The most destructive snowstorms occur unexpectedly and in places where they are not prepared for. The worst snowstorms in history have buried whole villages with their inhabitants.
United States of America has been punished by a widespread blizzard during the Christmas holidays, in which dozens of people have died. One of the cities worst hit by the storm is Buffalo in the western part of New York state.
“The situation is like a war zone. Cars on the side of the streets are a shocking sight,” commented the governor of New York Kathy Hochul on Monday, according to AFP.
“This is definitely the blizzard of the century, and it’s not over yet.”
Read more: “The winter storm of the century”, says the governor of New York – Bodies found in cars and under snow masses
Cars stuck in the snow were abandoned on the street in downtown Buffalo on Monday evening.
Statistics in light, however, Buffalo’s ruckus is not record-breaking or even particularly exceptional. The area is known for snow storms, says Foreca’s meteorologist on duty Anna Latvala.
“Also earlier this year, it snowed there briskly for two meters in two days,” says Latvala.
The storms originate from the Great Lakes, located west and north of Buffalo. After the summer and autumn, a lot of heat has been stored in the water of the lakes. When cold air flows over the lakes from the north of Canada, blizzards form. They sweep over the lakes and, depending on the wind speed, far to the east, even to the coast.
“The Great Lakes region is known for these fast blizzards. That kind of thing can practically look like a wall of snow when approaching.”
Another well-known blizzard area is located in northeastern Japan, where more than a meter of snow was received during the day by Monday morning. 17 people have died in the storm and dozens have been injured.
A man dug a car out of the snow in Kitami, Hokkaido Prefecture, on Christmas Eve.
“In large amounts of snow, the same conditions are mostly involved: a warm water area and a cold continent nearby, where air can come over,” explains Latvala.
The same phenomenon can also be seen in Finland in autumn or early winter, when the Gulf of Finland is still thawed. The wind passing over the water brings strong storms to the coast and the capital region. The record was set in January 2016, when 73 centimeters of snow fell on the coast in a day.
“But even that comes second to storms in the Great Lakes region,” says Latvala.
It is difficult to rank the worst blizzards in history, because the severity of the storm cannot be measured with a single gauge. However, we listed the exceptional snowstorms of the last decades from around the world.
Iran 1972
Iran’s blizzard was by many measures the worst in recorded history. The blizzard lasted for five days and covered almost the entire country in snow. In some areas, eight meters of snow was measured at the end of the storm.
The snow covered hundreds of entire villages and caused more than 4,000 deaths. Most of the dead were stranded without food or heating or buried in the snow.
Buffalo 1977
belonging to the authority management of the Buffalo area by Mark Poloncarz according to this winter’s blizzard, the destruction “exceeds the Buffalo blizzard of 1977”.
The 1977 storm is the most famous in Buffalo history. Earlier in the winter, the city had already received a total of several meters of snow, but during the frost at the end of January, the wind reached gusts that blew more than 30 meters per second. The snow accumulated in avalanches that covered the houses below.
The gusts also obscured visibility and left residents stranded in their homes, workplaces and cars. 29 people died in the storm.
Afghanistan 2008
The worst blizzard in Afghanistan’s history dumped up to 180 centimeters of snow on the mountains in January 2008. The storm hit 30 degrees below zero and killed at least 926 people and more than 400,000 cattle, sheep and goats in the mountain villages.
In mountainous areas, a large amount of snow can fall in an instant, when a warm air mass pushes up the mountainside. This phenomenon also brings snow to, for example, ski villages on the southern slopes of the Alps. The snow can come in the same measure with a meter stick.
“Mountain regions live their own lives when it comes to snow,” says Latvala.
Texas 2021
The blizzard that happened in Texas last year in the USA made headlines all the way to Finland, even though in some places it only snowed a couple of centimeters and at worst it snowed twenty.
Hot and dry Texas is a good example of a place that is not prepared for snow. Even a little snow was enough to derail cars from the road and cut off electricity and water for the state’s residents.
“This is exactly what happens in areas where winter rains usually come as water. People are not used to working in the snow,” says Latvala.
According to Latvala, a large part of the acute destruction and problems caused by snowstorms is related to traffic.
In Finland, 20 centimeters of snow is not a problem, because society is built to withstand it. Most motorists already have winter tires installed when the first snow falls, and the municipality usually sends snow plows to the roads.
Snow covered the streets of Pflugerville, Texas in mid-February 2021.
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