A look back: News 13 chronicles history-making Blizzard of ’93 on 30th anniversary
By Rex Hodge
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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — This weekend, 30 years ago, deep snow covered the western North Carolina mountains. It was the Blizzard of ’93.
It’s something talked about to this day. March can be volatile, and it certainly was in 1993.
News 13 has compiled a special of 1993 footage that chronicled every aspect of the storm that hit in two-day stretch March 12 and 13, 30 years ago. It dumped two feet of snow on our mountains accompanied by high winds.
It was in every sense of the word a blizzard, bringing life to a virtual stop.
Hughes scores 1, sets up 2 by Bratt, Devils beat Canes 3-0 “Virtually every major road in the city of Asheville is impassable at this point,” said Joe Palmer, with the Asheville Police Department.
A look back: News 13 chronicles history-making Blizzard of ’93 on 30th anniversary
“Without 4-wheel drive it is virtually impossible to get around,” said News 13 Reporter Linda Dawson.
“The street is totally blocked. The pines just couldn’t handle the weight of the snow, and they’ve been dropping the branches all over the place. It looks like a tornado went through here,” said Asheville resident Jack Pettee.
“Roads are ice and snow covered. We’ve got anywhere from 18-24 inches of snow, and all we’re doing now is, on the 4-lane roads, just keeping the snow pushed off as best we can,” said NCDOT representative Danny Tolar in 1993. “The secondary roads and trees that are down blocking the roads. We see crews out there trying to clear that up. But you just can’t go anywhere.” The storm knocked out power, closed schools for two weeks and made everyday chores impossible.
“We don’t have any heat, any hot water. We can’t cook, and our food is going bad,” said resident Travena Miller.
National Guard helicopters had to rescue campers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park who were there on a wilderness trip from Michigan and got caught off-guard by the blizzard.
“I’ve never seen snow that deep in my life. Saturday morning, we hiked through at least two feet of snow for six miles,” said Carlos Medina.
“Were you ever afraid you might not get out alive?” News 13 asked him.
“The thought crossed my mind,” Medina responded.
Campers were also stuck in the Shining Rock Wilderness area of Haywood County. Two visitors from Alabama crawled through two miles of snow for nine hours to reach cell service, where they then called for help, which also came in the form of a helicopter.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seriously at any time thought about the possibility of dying as I did that night. We knew we were in trouble,” said Jerry Gibson.
Ultimately, the storm claimed 12 lives here in western North Carolina.
It was a storm seared into the memories of those who lived it, and into the mountain’s weather history books.
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