The 1977-78 winter season had been brutal across Illinois, with a record 18 severe winter storms. So everyone was eagerly looking forward to spring as Easter weekend approached. But on Good Friday, March 24, 1978, an ice storm arrived with little advance warning. What happened next would be unforgettable.
The thick layer of ice, up to two inches in some places, brought down hundreds of trees, tree limbs and power lines during that Friday afternoon. By that night, transformers exploding around Springfield illuminated the night sky. Most of Central Illinois was left without power for days… and many households wouldn’t see the lights come back on for three weeks or more.
The storm caused tens of millions of dollars in damage in everything from lost trees to downed utility lines to lost business for stores that couldn’t open without power. It would be four days before temperatures even warmed up enough to start thawing the ice that encased everything.
Learn more about the 1978 ice storm and other weather disasters at the Sangamon County Historical Society’s blog, SangamonLink, and here each week in the Springfield History Minute on WMAY and at wmay.com.
