Blizzard of 1999
Encyclopedia
The Blizzard of 1999 was a strong winter snowstorm which struck the Midwest United States
and portions of eastern Canada
, hitting hardest in Iowa
, Wisconsin
, Illinois
, Indiana
, Michigan
, Ohio
, Ontario
and Quebec
dumping as much as 60 cm (2 feet) of snow in many areas. Chicago received a recorded 21.6 in (54.9 cm). The storm hit just after New Year's Day
, between January 2 and January 4, 1999. Travel was severely disrupted throughout the areas and the cities of Chicago
and Toronto
were also paralyzed. Additionally, record low temperatures were measured in many towns in the days immediately after the storm (January 4 - January 8).
as the second worst blizzard to hit Chicago in the 20th century, behind the Blizzard of 1967. Soon after the snow ended, record low temperatures occurred with values of -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 degrees Celsius) or lower in parts of Illinois and surrounding states on January 3 and 4, including a handful of daily minimum temperatures around -50 degrees F (-45 degrees C) on the 4th in the area of heaviest accumulation.
The areas with the heaviest snows, 15 inches (38.1 cm) or more, included central and northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, central and northern Indiana, southern Michigan, northern Ohio, and southeast Canada. The storm also traveled across southern Ontario dumping about 12 inches (30.5 cm) of snow throughout the entire Quebec City-Windsor Corridor
.
South of the snow line, the storm produced a significant ice storm
across western New York, near the Rochester
region and the Genesee Valley
where numerous power failures were reported.
, unusual for the Chicago shoreline, resulted in enhanced snowfall for communities within about 10 miles (16.1 km) of the lake. Chicago and its northern suburbs received between 18 and 22 inches (45–55 cm) of snow. Chicago broke a one-day snowfall record with 18.6 inches (47 cm) falling on January 2. The total snowfall figures are below:
(NWA) were stranded for hours. In 2001, NWA agreed to pay more than $7M in compensation
to victims. Some passengers spent more than eight and a half hours in their planes after arriving at DTW.
In southern Ontario, Pearson International Airport had to be shut down, while numerous flights from Ottawa International Airport were canceled. A series of additional snowstorms over the next 10 days gave Toronto a total of 118 centimetres (46.5 in), a record monthly total for the month of January, prompting then-mayor Mel Lastman
to call in the Canadian Forces to assist the snow removal with the city at a near standstill. As a result, the mayor and city, through the media endured endless ridicule from other parts of Canada more prone to such high snowfall amounts. The series of storms that hit Toronto were severe enough to be the winter Storm of the Century despite its long duration.
Rail service was halted or delayed, and highway
s were impassable. Lake Shore Drive
in Chicago
was closed for the first time ever. Stranded travellers were accommodated in emergency shelter
s. The bitterly cold temperatures created large ice floes on the inland waterways, causing shipping delays.
Schools were closed for several days, many businesses were closed as well. Of those that were able to remain open, stores selling snow removal equipment were doing a booming business.
There was also a nationwide blood shortage since a high proportion of blood donations come from the Midwest and many could not make it to the hospital and donate during the storm or during the subsequent cold snap.
In much of Northwest Indiana, blackouts occurred for days at a time. Porter County was without electricity for about 3 days total. Local buildings, such as schools, offered generator-powered heat in their auditoriums.
Financial Cost: Losses as a result of the storm are estimated between $300 and $400 million dollars.
Federal Aid: 45 counties in Illinois and some areas of Indiana were declared federal disaster areas by President Bill Clinton
and eligible to receive federal aid.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and portions of eastern Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, hitting hardest in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
dumping as much as 60 cm (2 feet) of snow in many areas. Chicago received a recorded 21.6 in (54.9 cm). The storm hit just after New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
, between January 2 and January 4, 1999. Travel was severely disrupted throughout the areas and the cities of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
were also paralyzed. Additionally, record low temperatures were measured in many towns in the days immediately after the storm (January 4 - January 8).
The storm
The storm produced 55 centimetres (21.7 in) of snow in Chicago and was rated by the National Weather ServiceNational Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
as the second worst blizzard to hit Chicago in the 20th century, behind the Blizzard of 1967. Soon after the snow ended, record low temperatures occurred with values of -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 degrees Celsius) or lower in parts of Illinois and surrounding states on January 3 and 4, including a handful of daily minimum temperatures around -50 degrees F (-45 degrees C) on the 4th in the area of heaviest accumulation.
The areas with the heaviest snows, 15 inches (38.1 cm) or more, included central and northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, central and northern Indiana, southern Michigan, northern Ohio, and southeast Canada. The storm also traveled across southern Ontario dumping about 12 inches (30.5 cm) of snow throughout the entire Quebec City-Windsor Corridor
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor
Quebec City – Windsor Corridor is the most densely-populated and heavily-industrialized region of Canada. As its name suggests, it extends from Quebec City in the east to Windsor, Ontario in the west, spanning . With more than 18 million people, it contained 51% of the country's population and...
.
South of the snow line, the storm produced a significant ice storm
Ice storm
An ice storm is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain, also known as a glaze event or in some parts of the United States as a silver thaw. The U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulation of at least of ice on exposed surfaces...
across western New York, near the Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
region and the Genesee Valley
Genesee River
The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester....
where numerous power failures were reported.
