On this day in New York · December 26, 1947
The Blizzard Nobody Saw Coming
No wind, no warning, and by the end of the day after Christmas 1947, New York was buried under more snow than anyone alive had ever seen fall in a single day.
The facts
- Date
- December 26, 1947
- Snowfall
- 26.4 inches measured in Central Park in under 24 hours
- Deaths
- 77 people died as a result of the storm
- Record broken
- Surpassed the Blizzard of 1888, which had brought 20.9 inches
The storm rolled in off the Atlantic from an angle no forecaster expected, and with no weather stations out at sea to catch it early, it hit the city without prediction. Snow started falling around 3:20 in the morning on December 26 and kept coming, quiet and windless, straight through the day. By the time it stopped, Central Park had 26.4 inches on the ground, more than the storied Blizzard of 1888 ever dropped. Cars and buses froze in place in the streets, the subways shut down, and snow plows just piled the mess higher around anything already buried. Seventy-seven New Yorkers died in the aftermath, even as kids turned the empty, car-free avenues into a citywide sledding run.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
With no weather stations offshore to note the dynamics responsible for the development of the unusual storm, it arrived without prediction.
Wikipedia's account of why forecasters missed the storm
Source: Wikipedia -
one huge playground...as holidaying children took over with almost no interference from autos and trucks
The New York Times, describing the city the day after the storm
Source: Untapped New York
Why it still matters
Every big New York snowstorm since still gets measured against this one, and it's a reminder that the worst blizzards here don't always come with wind and sirens. Sometimes the quiet ones bury you fastest.
Sources
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