On Jan. 25, one of the worst southern Ohio winter storms in recent memory hit the university.
The winter storm, which caused class cancellations and online classes last week, still has lingering effects present on the roadways and sidewalks. In fact, a snow event of this magnitude has not been seen in central and southern Ohio since 1978.
Franklin County was put under a Level 3 snow emergency, which prevented travel for all Columbus residents.
Franklin County had not been placed under a Level 3 snow emergency since the county-by-county snow emergency was created in 1978, after the blizzard.
The day before the storm, many stores were packed tight as people were trying to stock up beforehand. This left the stores drained for the subsequent day. During the storm, almost no businesses were open, and stories of citizens getting stuck in parking lots and driveways ran rampant.
Students at the university frantically searched for shovels to scoop the snow off their cars and driveways; however, since most students did not come to the university with that equipment, many were out of luck.
Even with this hazardous weather, students at the university still went outside to sled, build snow forts and play in the snow.
This storm is eerily familiar to the blizzard that took place in Ohio in 1978.
The blizzard took place on Jan. 26, 1978, which is one day later than the one that took place recently.
The storm of 1978 also had similar snowfall to the one recently. The recent storm gave us 12.4 inches of snow, while the 1978 blizzard gave 12.2.
According to WYSO (a non profit information radio station), the recent snow storm is responsible for breaking the 24-hour snowfall record in the area previously held by the blizzard of 1978.
Where the storms majorly differ, however, is the wind; the wind for the blizzard of 1978 was significantly worse, making the storms almost incomparable.
According to WKYC, the blizzard of 1978 had winds that exceeded 60 miles per hour, while the current storm did not even come close to this total. The 20 mile an hour winds were still strong, of course, but the devastation that was caused was significantly less.
The blizzard of 1978 caused trees to fall and destroyed houses; many people struggled just to cross the street.
Also, the blizzard of 1978 took place over a longer period of time. This year’s snow storm was not a multiple day storm, since most of the snowfall took place over a single 24-hour period.
This destruction is part of what classifies the 1978 storm as a blizzard, while the recent storm was not given this title.
It took 48 years before the 24 hour snowfall record was broken in this area, meaning events like this may only happen once or twice in a lifetime.
