The Iran blizzard of February 1972 was the deadliest blizzard in history. A week-long period of low

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

s and severe

winter storm A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessar ...

s, lasting 3–9 February 1972, resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 people. Storms dumped more than of

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

across rural areas in northwestern, central and southern Iran.

Southern Iran Southern Iran consists of the southern mountain ranges of Zagros and Central Iranian Range, Khuzestan Plain and the northern coasts of Persian Gulf and Straight of Hormuz. It includes the provinces of Fars Province, Fars, Kohgiluyeh and Buyer Ah ...

received as much as of snow, burying at least 4,000 individuals. According to contemporary reports by the newspaper ''

Ettela'at ''Ettela'at'' ( fa, اطلاعات, Ettelâ'ât, ) is a Persian language daily newspaper of record published in Iran. It is among the oldest publications in the country, and the oldest running Persian daily newspaper in the world. The paper has ...

'', the city of

Ardakan Ardakan ( fa, اردكان, also romanized as Ardakān and Artagan) is the capital city of Ardakan County, Yazd Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 75,271 in 22,475 families. Ardakan is the second major city of Yazd Province. ...

and outlying villages were hardest hit, with no survivors in Kakkan or

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. In the northwest, near the border with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, the village of Sheklab and its 100 inhabitants were buried.

Meteorological progression

A series of snowstorms at the end of January had already accumulated over western

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. Passing from

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

to Iran between February 3 and 8, the

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...

left of snow, which is equivalent to a 2 and-a-half story building. The wind and snow resulted in the breakage of trees and power lines. The snow buried rails, roads, and many villages, in addition to crushing vehicles beneath its weight. At the height of the storm, authorities estimated that a region including all of western Iran was beneath the snow for a week. The supply of food and medicine was exhausted and the temperature plummeted to , which rendered the survival of the snowstorm's victims uncertain. Furthermore, a flu epidemic had begun to hit rural areas at the start of winter, already claiming several lives. On February 9, during a 24-hour lull, rescue helicopters were able to reach part of the region. Where there were villages, first-aid workers found large snowdrifts; when dug up, frozen corpses were often uncovered. In the village of Sheklab, they recovered 18 bodies before another blizzard struck on February 11. The rescue workers were forced to evacuate. Army helicopters left behind two tons of provisions, in the form of bread and dates, scattered on snowdrifts around villages. This was done in the hope that the inhabitants could resupply themselves if they were able to dig a tunnel out of their locations. However, few people were able to benefit from this. Out of Sheklab's 100 inhabitants, no one survived.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1972 Iran Blizzard

Blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...

Blizzards

Iran Blizzard, 1972 Iran Blizzard, 1972 Weather events in Asia February 1972 events in Asia 1972 disasters in Iran

Meteorological progression

See also

References