10 heaviest snowfalls in history

Heavy snowfall can paralyze even the largest city in a matter of hours - roads are covered with snow, people cannot get to work or home, food cannot be delivered to stores, power lines fail under the weight of the accumulated snow. In some places, public services work better, in others they fail, but the fact remains that despite technological progress, humanity is still too vulnerable to natural disasters. We've rounded up the 10 heaviest snowfalls ever recorded in the world. Most of them hit the American continent.

This snowfall is remembered as the "Blizzard of '67." It hit the US Midwest from Michigan to Indiana. The record for snowfall in one day was recorded in Chicago, Illinois. In total, the snowstorm killed 76 people, 26 of whom were from Chicago.

This storm was nicknamed the "Eastern Canadian Blizzard of '71." The snowfall was accompanied by strong winds, which reduced visibility to almost zero. Together with very cold temperatures, this caused the death of 20 people. What’s most surprising is that no one asked Ontarians to stay home. But still, the snowfall was so heavy that they even had to cancel the game of the local NHL team Montreal Canadiens, which was a real disaster for local residents.

The Boston snow storm began at the worst possible time - at noon, when most people were already at work or school. Many were locked in their cars. Moreover, it occurred during a high tide, contributing to the worst flooding in the area. The amount of snow that fell was a record for Boston - almost 10 centimeters added every hour. As a result, more than 100 people died in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

It was dubbed the “storm of the century” because in March 1993, the storm blanketed the largest area ever known with snow. Snowfall ranged from eastern Canada almost to the Caribbean coast, covering 26 states. The storm was accompanied by very low temperatures in some places and claimed 270 lives. Even in such a hot state as Florida, a noticeable cooling was felt. If about 100 centimeters of snow fell in the flat areas, there was even more in the mountains.

The "Blizzard of 1888" swept through the northeastern United States, burying more than 400 people, including hundreds lost at sea. The storm was truly severe - with a huge amount of snow, wild wind, sudden cold snap and a fierce blizzard. New York was paralyzed by a 22-centimeter layer of snow, and the town of Saratoga Springs was simply buried under one and a half meters of snow.

An abnormally heavy snowfall hit the US state of New York just a month ago. According to the state administration, a year's worth of precipitation fell in two days. The disaster killed 6 people, blocked 200 kilometers of highways, and 40 percent of flights at the Buffalo airport had to be canceled.

Even though Tibet is a fairly cool place due to the altitude, it usually doesn't get a lot of snow. But 2008 was an exception - local residents were shocked when snowfall continued for 36 hours, blanketing some areas with up to 180 centimeters of snow. The average thickness of the cover was 150 centimeters. Many buildings could not withstand such snow pressure, roads did not function, and 7 people died. Many even had to slaughter their pets for food.

In the 18th century, there were no accurate meteorological calculations yet, so all known figures about the “Great Snowfall of 1717” are quite arbitrary. This storm was made up of four snow storms that simultaneously hit New England during an already harsh winter. The epicenter of the disaster was in Boston. Entire houses were filled to the brim with snow, and people had to escape through second-floor windows. At that time, snow removal equipment did not yet exist, so people just had to wait for it to melt. The roads were not functional for more than a week. Photographs from that time, as you can imagine, hardly exist.

Judging by the amount of snow that fell, this is perhaps the heaviest snowfall in history. But it traveled far in the mountains and hardly affected populated areas. Despite the amount of snow that fell almost threefold compared to the “storm of the century,” this snowfall covered a very small area and went virtually unnoticed.

The city of Buffalo is located in the northern United States, but generally experiences warmer temperatures and less snow compared to surrounding areas. In 1977, the city was hit by moderate snowfall, but with very strong winds of about 70 kilometers per hour. By that time, there was already a layer of snow in Buffalo and even the local lake was frozen. As a result, not the strongest snow storm caused severe frost, zero visibility and terrible snowstorms, and by the time it ended, the total layer of snow was five meters - an absolute record for one season.