In Nebraska legend, there are certain winters that grandparents relate to their grandkids about "the hard times" of yesteryear. Of those, the Long Winter of 1880-1881, the Schoolchildren Blizzard of 1888, the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940, and the Great Blizzard of 1975. However, one particular winter stands out, the winter of 1948-1949.
Nebraskans endured a siege of blizzards beginning in November and lasting through March. Each blizzard brought heavy snow, screaming winds, and brutal cold. Snow piled up so high in spots it covered houses, crippled transportation, and trapped cattle in the elements. It took a massive federal government operation to dig out those stranded finally. The worst affected areas was the Panhandle into northern Nebraska, but Omaha and the rest of Nebraska/Iowa were not spared. In this installment of This Week in Weather History we look back at the worst winter in Nebraska state history.
NEBRASKA IN THE LATE 1940S
After enduring the hardships that were the 1930s with the Depression and the Dust Bowl, Nebraskans entered the 1940s with a dim sense of hope. In World War II, Nebraskans joined the front lines, assisted the war effort in munitions facilities, and growing food for the troops. The post-war brought on new international tensions with the Soviet Union, and the Cold War came into being by the late 1940s. The era of the "Red Scare" and McCarthyism was here.
Besides the darkened political landscape, Nebraska enjoyed an economic boom brought about by the war in the later 1940s. Unemployment was low, wages were slowly rising, and Nebraskans had more money to spend. Purchases of appliances like Refrigerators, stoves, washers, and dryers soared; as well, luxury items such as more ornate clothing, vacations, and home decor were also purchased. The 1940s was the spread of the television, now cheap enough for middle-class families to afford. It quickly became a household staple as families gathered around the TV to watch shows and relax. On September 1, 1949, KMTV came on the air, the second oldest TV station in Nebraska.
Although it did not accelerate until well into the 1950s, Nebraskans were moving from the city to the suburbs. In the Omaha metro, towns such as Bellevue, Millard, Valley, and Ralston saw large population increases in the 1940s, only to continue into the 50s. Other cities like Lincoln, Hastings, Grand Island, and Sidney also saw significant population gains through the decade.
Rural areas saw big changes in the 1940s too. The latter 1940s was hallmarked by a major push to bring electricity to rural homes, brought about by the Rural Electrification Act (REA) in 1936. In December 1947, only 36% of Nebraskan homes had electricity. By 1954, that number had ballooned to over 96% of homes. Many rural Nebraskans earned a living in agriculture, as farms expanded due to mechanization, the number of farms also shrunk. Seeking better opportunities, many younger people left the countryside for the cities or outside the state. Most counties in the 1940s saw a population drop, a trend that continues today.
Coming out of the Dust Bowl, life in Nebraska was changing in many significant ways both for good and ill. It would take the most brutal winter in the history of the state to push even more change, and it began early in November 1948.
NOVEMBER 16-22, 1948: THE PRECURSOR
November 15, 1948, was a warm day across Nebraska with many locations hitting the 70s, Omaha recorded a high of 71 that day. On November 16, a cold front began to move across the state, but it was still mild with temperatures in the 50s statewide. Beginning on the afternoon of November 17, a low-pressure system began moving out of Colorado into Kansas and strengthened. As cold air continued to filter in, snow started to fall in the Panhandle, stretching its way eastward. By November 18, a ferocious blizzard began over central Nebraska, one that would drop up to 2' of snow and be the first of many big snowstorms that winter.
Older residents compared the storm to the Children's Blizzard of 1888 in that relatively warm conditions lulled people outside. Motorists were driving, children were in schools, and others went to work before the storm hit. Once the wind and snow began, it fell for almost four straight days, trapping many people. In O'Neill, it took a teacher three days to get home from her school. Hundreds of motorists were stranded across the state, forced to seek shelter in hotels. Others braved the conditions to get home. One hunting party walked over 30 miles in the storm to get home near O'Neill. Tragically, the storm took the lives of six Nebraskans, most of whom were stranded in cars.
The storm stranded many cities, cut off transportation, and downed many power lines. In Lexington, power was out for over 30 hours as crews worked to restore them. Other communities in northern Nebraska were out of power for longer. Snowfall totals were highest in northeast Nebraska, where upwards of 2 feet fell in cities like Hartington. There was a sharp cut-off in snow totals as one moved further southeast, Fremont received 10", Omaha 4", and southeast Nebraska barely a trace.
In their annual report, the Weather Bureau described the storm as thus:
From the 17th to 20th one of the most severe early season snow storms of record occurred in the central Great Plains, resulting in millions of dollars damage and a loss of at least 9 lives. The storm was at its worst in western Kansas and Nebraska where a heavy snowfall of 4 to 20 inches, blown by gale force winds into drifts up to 20 feet deep, blocked many railroads and highways, stranded motorists, disrupted communications, isolated many communities, and caused much loss of livestock
As temperatures warmed towards the end of the month, most Nebraskans were able to dig out and life got back to normal. It was only a foretaste of the winter to come.
DECEMBER 1948
December started quite warm for Nebraska, Omaha hit a high of 63 on December 4th. That warm spell ended abruptly when a cold front brought high winds and a few inches of snow over central Nebraska. Near Grand Island, a bus slid off the road and overturned, injuring 26 people but fortunately killing no one.
In the days leading up to Christmas, a large storm system began to develop over the southwest United States and move eastward. Snow overspread Nebraska on December 23 and continued into Christmas Eve. The snow totals ranged from around 8" in Omaha to nearly a foot in locations west of the metro, the highest snow total was in the Panhandle at Alliance with 16". Surprisingly, despite the heavy snow, there were no significant issues for travel or Christmas festivities.
A few days after Christmas, an area of freezing drizzle developed over Nebraska, they were causing travel issues and power outages due to the ice. In Kearney, power outages delayed the newspaper going to print by a day, and the city was without power for many hours. Roads that were just opened in the wake of the November blizzard were closed as the high winds whipped up snow drifts back onto the roads, covering the ice. By December 30, 109 communities in Nebraska were cut off from telephone lines, that number had dropped to 49 by New Year's Eve.
In the good feeling of missing both major blizzards in late 1948, the editor of the Chadron Record said, "Good old Chadron! We've again missed the second big blizzard in the state.". He would come to regret this almost immediately as Chadron became the epicenter of not only the largest blizzard of the 1948-1949 season but one of the greatest blizzards in Nebraska history.
JANUARY 2-5, 1949: THE GREAT BLIZZARD
The year 1949 began on a quiet note as temperatures rose into the 30s across Nebraska, but it wasn't expected to last long. The forecast from the Weather Bureau called for "a moderate [snow]fall" for the next 5 days. The weather map on January 2 showed a cold front from Wyoming to California with cold air and snow behind it, and that would begin to move through the state starting that evening.
The culprit was a large low-pressure system that moved along the Nebraska-Kansas border on January 3, then turned due north over eastern Nebraska on the 4th, arriving in southeast South Dakota on the 5th before finally moving away. This subjected the western half of the state to days of heavy snow, bitter cold, and screaming winds for up to 72 hours.
It was described by some who witnessed it as a gray cloud as it moved into the Nebraska panhandle as early as the lunch hour on the 2nd, within minutes everything went from clear to snow cover. Those caught out in it had only a few hours to get places, by evening all roads and rail lines became blocked. For some families in western Nebraska, it began a multi-week stretch of being isolated from the world.
Transportation effectively halted. Rail lines were severed, including the big ones between Omaha and Denver. Many trains were stranded, some needing relief trains to help dig out of the snow, some of those getting stuck. Many buses were stranded, one farm near Scottsbluff had to take in 30 passengers from a bus that was left stranded in a drift 17 feet high. The National Guard helped to locate those stuck in cars, of which there were hundreds over the Panhandle alone.
Harmon Holleman of Gordon in northwestern Nebraska left to transport gas when his car got stuck. He tried to find refuge in a haystack but never made it, being found by a patrolman days later. Harriet Brown had her door in Gordon blown open, where she froze to death in her living room. Claude Hannibal also had his car stuck near Alliance, he left to grab fence posts for traction and never made it back. A fourth person was also found dead in western Nebraska.
The snow totals across Nebraska were astounding. Many locations in the Nebraska panhandle received up to 2' of snow, with Chadron picking up an eye-popping 41" of snow by the time the snow ended. The 24-hour total of 26.7" on January 3 at Chadron is the highest 24-hour snow recorded from an airport in Nebraska history. Snow totals drop off dramatically the further east, with Omaha receiving only rain through the entire blizzard.
There were drifts as high as 30 to 40 feet, taller than some trains. Planes had to airdrop supplies to homes and towns if the winds permitted. Thousands of cattle were left stranded in pastures, exposed to the elements. The cold air continued, not allowing any of the snow to melt, and the wind was relentless. The blizzard also crippled parts of southeastern Wyoming, northeastern Colorado, and western South Dakota. It is the worst blizzard in Wyoming state history, as well as being one of the worst in South Dakota's history.
The Weather Bureau summarized the storm thus:
Worst experienced in [Nebraska], with reference to force of wind, amount of snow and drifting, and the duration of severe conditions. Even worse than storm itself were the conditions that followed. Winds redrifted snow over roads many times. Ice mixed with snow made use of ordinary equipment for snow removal limited. Private, county, State, and federal agencies worked continously for many days. Losses to railroads immense. Livestock losses estimated at 4 percent; this may require division as reports come in. Relief operations, and opening and reopening of roads requiring expenditures running into the millions. Several lives lost.
