Many Nebraskans pride themselves on being independent and tough in the face of inclement weather - maybe it's the Pioneer spirit that lives on within us. But occasionally there come some times when the adversity that Mother Nature throws our way is just too great. The infamous Blizzard of 1888 is such an example. It is often referred to as the "Schoolchildren's Blizzard" due to the 235 people killed across several states, many of whom were children who froze to death trying to find their way home from one-room country schools. Nebraska poet Ted Kooser wrote about the plight of some of these children in "The Blizzard Voices."

But 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of another winter storm which demonstrated to Nebraskans that winter weather has the potential to play a trump card - The Blizzard of 1949.

The Winter of 1948/49: A Very Harsh Winter
The storm referred to as "The Blizzard of 1949" started on January 1, but to truly frame the context of the storm, it is necessary to get a grasp of the weather activity of the previous few months. Farmers enjoyed a warm September and October and brought in an outstanding harvest of corn, wheat, and soybeans. But on November 18, 1948, that all changed when the first severe winter storm swept in with heavy snow, sleet, and winds of 50-70 mph. Roads were blocked, schools were closed, snow drifted over rooftops, and cattle were stranded. Trains were forced to stop, and stranded travelers forced any available hotels into overflowing. The Weather Bureau (the precursor to the National Weather Service) called the storm, "One of the most severe blizzards of record over much of the central and northeastern parts of the state." Northeastern Nebraska received the worst of this first round of weather as Bloomfield and Hartington registered 24 inches of snow, and Wausa received 30 inches. As a result of this storm, the phone company reported more than 500 wire breaks and more than 1700 telephone poles were downed.

Another smaller snow storm on December 29th gave way to a brief warming period before the New Year. Depending on which accounts you read, the Blizzard of 1949 started on January 1 or 2, but there is no debating that this winter storm was the worst seen since 1888. It began as everyone likes to see in winter. "Cattle and sheep were grazing winter range and growing fat." The announcer, this time from radio station KOA, Denver, predicted another nice day with a possibility of snow flurries. This was a powerful station that could be heard for hundreds of miles around. Rain began to fall on the first day of the storm, then the temperature and barometer dropped and the rain turned over to snow. In the evening, snow began to fall heavily, and soon there was twelve inches on the ground. Snow drifts were already piling up on the highway where bushes or bands stopped the wind. The storm raged for three full days across western, central, and northern Nebraska. Winds of 50 to 60 mph drove heavy snow on top of what had already fallen since November. Many accounts across the State say that the heavy snowfall did not let up for three full days. On January 5, the Omaha World Herald quoted, "Snowplows were in action over Nebraska early Wednesday and the wheels of transportation were beginning to turn in some areas as the blizzard let up."

But the severe winter weather did not end in early January. The last two weeks of January were very cold with eight to eleven days with lows of zero degrees or below. The cold and snowy weather continued into March, when another major snowfall dropped 20 inches of snow around North Platte. The Big and Little Nemaha Rivers were flooding because of ice jams. On April 14th, the last of the big storms hit south central and eastern Nebraska, dropping 12 inches of snow. During the winter of 1948-1949, parts of the State had received more than 100 inches of snow. The Wausa/Bloomfield area received a total of 90 inches. One area in Antelope County had drifts that reached over 35 feet and didn't melt until June.

The Blizzard of 1949 impacted an area larger than 193,000 square miles over four states. It left nearly a quarter of a million people trapped and millions of heads of livestock without access to food and water. Through the newly-formed Military Air Transport Service, the Fifth Army, American Red Cross, Army Corps of Engineers, National Guard, and the Civil Air Patrol were mustered. Operation Haylift (US Air Force) and Operation Snowbound (US Army) were formed by late January to address the immense need.

Operation Haylift
In 1949, the US Air Force was already involved in emergency airlifts of food and supplies half-way around the world in Berlin, so the Air Force was a natural component of a similar humanitarian mission closer to home.

Even before the Haylift flights from Kearney Air Force Base, planes from Lowry Field in Denver had been carrying hay to stranded cattle and sheep in western Nebraska. Some hay was brought to Alliance for use by aircraft from Lowry, and some Haylift flights to the Sheridan County Pine Ridge Reservation area came from the Rapid City Air Force Base. According to the Strategic Air Command, two Haylift missions were flown from Offutt Air Force Base. On January 23rd alone, the Air Force airdropped approximately 525 cases of "C" rations, 20,000 pounds of food and 10,000 pounds of coal in Nebraska.

Operation Haylift flights from Kearney Air Force Base began on January 26th, and local people were enlisted to provide directions for C-47 ("Sky Train") and C-82 ("Flying Boxcar") flights to drop hay. Along with the crew on each flight was a spotter, as well as Air Force and civilian "kickers" (four or five on the C-47s, and seven or eight on the C-82s) whose job it was to shove the hay out the open cargo doors of the aircraft. Kickers were kept from falling out by straps secured to a bulkhead. The spotter was a civilian familiar with the area, who guided the pilot to the ranches in need. At the sound of a buzzer from the cockpit, the kickers shoved out the bales of hay - most broke apart on impact.

