Iowa is no stranger to extreme weather disasters. Major floods and twisters are on the record books for as far back as the books go. But there’s another disaster Mother Nature doles out from time to time in the Hawkeye State: blizzards.

One of the worst blizzards in the history of Iowa happened in 1973.
National Weather Service
Flickr/jcbonbon
It came out of nowhere in April, of all months!
Flickr/chanzi
On Sunday April 8, 1973 the nightmare began. The blizzard was accompanied by winds as high as 70 mph along with tons (literally) of wet snow.
Flickr/Nick Thorn

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For three days it paralyzed most of Iowa. When all was said and done, Dubuque was buried in 19.2" of snow, Belle Plain saw 20.2"...
Flickr/Marion Patterson
Des Moines topped off at 14." Oddly, northwestern and far southeastern Iowa saw little or no snow.
Flickr/Alan Light
By all accounts, it was a crippling storm. Snow drifts were as high as 12 feet in some places.
Flickr/Mark Evans
As many as 14 deaths were blamed on this freak storm, mostly from heart attacks people suffered while trying to shovel their way out of their homes.
Flickr/simplenation
The great Blizzard of 1973 in Iowa will never be forgotten.
Flickr/Kelan Rathbun

Do you have memories of this massive three-day white storm in Iowa? We’d love to hear about your experiences in our comments.

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