Snowfall totals
Lake effect winds off Lake MichiganLake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
, unusual for the Chicago shoreline, resulted in enhanced snowfall for communities within about 10 miles (16.1 km) of the lake. Chicago and its northern suburbs received between 18 and 22 inches (45–55 cm) of snow. Chicago broke a one-day snowfall record with 18.6 inches (47 cm) falling on January 2. The total snowfall figures are below:
- Chicago/O'Hare, IL: 21.6 (55 cm)
- Chicago/Midway, IL: 20.6 (52 cm
- Slinger, WI: 20.5 (52 cm)
- Galesburg, IL: 20.0 (51 cm)
- Barrington, IL: 18.0 (45 cm)
- Lake Villa, IL: 17.9 (45 cm)
- Chatsworth, IL: 17.0 (43 cm)
- Dixon, IL: 16.4 (41 cm)
- Toronto, ON: 16.0 (40 cm)
- Portage, IN: 16.0 (40 cm)
- Glenwood, IL: 16.0 (40 cm)
- Olympia Fields, IL: 15.8 (40 cm)
- Brookfield, IL: 15.1 (38 cm)
- LaGrange Park, IL: 15.0 (38 cm)
- Remington, IN: 15.0 (38 cm)
- Aurora, IL: 14.4 (37 cm)
- Crestwood, IL: 14.2 (36 cm)
- Bloomington/Normal, IL: 14.0 (35 cm)
- Algonquin, IL: 14.0 (35 cm)
- Bourbonnais, IL: 14.0 (35 cm)
- Streamwood, IL: 14.0 (35 cm)
- Lafayette, IN: 14.0 (35 cm)
- Orland Park, IL: 13.8 (35 cm)
- Channahon, IL: 13.0 (33 cm)
- Coal City, IL: 13.0 (33 cm)
- Fairbury, IL: 13.0 (33 cm)
- Geneva, IL: 13.0 (33 cm)
- DeKalb, IL: 12.4 (31 cm)
- Valparaiso, IN: 12.0 (30 cm)
- Willow Springs, IL: 12.0 (30 cm)
- Detroit, MI: 11.3 (29 cm)
- Earlville, IL: 11.3 (29 cm)
- Monticello, IN: 11.0 (28 cm)
- Naperville, IL: 11.0 (28 cm)
- Ottawa, ON: 10.6 (27 cm)
- Mundelein, IL: 10.0 (25 cm)
- Compton, IL: 9.7 (24 cm)
- Rochelle, IL: 9.6 (24 cm)
- Harvard, IL: 9.0 (23 cm)
- Rockford, IL: 9.0 (23 cm)
- Flint, MI: 8.5 (21 cm)
Impact
Midwest airports were closed, some for several days. Thousands of flights were canceled. Detroit Metro (DTW) was one of the most severely impacted airports. Thousands of passengers traveling on Northwest AirlinesNorthwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
(NWA) were stranded for hours. In 2001, NWA agreed to pay more than $7M in compensation
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
to victims. Some passengers spent more than eight and a half hours in their planes after arriving at DTW.
In southern Ontario, Pearson International Airport had to be shut down, while numerous flights from Ottawa International Airport were canceled. A series of additional snowstorms over the next 10 days gave Toronto a total of 118 centimetres (46.5 in), a record monthly total for the month of January, prompting then-mayor Mel Lastman
Mel Lastman
Melvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman , nicknamed "Mayor Mel", is a former businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1972 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with five other...
to call in the Canadian Forces to assist the snow removal with the city at a near standstill. As a result, the mayor and city, through the media endured endless ridicule from other parts of Canada more prone to such high snowfall amounts. The series of storms that hit Toronto were severe enough to be the winter Storm of the Century despite its long duration.
Rail service was halted or delayed, and highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...
s were impassable. Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive is a mostly freeway-standard expressway running parallel with and alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan through Chicago, Illinois, USA. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue , Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
was closed for the first time ever. Stranded travellers were accommodated in emergency shelter
Emergency shelter
Emergency shelters are places for people to live temporarily when they can't live in their previous residence, similar to homeless shelters. The main difference is that an emergency shelter typically specializes in people fleeing a specific type of situation, such as natural or man-made disasters,...
s. The bitterly cold temperatures created large ice floes on the inland waterways, causing shipping delays.
Schools were closed for several days, many businesses were closed as well. Of those that were able to remain open, stores selling snow removal equipment were doing a booming business.
There was also a nationwide blood shortage since a high proportion of blood donations come from the Midwest and many could not make it to the hospital and donate during the storm or during the subsequent cold snap.
In much of Northwest Indiana, blackouts occurred for days at a time. Porter County was without electricity for about 3 days total. Local buildings, such as schools, offered generator-powered heat in their auditoriums.
The costs
Human Cost: 73 people perished in the storm. The breakdown of deaths is as follows:- 39 auto-related deaths
- 5 snowmobile-related deaths
- 32 deaths from over-exertion and heart attacks primarily due to shoveling snow
- 2 froze to death
Financial Cost: Losses as a result of the storm are estimated between $300 and $400 million dollars.
Federal Aid: 45 counties in Illinois and some areas of Indiana were declared federal disaster areas by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and eligible to receive federal aid.