded at work or school. Many teachers bravely attempted to lead their classes to safety through the severe conditions, and some succeeded. Others were not so lucky, and the storm has been dubbed the Children's Blizzard or Schoolhouse Blizzard for the sad reality that many of the casualties were children.
2. The Great White Hurricane
2. The Great White Hurricane
Photographer: Associated Press
Year: March 1888
Location: Northeast
Casualties: 400
For most of the country, the Great White Hurricane was the worst blizzard for a century in both directions. Until Sandy, it had been the only event powerful enough to completely disconnect the island of Manhattan from power, communication, and transportation, and shut down the New York Stock Exchange for two days. Even in less technological times, this kind of metropolitan isolation was bizarre, as one New York Times writer puzzled at how, "in this last quarter of the nineteenth century that for even one day New-York could be so completely isolated from the rest of the world as if Manhattan Island was in the middle of the South Sea." In the storm, miles and miles of telephone and power cables bent and crashed under force of snow and wind, causing not only the massive outages, but several deaths and injuries. The leftover tangle of useless wires and senseless tragedy spurred advocady to ditch the poles altogether and wire everything underground, as it is today.
1. The Suckerpunch Storm
1. The Suckerpunch Storm
Photographer: Mark Lennihan
Year: November 2012
Location: East Coast
Casualties: 253
Riding the coattails of Hurricane Sandy, a snowy nor'easter travelled up the East Coast, delivering a swift kick to areas already down from Sandy's wrath just days earlier. Many faced the snow without power or water, while others watched their water, wind, and fire-razed homes incur further damage in the second-wave storm, like these daunting snow-covered ruins in Breezy Point, New York. The hybrid weather inspired hybrid monikers, including "Frankenstorm" and "Nor'eastercane".
via