C.H. Pete Copeland, The Plain DealerCars stranded in the blizzard of 1978 as seen from the Shoreway near E. 55th Street.

Winter storm punishes Cleveland; snow mixes with 80 mph winds: The Plain Dealer front page on the '78 storm of the century

By Gayle Powell, The Plain Dealer

Nearly a foot of snow fell, and the area was punished by winds of 53 to 80 miles per hour. The wind chill factor reached more than 60 degress below zero as thousands of people fled their homes and cars for any shelter they could find.

Gov. James Rhodes declared a statewide emergency. Two thousand Ohio National Guardsmen were called out to help.

It was the perfect storm that formed when low pressure from the Mississippi Valley met over southern Ohio with low pressure from the western Great Lakes.

What resulted was a winter cyclone. The eye of the storm reached Cleveland about 4 a.m.

The temperature dropped 39 degrees in 6 hours. Hopkins Airport closed early with zero visibility.

The blizzard, the third major storm of the winter, paralyzed much of the eastern U.S., preventing Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich from returning from Washington, DC, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.

Finance Director Joseph Tegreene set up a command post as acting mayor.

Except for I-77, all area freeways were closed by the storm, and the entire Ohio Turnpike closed for the first time.

Conditions improved the next day, as Hopkins Airport and all major highways and the turnpike east of Elyria reopened. That winter was the city's second-snowiest ever.

Read The Plain Dealer's coverage from Jan. 27, 1978:

Blizzard1978PageA1.pdf ,
Blizzard1978PageA6.pdf

,
Blizzard1978PageA7.pdf

,
Blizzard1978PageA10.pdf

See these photographs in the storm of the century gallery.