Panhandle Blizzard of 1957

The month of March 1957 had been unseasonably warm in the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles and western Kansas. On March 10, the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kans., recorded a record high of 79°. Most days were in the 60s and 70s. But the jet stream was interacting with a powerful low-pressure system to pull moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into a cold front coming down from the north. On March 23, a blizzard struck the High Plains.

My dad’s family owned a ranch near Hardesty, Okla. Dad remembers helping Grandpa Fast bring the cattle in as the storm began. Grandpa was 73; Dad was 26. His two brothers were not living at home, so it was up to the two of them to get the cattle to shelter. They struggled mightily to drive them through the howling wind and snow. Dodge City reported a record-breaking 44 consecutive hours of blizzard conditions. Snow continued falling until March 25 with winds of 60-80 mph. Drifts up to 30’ high were reported. The Fasts only lost one cow, which had suffocated from wet snow being blown into its nostrils. But other ranchers were not as lucky, as livestock losses averaged 20%. Fortunately, it was not so cold, as temperatures hovered around freezing, or the losses would have been much worse.

My mom was living near Meade, Kans., on a farm at the time with her mother. She remembers driving their 6 cows through the blizzard into the shelter of a shed. It was open to the south, but it gave some shelter to the cattle. She was unable to feed or water the cows for two days. She recalls that only one cow had horns, and it had a bossy temperament. After the storm, it was standing alone at one end of the shed, separated by a massive snow drift from the other 5 cows huddled at the far end to keep each other warm. There was a huge snow drift that ran from their garage to the barn, which was as high as the barn roof.

At Meade it was reported that 42” of snow had fallen, driven by 60-80 mph winds. The Rock Island Railroad’s Golden State Limited was stranded in a deep cut west of Meade with 300 passengers aboard. They quickly ran out of food and melted snow for drinking water. Railroad wedge plows were unable to reach the train. As the storm abated, Navy planes from Hutchinson started air-dropping food and medicine to the train. The Army National Guard sent a tracked M7 howitzer from Pratt to break through to the train. It pulled 5 buses and made 3 trips to carry the passengers to safety in Meade. Three passengers died. Several other trains were stranded as well.

The Panhandle Blizzard of 1957 is the second-worst storm to hit the area in recorded history. Only the January 1886 Blizzard, which was accompanied by bitter cold, was worse.