The Blizzard As it began to snow in New York City,
the center of the immense storm was still as far south
as Georgia, approximately seven hundred miles
away. With little capacity for dealing with snow, the
South suffered especially heavy damage. In the
southern Appalachian region, the storm brought ac-
tivity to a standstill, with snow depths ranging from
six to twenty-four inches. The downfall contained an
unprecedented quantity of water, the weight of
which collapsed roofs and blocked roads. Two hun-
dred or more hikers were rescued from mountain-
ous areas, and numerous fatalities resulted from ex-
posure.
Further north, many residents remained at home
for the weekend, and business closures generated
fears of damage to the economy. In Pittsburgh, snow
fell at the rate of two to three inches per hour and
exceeded twenty-four inches in total, an amount
equal to one-third of the city’s 1993 year-long accu-
mulation. Inland snow depths in excess of one foot
accumulated as far north as Canada, where blizzard
conditions stretched from Eastern Ontario to New-
foundland.
The intense storm produced windgusts of 144
miles per hour in New Hampshire and a snowfall of
fifty-six inches in Tennessee. Twenty-five percent of
the nation’s airline flights were can-
celed during the weekend of the
storm. When the storm abated, tem-
peratures fell to record lows, adding
bitter cold to the disaster and ham-
pering snow-removal efforts. Meteo-
rologists compared the amount of
moisture deposited by the storm, an
estimated forty-four million acre
feet, as equal to forty days of flow of
the Mississippi River at New Or-
leans.
In the aftermath of the storm, calls
for investigations regarding the effec-
tiveness of meteorological warning
systems and the preparedness of di-
saster relief agencies were issued.
However, weather officials pointed
out that early predictions of the
storm had actually saved many lives.Impact The massive storm ad-
versely affected over 100 million
people, up to one-half of the na-
tion’s population. Modern forms of transportation
ground to a halt. Railways and interstate highways
were shut down, and for the first time in aviation his-
tory a single storm forced the closure of every major
eastern airport sometime during the disturbance.
Millions of people were left without power for up to a
week, at times in the midst of record-low tempera-
tures. Two hundred seventy weather-related deaths
were recorded.
Damages from the storm exceeded $6 billion,
making it the most expensive nontropical cyclone
in the history of the United States. As fore-
casters had anticipated, the superstorm proved to
be of historic proportion, a fact that led to early
media identification of the event as the “Storm of
the Century.”Further Reading
Addison, Doug. “Superstorm Success.”Weatherwise
48, no. 3 (June/July, 1995): 18-24. Reviews the
performance of meteorologists in predicting the
storm. Includes photos, maps.
Brandli, Hank. “The Blizzard of ’93.”Weatherwise46,
no. 3 (June/July, 1993): 9-11. Brief chronological
description and photos of satellite views of the
storm by a meteorologist.816 Storm of the Century The Nineties in America
An infrared image of the storm taken on March 13, 1993, indicates its vast reach
across the United States and Canada.(National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration)