US Freezes Itself Silly with Record Snowstorms and Sudden Blizzards

KEY POINTS

•Winter Storm Fern is expected to impact more than half of the US with heavy snow and dangerous wind chills this weekend.
•The 1922 Knickerbocker Storm caused the collapse of a theater roof in Washington, DC, killing 98 people during a silent film screening.
•Historical storms like the 1950 Great Appalachian Storm and 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard killed hundreds, prompted infrastructure changes, and shaped weather forecasting.

Winter Storm Fern threatens over 30 US states with icy winds and snowbanks high enough to hide cars and common sense. Remember the Knickerbocker Storm of 1922? Residents in D.C. were blissfully unaware as their theater roof collapsed on 98 peeps watching a silent flick 'Get Rich Quick, Wallingford'—spoiler: they didn't. Then there’s the Armistice Day Blizzard, which literally wiped out 1.6 million turkeys and 150 humans alike in 1940, giving local forecasters a reason to relocate from smoggy cities to somewhere less ‘surprising’. The historic 1950 Appalachians took out trees with 160 mph gusts — probably more wind than your last angry family dinner — and dumped 62 inches of snow, forcing operators to choose between card games and walking home. Finally, Mount Shasta became the snow diner with 189 inches in six days, a world record made less dramatic because no one lived there to complain. It’s America’s winter version of ‘hold my beer.’