January 1979 North American blizzard
53rd Street in Hyde Park, Chicago after the blizzard | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | January 12, 1979 |
| Dissipated | January 15, 1979 |
| Category 4 "Crippling" blizzard | |
| Regional snowfall index: 14.42 (NOAA) | |
| Maximum snowfall or ice accretion | 20.3 inches (52 cm) |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | > 53 |
| Damage | > $1 billion USD |
| Areas affected | Midwestern United States (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan) |
The January 1979 North American blizzard was a major blizzard in the Midwestern United States that lasted from January 12 through January 15 of that year. The storm affected nearly 162 million people and distributed snowfall over 1,979,439 square miles (5,126,720 km2). This made it among the most severe in recorded meteorological history to have impacted the Ohio Valley region of the United States, notably across the Chicago metropolitan area.
Across the Ohio Valley, it was the only RSI Category 4 ("crippling") storm recorded during the 1970s. The storm also impacted portions of the upper Midwest as an RSI Category 3 ("major") storm. In Chicago, it was the heaviest storm of the decade in terms of snowfall, and until it was surpassed by the 1999 blizzard, the second largest of the century behind the 1967 blizzard. As of 2026, it remains the fourth-heaviest snowstorm in Chicago history, after the 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard.