In late April 1984, one of the worst spring storms in Wyoming history dumped nearly three feet of snow on the Cowboy State. The snow began falling on April 25, 1984, and didn't let up for three days. Parts of the state also recorded hurricane-force gusts, creating 100-foot-long, 20-foot-tall snowdrifts.

“I suspect everybody will remember this day for many years to come,” Cambell County Superintendent of Schools Melvin Antrim told the Gillette News Record.

Roads across Wyoming were impassible for two days. 55 people were reported missing and hundreds of travelers were stranded. Thousands of local residents went without power. In place of snowplows, coal miners near Wright, Wyoming used earth-moving machinery to help clear the roads.  By the time the storm subsided, two ranchers and over 200,000 cattle died.

Adding insult to injury, when the snow melted, it caused widespread flooding throughout the region.

 “I felt like we were in Noah’s Ark in northeast Wyoming when we were surrounded by flooding,” Gillette radio announcer David King recalled.

Years later, the Blizzard of '84 ranks among the worst storms to ever hit Wyoming, along with the May Day Storm of 1844, the "Great Equalizer" of 1905,  the Blizzard of 1955, and the "March Madness Storm" in 2003.

5 of the Biggest Spring Blizzards In Wyoming History

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

 

 

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