Looking back at the blizzard of 1966

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/03/2018 (2490 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On March 4, 1966, daily life in Winnipeg was brought to a halt by a monster blizzard.

Snow began falling just after midnight March 4. By morning, schools were closed, along with most stores and businesses.

The city was battered by 80 km/h winds that gusted up to 109 km/h, and when it was all over, there was 35.5 centimetres of snow on the ground, an amount that would not be surpassed until 43.2 centimetres piled up in April 1997.

In howling winds and blowing snow, streets were littered with abandoned cars, trucks and transit buses. Doctors and nurses were famously ferried to work on snowmobiles.

In Westwood, there were reports of 2.4-metre drifts, while downtown 1,600 people were forced to spend the night inside the Bay and Eaton’s as hundreds more remained trapped in buses stuck on snow-covered streets. Two men died of heart attacks trying to walk home.

In the final edition of the Free Press March 4, 1966, the headline screamed: Wild Blizzard Rakes Province — Worst in History.