The Great Thanksgiving Snowstorm of 1950

It was Thanksgiving  November 23, 1950. The weather was a little colder then normal.. It was in the 40's on Wednesday and Thanksgiving was supposed to be about the same. The official forecast was getting colder on Thanksgiving with snow flurries by night. Things got a lot worse then expected.

The snow in Euclid and the Greater Cleveland picked up overnight on Thursday Night and Friday morning. By Friday morning, temperatures were in the single digits with heavy snow. Trains were stuck and it was hard getting around town. The storm was just starting and things would get worse on Saturday.

The snow continued on Saturday, November 25. By Saturday Evening the Governor of Ohio, Frank Lausche, called out the National Guard to help out stranded motorists in Cleveland. In Columbus the annual Ohio State vs. Michigan game was played in Blizzard conditions. By Saturday Night the whole state of Ohio was under blizzard conditions. At the White Motor Company in Cleveland, out of 5000 employees, only 850 were able to make it to work.

By Sunday 20.2 inches of snow had fallen in the Cleveland area with higher snowfall totals in southern Ohio. In Ohio, 43 people were killed in the storm. Most of the businesses closed and travel came to a standstill.

In Euclid the storm created a problem with a fire at the Watkins Furniture store on East 222nd St. and Lakeshore. The Firefighters had a tough time fighting the fire with big snow piles to go around and bitter cold temperatures.

Cleveland ended up with about 2 feet of snow. Some parts of southern Ohio ended up with over 3 feet of snow. The top picture was taken on Richards Avenue in Euclid. Schools were closed the whole week following Thanksgiving. It was the biggest snow on record during Thanksgiving. Also numerous records for record lows were set in Ohio.