40 years ago today, a blanket of death and destruction as blizzard crippled Omaha

[Omaha Steve]

Steve Jr was born 8 days later. We we're very worried at the time




THE WORLD-HERALD
About 10,000 cars were abandoned along Omaha area roadways as snow pummeled the region. Here, motorists dig out on 72nd Street, near the old Ranch Bowl.

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/years-ago-today-a-blanket-of-death-and-destruction-as/article_7518aea5-53bb-5189-bcbd-e04c1ccb7bc8.html


POSTED: SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015 1:00 AM
By Nancy Gaarder / World-Herald staff writer

“It came snarling out of the Southwest Jan. 10, a killer on the prowl, spewing destruction on icy, snow-coated breath.” — Omaha World-Herald, January 1975

* * *
Forty years ago on this date, Omaha was crippled by a blizzard, part of a larger storm that suffocated the Midwest in wind and snow and that hurled tornadoes across the southeast.

Seventy people are known to have died, 58 because of the blizzard and 12 from the tornadoes. In Iowa, 17 died; in Nebraska, 14; and in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 27.

How bad was the blizzard? It was similar in Omaha to the city’s 2009 Christmas blizzard in terms of peak winds, snow totals and temperature, according to National Weather Service records. But the 1975 storm devastated the city because of its timing and the more primitive forecasting and communications technology of the day.

THE FORECAST

Meteorologist Benny Gullach didn’t like what he saw as he pored over the weather maps, radar and data in the pre-dawn hours on this date at the National Weather Service office north of Omaha.

FULL story at link.

[pipoman]

1. I remember having several days off school

And this storm brought an end to overhead telephone lines in my town. ...something like 800 telephone poles broken in my county. A year later almost all lines were buried.

[YarnAddict]

2. Very interesting

Did you ever read "The Children's Blizzard" about the storm on the Great Plains in the 1890's? This sounds very similar--very warm January weather, so people weren't dressed for the cold and snow which inundated the region within minutes. Forecasting was far more primitive, and the results were that hundreds died. Total deaths couldn't even be estimated. I wonder how the 1975 storm compared with that one.