The Chicago blizzard of 1979 was a major

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 ...

that affected

northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

and

northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed The Region after the Calumet Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. According to the 2020 Ce ...

on January 13–14, 1979. It was one of the largest

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

snowstorms in history at the time, with of snowfall in the two-day period. Only to of snow was expected but by the end of Sunday, January 14, the depth of snow on the ground peaked at . The blizzard lasted for a total of 38 hours. At its peak, wind gusts reached speeds of per hour. Five people died during the blizzard, with approximately 15 others seriously injured due to conditions created by the storm. One of the five deaths came when a snowplow driver went berserk, hitting 34 cars and ramming a man.

O'Hare Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

was closed and all flights were grounded for 96 hours, from January 13 to 15. The cold weather and snowfall throughout the rest of January and February resulted in frozen tracks throughout the

Chicago 'L' (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

system. Consequently,

commuters Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regul ...

overwhelmed the capacity of CTA buses, causing bus commutes that normally would have taken 30 to 45 minutes to take up to several hours. To avoid huge snowdrifts in the streets, the overcrowded buses were obliged to take numerous detours, adding additional time to the commute.

After the storm

Snow remained on the ground until March 6, a full fifty-one days. Deployment of plows was significantly delayed, and when they finally appeared they struggled to keep up with the snowfall. Much of the snow remained unmoved throughout the next two months, causing ongoing public transit delays and significant problems with trash collection. The city's inadequate response to the blizzard was blamed primarily on mayor Michael Bilandic, who had assumed the post after the 1976 death of

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Chicago from 1955 and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee from 1953 until his death. He has been cal ...

. Newspaper articles at the time blasted Bilandic.

Jane Byrne Jane Margaret Byrne (née Burke; May 24, 1933November 14, 2014) was an American politician who was the first woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States. She served as the 50th Mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April ...

, Bilandic's main opposition in the Democratic primary, capitalized on this and defeated Bilandic in the February 27 primary, eventually becoming the first female mayor of Chicago.

References

External links

The Chicago Blizzard of 1979
''

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'' * ttp://www.fuzzymemories.tv/index.php?m=xxblizzard79xx News reports at

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (also known as FuzzyMemoriesTV) is an online museum dedicated to the preservation of Chicago television broadcasts. Most of the museum's footage originates from "airchecks" of local Chicago channels (and t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Blizzard, 1979 1979-1 1979 meteorology 1979 natural disasters in the United States 1970s in Chicago Natural disasters in Illinois Natural disasters in Indiana 1979 in Illinois 1979 in Indiana January 1979 events in the United States

After the storm

See also

References

External links