West Virginians are used to snow… some would say we’re ‘too’ used to it. According to this website, the largest snowfall amount in a 24-hour period in West Virginia was in 1998 during a January snowstorm that dumped an outrageous 35 inches of fresh snow in 24 hours in Flat Top. Aside from the skiers who may have been in the neighboring community of Ghent, the snow wreaked havoc for days. But it was another snowfall in the Mountain State that had a much longer-lasting effect upon daily lives.

The Great Blizzard of '78, also a January storm, blew in like a lion on January 20th dropping two feet of snow in Charleston, 20 inches fell in Huntington, and 18 fell on Wheeling.
Flickr/Eoghann Irving
And THAT was just on the first day.
jlantern3
The storm was completely unexpected and therefore not included in any forecasts or warnings. It seems a warm trough of air didn't roll in and turn a northward moving storm to simply rain over Mountain State. Instead, the state was inundated by blizzard conditions that paralyzed most of the state.
Flickr/Joanne C Sullivan

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High winds caused massive snow drifts, and roads covered in more than two feet of snow kept everyone trapped in their homes. Those on the road that first day of the surprise storm were stranded.
Flickr/Gene
Wind gusts were measured of nearly 100 miles per hour and the wind chill factor dropped to as far as -60 below zero. Downed trees and frozen power lines knocked out power.
Flickr/Joanne C Sullivan
The horrible storm lasted for days and days. In the end, Charleston saw nearly 40 inches of snow. People were shoveling their way OUT of their homes, leaving huge snow corridors that lead from their door.
Flickr/Frank Kehren

January 1978 is still the snowiest January on record in West Virginia. Do you remember this storm and the massive amount of snow that fell?

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