The deadliest blizzard on record was the Iran Blizzard of 1972, which killed more than 4,000 people. From 3 February to 10 February in 1972, as much as 26 feet (7.92 m) of snow fell in the country, burying roads, power lines and villagers. In fact, one small village was thought to have been completely buried by snow. The blizzard, which came after Iran had experienced four years of drought conditions, occurred with the temperature estimated to be minus-13° Fahrenheit (minus-25° Celsius). This resulted in many frozen pipes, making the already low water supply even more limited.
More about deadly blizzards:
- Blizzards are not classified by the amount of snowfall, but by wind speed and duration. For a snowstorm to qualify as a blizzard, winds must reach 35 miles per hour (56.33 km/h) and last for at least three hours.
- The first recorded blizzards in the US were during the white winter of 1880-1881, when blizzards started in October and did not let up until February.
- A combination of a blizzard and hurricane, the 1993 Storm of the Century spread from Cuba to Canada over the course of three days in March 1993.