Dear Tom,
I grew up in northwest Iowa and remember the worst blizzard of my life back in January 1975. Can you refresh my memory with details of this storm?
— Kurt Dorr, Naperville
Dear Kurt,
The storm you remember occurred Jan. 10-12, 1975, and has been dubbed the Blizzard of the Century.
The storm brought more than 2 feet of snow and wind gusts of 80 m.p.h. Snow was piled into drifts 20 feet high that closed down many roads for more than 10 days. Nearly 60 people died in the blizzard, and the loss of livestock was huge.
In addition, Duluth, Minn., recorded its all-time lowest barometer reading, with a pressure of 28.55 inches.
This storm also produced a major tornado outbreak. At least 45 twisters raked areas from Oklahoma and Louisiana to northern Florida, killing a dozen people and injuring more than 300. Chicago, initially on the warm side of this storm, reached 60 degrees on Jan. 10 then plunged to 2 above by Jan. 12.
———-
Write to: ASK TOM WHY, 2501 Bradley Pl., Chicago, IL 60618 or: asktomwhy@wgntv.com
Weather Report is prepared by the WGN-TV Weather Center, where Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
IN THE WEB EDITION: For updated weather news, forecasts by ZIP code and local radar images, go to chicagotribune.com/weather or wgntv.com
