The Blizzard of '79

Yes, this snow will be gone, like all the snows of yesteryear.  But those who have lived through it will tell their own stories over the years, over and over. “Why this is nothing, I remember back in 1979 when…” until they too become folklore, legend.  And children not yet born will turn away in boredom and disbelief.  Imagine.  Roofs caving in.  The whole world shut down.  All that trouble.  All that snow. 

Believe it.  It is no exaggeration.

(Jerry Klein, Peoria Journal Star, January 21, 1979)

The winter of 1977-78 had gone on record as the worst winter of all time for snow, with 47.1 inches of snow falling over a November-March time frame.

To start the next winter season, November and December 1978 had been relatively average, but between December 31, 1978, and January 1, 1979, a winter storm slammed central Illinois with 7.2 inches of snow, strong winds, and bitterly cold temperatures.  Five-foot drifts were reported in rural areas, and many roads were impassable.  The barn roof at the John Frame residence near Beverly Manor School collapsed under the nearly two feet of collected snow.

What followed that storm was ten days of no snow but sub-zero temperatures.  The first above-zero temperature in the area for 1979 was recorded on January 11.  The forecast called for a manageable four inches of snow as Washington and the Central Illinois area headed into hopefully warmer temperatures over the weekend of January 13th and 14th, with highs in the 20s.  What we got was much worse.

With more than seven inches of snow still on the ground, Washington was hit with another 12.2 inches of snow on Saturday, January 13.  The subsequent 19.4 inches of snow on the ground shattered the snow-cover record for the area that had been held since 1900.  Winds up to 45 miles per hour howled throughout the storm, and the Peoria area was under a blizzard warning for the first time ever.  Sunday the 14th saw the snow lighten and people emerge to start the all-day process of digging themselves out with the winds still howling.  The picture at the bottom of the article was taken at 700 Birkett Court in Washington after the blizzard and dig-out.

The high winds forced snow removal trucks off the roads, and people were, at best, stuck in their homes and, at worst, stuck on the road. Mail was not delivered for only the second time in thirty years, and Interstate 74 was completely closed.

With the two feet of snow falling in two weeks, roofs started collapsing all over the area.  In Washington, Kimpling Ace Hardware, Dick Rich Plumbing, A&W Restaurant, and other buildings had major collapses.

Schools were canceled through at least Monday and Tuesday of the next week as the town continued to dig out amidst arctic temperatures reaching 22 below zero.  Route 24 between Eureka and Washington was closed for days.  

Over the course of the 1978-79 winter, the area received 51.6 total inches of snow, breaking the record set the previous year.  This total was eclipsed during the 2010-11 winter when 52.5 inches fell, and again in 2013-14 (the winter after the tornado) when 57.6 inches fell.  The difference in 1979 was that twenty of those inches fell in a two-week span with arctic temperatures and strong winds throughout.  The 12.2 inches of snow recorded on January 13, 1979, is still a one-day record for our area, as is the 19 inches of total snow cover.