Recalling the Great Blizzard of 1978

The severe blizzard of Jan. 25 and 26, 1978, was one of the worst of all time,not only for the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley states that it racked, but alsofor anywhere in the United States.The massive storm, or cyclone, was created by the melding of two distinctstorms. One, charged with a blast of arctic cold, swept in from the northwest.

The other emerged laden with moisture, barreling north from the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm was at its worst from Kentucky northward through Michigan, includingIndiana to eastern Illinois and much of Ohio. Everything related to normalout-of-door human activity was brought to a standstill by deep snowfall, aswell as blinding blowing and extreme drifting of the snow.

Snowfall of one to two feet was common along the storm's axis with South Bend,Ind., getting nearly three feet thanks to lake-effect snow.

Drifts heaped by winds to 80 miles per hour reached rooftops. A passenger trainwas snagged by a towering Indiana drift. The number of abandoned vehiclesreached into the 100,000s.

The storm caused 70 deaths, most of them in Ohio.

I experienced the storm first-hand as a teenager near Dayton, Ohio. A stormnever to be forgotten.

Story of AccuWeather.com's Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews.