1971 Great Lakes blizzard

The Great Lakes Blizzard of January 1971 affected almost the entire Great Lakes region of North America, as well as the western St. Lawrence Valley and northern New England between January 25 and 28, 1971 before a second severe snowstorm hit many of the same areas between January 28 and 31, 1971. The areas that felt the fiercest effects of the dual storms, that being moderate or heavy snow, sustained high winds, and zero visibility due to blowing snow, included southern Wisconsin, most of Michigan, Southern Ontario, northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, most of upstate New York and Southern Quebec, while northern Wisconsin, northern Indiana, northeastern Ontario, and northern Vermont experienced blizzard conditions from the first of the storms.

The only part of the Great Lakes not impacted was the northern area of Lake Superior. Weather related to the first storm system also inflicted gale-force winds on areas just south of the Great Lakes, on the Central Appalachian Mountains and on much of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, particularly, from North Carolina to Maryland, and on Maine. Several major metropolitan areas were hit by the dual blizzards, although most did not have major snowfalls; London, Ontario with 68.6 centimetres (27.0 in), Quebec City with 54.1 centimetres (21.3 in), and Rochester, New York with 16.9 inches (43 cm) were the cities with the most snowfall, with areas around London (the Lake Huron Region of Southwestern Ontario) and Rochester (west-central New York) being subjected to all or part of six consecutive days of blizzard conditions and/or snowfall. The single highest snowfall was in Paisley, Ontario, which, over seven days, saw 127.6 centimetres (50.2 in) of snow.

The storms left at least 34 people dead in the United States and 14 people dead in Canada with numerous persons injured from traffic accidents or other mishaps, such as train derailments or falling glass. Schools, businesses, major highways and secondary roads were closed or blocked for at least a day throughout most of the affected states/provinces and in the most heavily affected portions of those jurisdictions (often areas impacted by both storms), these items were closed or blocked for up to a week, intra- and inter-city bus service was halted, flights were cancelled, train travel was delayed, large power outages occurred, thousands of vehicles had to be abandoned, and tens of thousands of people, including thousands of students, were stranded for between one and three nights.

Meteorological history

A low pressure system formed on the northern Great Plains of the US, and started erratically moving eastward supported by high-level winds that were pushing cold air southward from the Arctic.