1972 Iran blizzard
The Iran blizzard of February 1972 was the deadliest blizzard in history, as recorded by the Guinness Book of Records. A week-long period of low temperatures and severe winter storms, lasting 3–9 February 1972, resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 people. Storms dumped more than of snow across rural areas in northwestern, central and southern Iran. The blizzard came after four years of drought. Southern Iran received as much as of snow, burying at least 4,000 individuals. According to contemporary reports by the newspaper Ettela'at, the city of Ardakan and outlying villages were hardest hit, with no survivors in Kakkan or Kumar. In the northwest, near the border with Turkey, the village of Shaklabad and its 100 inhabitants were buried. According to some experts, about 200 villages were buried under the snow and completely erased from the map. The events A series of snowstorms at the end of January had already accumulated over western Iran. Passing from Azerbaijan to Iran between February 3 and 8, the blizzard left up to of snow. The wind and snow resulted in the breakage of trees and power lines. The snow buried rails, roads, and many villages, and crushed vehicles beneath its weight.