The Great Blizzard of ’93 was a massive storm that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12th of that year. At its peak, the storm stretched from Canada to Central America.
You know the old saying, “everybody talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it,” well, this was the first storm where the earliest computer models accurately predicted its arrival five days out.
The records set by this storm are too numerous to mention, but its extremely low barometric pressures were consistent with a category 2 hurricane! Measurable snow fell as far south as Jacksonville, Florida, making it the most significant winter storm since 1899!
Are you frustrated when traffic backs up on the interstate? Well, during this storm there was an 80-mile backup on I-75!
While the storm affected 26 states, knocked power out to 10 million homes, and caused over 300 fatalities, the Appalachian Mountains received the most snowfall. Accustomed to big snows, places like Boone, North Carolina were caught off guard by up to three feet of snow and then further battered by gale force winds and 24 hours of sub-zero temperatures!
North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt declared 40 counties as disaster areas and some ski resorts used snow equipment to help rescue those who were stranded, even while driving Humvees. Area schools were out for as much as three weeks.
The irony was that the winter of ’93 had almost been devoid of snow and many ski resorts had already closed for the season. As so much snow fell, some skiers were nonetheless disappointed when they discovered some upper slopes had grass showing…the high winds had blown all the fresh powder off into 15 and 20 foot drifts!
Everyone who experienced the Storm of the Century has a story…personally, I was on my way back to Banner Elk after taking time off from working at Lees-McRae College…after a night spent sleeping on the floor at the Charlotte airport, I finally made my connecting flight to Johnson City. After dodging hundreds of abandoned cars on 19-E, I made it back and spent the next few days shoveling out and helping call all of the Lees-McRae students to enjoy an extra week of Spring Break!
If you’d like to hear the audio version, please click below and we’d love to hear YOUR Blizzard of ’93 stories in the comments section of this post!