For the relief mission across the impacted states, the 1100th Special Air Missions Group flew every available aircraft to help drop feed to and estimated 4 million head of cattle and sheep, as well as to transport an estimated 1600 pieces of heavy equipment needed to clear more than 115,000 miles of road.

Operation Snowbound
In Lincoln, Governor Val Peterson learned that counties lacked the money and equipment to open roads. Deep snow and drifts kept cattle from getting to feed and, in some cases, long isolated rural people were exhausting food and fuel supplies. He declared a state of emergency for 22 counties and parts of seven additional counties in northern Nebraska. Under the direction the Nebraska Adjutant General, a command post for "Operation Snowbound" was set up in the basement of the Capitol. Estimates were that in the 29 counties wholly or partly in the storm emergency area, there were more than 1.5 million cattle worth more than $250 million (nearly $2.5 billion in 2008 dollars).

Holt County, because of its large size and the severe impact of the winter, was a center of blizzard relief activity. At O'Neill, 60 inches of snow had fallen since the November storm. Since November, pilots in O'Neill and other Holt County towns had provided some links to the outside and had been transporting necessities, but increasing livestock losses were a growing worry. On January 23rd, Kearney Air Force Base snowplows arrived to clear the airport road and the runway so a C-47 cargo plane could land. Blizzard relief organizations created in Garfield and Blaine counties arranged for airlifts of hay to ranches in neighboring Loup County from Burwell.

In early February, 250 Nebraska guardsmen formed eight-man "mercy teams" in several snowbound areas to be able to respond to specific problem areas more quickly. Operation Snowbound continued well into April, after the last of the big storms hit south central and eastern Nebraska. During this period, US Airmen joined with their peers from the other services to respond to train derailments brought about by another snowstorm in late March and flooding along the ice-packed Big and Little Nemaha rivers

The Army used tracked vehicles called "Weasels" to bring supplies and assistance to stranded people. During its 23 days of operation, the Army opened 87,073 miles of road, liberated 152,196 persons from snowbound homes, and took 35 sick persons to receive medical care. The rapid mobilization was impressive - during the height of operation during World War II, the Army had 394 bulldozers in operation. During the peak of Snowbound, there were 1654 major pieces of equipment being operated by the Army, with 1320 of these being bulldozers.

Spring Flooding: The Last Punch
In case you are wondering why an article about a great blizzard is included on a flood mitigation page, it is this: what falls as snow eventually turns into water. With the incredible depths witnessed from the winter of 1948/49, it should come as no surprise that the spring of 1949 was one of widespread flooding. Here are the gage records:

White River at Oglala, SD - 20.60' on March 4, 1949 (6th highest crest of record)
Niobrara River at Sparks - 6.73' on March 5 (4th highest crest of record)
Elkhorn River at Neligh - 10.98' on April 7 (6th highest crest of record)
Elkhorn River at Columbus - 15.63' on March 11 (highest crest of record)
Missouri River at Decatur - 41.20' on April 9 (4th highest crest of record)
Missouri River at Omaha - 30.00' on April 13 (7th highest crest of record)
Shell Creek north of Columbus - 21.20' on June 2 (8th highest crest of record)
Big Blue River at Crete - 27.00' on March 8 (10th highest crest of record)
Big Nemaha River at Falls City - 28.80' on June 2 (4th highest crest of record)

Keep in mind that many of the existing stream gages were put into service after 1949 and that there is a very sparse coverage of stream gages in the less-populated areas of central and western Nebraska, so the gages listed above only provide a hint of the true extent of flooding.

If another winter of immense snowfall were to occur now, farmers and ranchers have more resources and communications at their disposal to better weather the storm and to protect their livestock. However, transportation could be similarly impacted, and spring flooding would be practically unavoidable. As the major snowmelt flooding showed this year in Fargo and along the Red River in 2001, flooding does not only occur as a result of intense warm season rains. The Blizzard of 1949 and the deep snow depths from that winter galvanized the High Plains states and the nation's military like no domestic event that has occurred since.

Other interesting facts
At the time of Operation Haylift, the Air Force was less than two years old, but rapidly assuming a more and more prominent social role as a first responder for humanitarian issues and the use of wartime science used for peaceful applications.

Blizzard relief work was the final big moment for the Kearney Air Force Base, which was soon to close.

A Hollywood docudrama entitled "Operation Haylift" was released in 1950 that recounted the Air Force's role in the humanitarian mission. The movie featured a fleet of the Air Force's C-119s (also known as "flying boxcars") as well as actual pilots who participated in the humanitarian mission. The movie starred Bill Williams, Ann Rutherford, Tom Brown and Jane Nigh.

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