THE BLIZZARD THAT HIT OMAHA: JANUARY 27-28
For the next several weeks in January 1949, quieter conditions allowed crews to work to clear many roads. By January 15, most of the major highways in the state were open, although many rural roads remained impassable. Train service slowly returned to normal, with most routes running by January 25. Those in Omaha read the reports in the paper, thankful the eastern half of the state has escaped the worst of the winter so far. That luck would change come January 27.
A low-pressure system moved from Oklahoma into Missouri, bringing the heaviest snowfall over eastern Nebraska for the first time that winter. Omaha received 13.2" of snow, while a broader swath of eastern Nebraska into western Iowa received over 8" of snow.
Blizzard conditions brought Omaha to a standstill on January 27 as roads became snow-covered and travel impossible. Many businesses closed hours early as people started to go home, one Omaha official said the traffic issues seen that night were the worst the city has seen in a snow.
By the morning of the 28th, the city was shut down as over a foot of snow continued to fall. Omaha now joined the rest of Nebraska in being snowbound. As the blizzard raged in Omaha, the federal government began to swing into action as Nebraskans continued to suffer, Operation Snowbound was about to begin.
OPERATION SNOWBOUND
By the end of January 1949, Nebraska was truly feeling the weight of the major blizzards back to November. Some rural schools were closed for weeks, extending the Christmas holiday until February. Rail workers worked around the clock to clear the lines from the snow that kept drifting back onto them. Roads were continually in need of re-plowing. Many hadn't left home since Christmas, cattle were starving and exposed to the elements. People began to run out of food, and feart of starvation set in for some. It was a daunting task to bring Nebraska back to normal, a task that became too great for the state resources to handle.
It began with "Operation Haylift" which formally began on January 24. Operation Haylift was a way to provide food and resources to the roughly 2 million cattle and sheep that were stranded across Nebraska and surrounding states. Using C-47 and C-82 Cargo Planes, hay bales would be dropped out of the sky to herds to graze on. Over the following weeks, planes would fly over farms and a "kicker" would kick the hay out of the planes for cattle.
That same day, Governor Val Peterson appealed to the US Army Corps of Engineers and the federal government to grant aid to clear the state. The next day, the legislature granted $500,000 in aid to clear roads, and Peterson issued a State of Emergency for 22 full counties and parts of 7 others. Next, Peterson appealed to the Fifth Army stationed in Chicago to bring equipment and manpower to clear the state. After some setbacks, at 11 am on January 29, President Harry S. Truman announced "Operation Snowbound" where the Fifth Army would move out to the affected states with bulldozers and clear the snow.
Over the next several weeks, over 6000 people spread out across Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota with over 1000 pieces of equipment. It remains one of the largest bulldozer operations in history. Most of the operations was run from Omaha, with regional offices in other cities. By the end of Operation Snowbound, over 190,000 acres of land in Nebraska had been cleared of snow, roughly 300 square miles.
Through February, those who had been trapped at home for over a month were finally able to leave. Luckily, the weather cooperated as temperatures warmed and snow stopped falling (for the most part). Operation Snowbound ceased operations on March 15, when their work was done in digging out Nebraskans and surrounding states. The winter had one more major snow up its sleeve in late March, but by that point things were back to normal. All the snow led to river flooding during the spring and summer months. Over northern Nebraska, it took until June to finally melt away the biggest drifts.
When taken into account, the winter of 1948-1949 can be considered one of the worst in recent memory, compared to the historic winters of the 1880s. Snowfall totals ranged from between 30-40" on the lower end to above 80" on the higher end. The highest snow totals were over northern Nebraska, with the lowest close to the Kansas border. Many locations saw their top 20 snowfall, with cities like O'Neill, Hartington, and Chadron in the top 3.
So, what made this winter so unique? The wind and cold! According to all accounts, this winter was exceptionally windy with many days having an average wind speed of between 10-20 mph with gusts over 30 mph. The constant wind brought snow drifts many feet high, covering roads and railways, and prevented people from leaving. Although there were no major arctic blasts during the season, the continued cold did not allow any snow to melt. This, combined with the limited technology of 1949, was what made this winter so nasty. Hopefully, if Nebraska ever has to deal with a winter like that, we would be able to handle it today.
SOURCES/FURTHER READING
- A comprehensive account of the Winter of 1948-1949 in Nebraska can be found in a 2002 issue of Nebraska Life magazine called "I'm Never Going to be Snowbound Again, the Winter of 1948-1949" and this article can be found online
- Much of the weather data was found using climatological data from various sites, many of which can be found on the National Weather Service website
- Many newspapers were used for details: the primary newspapers used were the Omaha World-Herald, Grand Island Independent, O'Neill Frontier, The Gordon Journal, the North Platte Tribune, and the Rock County Leader
- Details on Operation Snowbound were taken from an official military report on the matter submitted to Washington DC when the operation ended
