GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Friday marks the 40th anniversary of one of the biggest blizzards to hit Michigan in recent history. The Great Blizzard of 1978 ranks as the number one snowstorm ever in Grand Rapids and much of the Lower Peninsula, Indiana and Ohio.
The National Weather Service called it a once-in-a-lifetime storm and a benchmark to measure all other severe snowstorms in the Midwest.
The storm began as a result of a relatively rare merger of two distinct weather systems. It started with a very strong storm in the Gulf of Mexico taking a track into Ohio. The day before the blizzard hit, there was widespread rain and fog followed by a quick transition to wicked winter weather.
It produced near hurricane-force winds and snow drifts as high as 20 feet in some areas. High winds knocked down power and phone lines, leaving homes in the dark and without heat. The entire Ohio Turnpike was closed as well as most of I-75 in the Lower Peninsula and Ohio.
In about 15 hours, nearly 15 inches of snow was dumped on Grand Rapids. In four days, Muskegon picked up 52 inches of snow. The Traverse City area received about 28 inches. Some schools in West Michigan were closed for nearly two weeks.
Seventy deaths were blamed on the storm, including 51 in Ohio. Of those deaths, 13 people were found dead in stuck cars and 13 in unheated homes. More than 125,000 vehicles were abandoned in the storm.