60 years ago, a record blizzard killed 200 people in the Northeast
A massive snowstorm with blizzard conditions killed more than 200 people in the Northeast, setting weather records that still stand today.
Multiple feet of snow fell in just a single day as the Blizzard of 1966 wreaked havoc from Tennessee to Maine, killing more than 200 people.
Sixty years ago this week, a massive and deadly snowstorm in the Northeast -- and the Arctic outbreak that swept in behind it -- set state weather records that still stand today.
Later overshadowed by bigger blizzards such as the Blizzard of 1978, this tempest will never be forgotten by the families of the 201 people killed during the storm.
More than a foot of snow piled up from Virginia to Maine. Extreme cold followed the snow, with state record lows set that are still on the books today in Alabama and Mississippi. New Market, Alabama, hit 27 degrees below zero on Jan. 30, while Corinth, Mississippi, fell to 19 below zero.
Immense lake-effect snowfall fell near Oswego, New York, during and after the storm, where a total of 103 inches was measured. At Camden, 50 inches of snow fell, setting New York's all-time 24-hour snowfall record, which is still on the books today. Schools in Oswego were closed for a week. Bulldozers had to be used to remove snow, with helicopters flying in supplies and medical help.
Cars buried by the Blizzard of 1966 in Oswego, New York. (Suny Oswego)
Every major city from Maryland to New York got more than a foot of snow from the storm:
• Pittsburgh, PA: 14.4 inches
• Washington, DC: 13.8 inches
• Allentown, PA: 13.3 inches
• Philadelphia, PA: 12.7 inches
• Baltimore, MD: 12.1 inches
The White House is blurred by snow with drifts on the empty Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 31, 1966 (Onyx Media, Llc)
An estimated 201 people were killed from heart attacks while shoveling snow, traffic accidents, cold or in fires started by people trying to heat their homes.
While this storm went down in the history books as the Blizzard of 1966, it should not be confused with the deadly March blizzard in the Northern Plains, which is sometimes referred to by the same name.
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