At 9 pm central time on February 23, 1942, over 61 million Americans gathered around their radio sets to listen to President Franklin D. Roosevelt address the nation's current state of the Second World War. Known as "fireside chats", it was a more informal way for the president to address the country. That night, he requested most Americans pull out a world map to view as he discussed the outline of America's war policy in the early months of 1942, and the goals the US hoped to achieve in the conflict.
Since the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States and its allies were not doing too well in the Second World War both in Europe and the Pacific. The Germans overran Europe and were locked in combat with the Soviet Union outside the gates of Moscow. In the Pacific, the Japanese Empire launched a massive campaign that saw them overrun territories such as Guam, Midway Island, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, and more. On February 15, the Japanese captured the British stronghold of Singapore, a terrible blow to the British war effort. A day before his fireside speech, President Roosevelt ordered General Douglas MacArthur to evacuate the Phillippines, a devastating loss to the Americans who were seeing the war effort crumble in the Pacific.
As FDR was giving his speech, off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, a Japanese submarine surfaced and fired several shells into oil refineries but only caused minor damage. However, it spread panic along the US west coast that it was the precursor to an invasion of the US mainland by Japan. The shelling of the California coast was the first time a foreign power had struck the US mainland since the War of 1812. The next night, false readings of Japanese aircraft overhead in Los Angeles led to the military opening artillery fire in the city, known as the "Battle of Los Angeles", but no Japanese planes were sighted.
It was an active day, February 23, but in Omaha, it is remembered if at all for a far different reason. As residents of Nebraska and Iowa were settling down to listen to the president, over a foot of snow had fallen in Omaha. In this installment of This Week in Weather History, we look at the blizzard that struck Omaha in late February 1942.
WORLD WAR II AND WEATHER INFORMATION
Like most things Americans were used to, the war greatly altered how the public received weather information. Weather information was considered crucial intel that foreign enemies could use to plan military operations. When the war began, weather information ceased to be shared between the United States and Europe, although weather information could be freely distributed in the US. That changed when the US got into the war. In the days following the declaration of war, the Weather Bureau issued guidelines on how weather information would be recorded and distributed.
Weather observations were still taken as usual at airports, but only classified personnel could distribute them. Weather maps stopped being published, and they were locked in a room when others were present. They were not even printed until 7 days later due to the fear of them falling into the wrong hands. Briefings given to pilots would be general as to whether it was safe to fly or not, with no mention as to why given.
In terms of how weather information was relayed to the public, that changed too. No more weather forecasts were given on the radio as that could easily be intercepted. For newspapers, strict guidelines on how to convey weather information were given. Forecasts were only given for the home city and any state within 150 miles of the paper location. No weather reports were given from the western US. Publishing temperature and sky condition forecasts were not allowed, one had to use general words such as "warmer" or "colder" to describe temperature.
THE SNOWSTORM SET-UP
In Nebraska and Iowa, 1942 roared in with a major snowstorm that crippled parts of the region. Omaha picked up 6.7" of snow, but amounts were much higher to the east. Nebraska City, Red Oak, and Atlantic picked up 12" of snow; Malvern saw 16.2". The highest amounts came in Des Moines, where 23.7" fell at the airport to make it one of the largest snowstorms in Des Moines history.
After the active start to the year, the winter of 1942 slowed some, and Omaha got no more snow for the entire month of January. Things trended more active into February. On the 8-9th, Omaha picked up nearly 5" of snow from one storm system. On Valentine's Day, another 1" of snow fell. Then came the 22nd, when a large mass of rain moved in producing over 1/2" of rain. By Midnight on the 23rd, the rain changed over to snow, and the snowstorm began.
Out west, a large low-pressure system was moving over the Rocky Mountains and heading eastward into Kansas. Ahead of this storm system was a warm front that was draped from Kansas into Missouri, with abundant moisture overrunning it. Stretching north of the low-pressure system was a cold front that was sliding across eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, providing the lift required to get snow going. This combination of fronts with the exceptional moisture produced a band of snow that sat along the Missouri River, where it produced over a foot of snow.
THE BLIZZARD
If you look at the snowfall totals map from the KMTV viewing area, the one thing that might stick out is how narrow the band of heavy snow is. The heavy snow fell from Wayne to Omaha to Shenandoah. To the west near Lincoln and the east near the Atlantic, the snowfall was significantly less. Officially, the weather station in North Omaha recorded 13.7" of snow, with some amounts as high as 15" in spots.
Since newspaper reports could only be vague on road conditions in the wartime environment, not much is known of the impacts of this snowstorm in Omaha. Schools remained open in Omaha, although in Council Bluffs they were closed. Many roads were covered by snow by the evening of the 23rd, lending travel difficulties for those who ventured out. The Omaha Municipal Airport was closed for the first time in four years.
The issues were mostly cleared by the 24th, but many side streets and rural roads were still closed. By the 25th, it seemed as if the snowstorm was becoming a thing of the past. The 13.7" of snow that fell on the 23rd remains the 2nd largest snowstorm in Omaha, the top being the 18.3" that fell on February 11, 1965.
