Below, check out 13 photos that show how hard the province\u2019s most populous urban centre was hit that winter half a century ago.<\/p>\n
Up to the roof in snow<\/h2>\n
While records show 35 centimetres of snow fell during the blizzard, snowdrifts piled up higher in some neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n The blizzard stranded more than 1,500 people in downtown Winnipeg. Unable to get home, they holed up in department stores, CBC reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n The blizzard began on the night of the 4th. Afterwards, the arduous cleanup process was underway as this photo, dated March 7th, 1966, shows.<\/p>\n Digging a way out required some creativity \u2014 and maybe the help of a ladder.<\/p>\n Jerry Olenko, who provided the above photo, was six years old when the blizzard struck. While driving around probably wasn’t much, Olenko remembers it as “almost a joyous occasion,” and getting to take three full days off school, playing outside in the snow instead of being cooped up in a classroom.<\/p>\n Olenko wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the mountains of snow. In Winnipeg’s Garden City, some of the city’s younger denizens hit the slopes in the aftermath, too.<\/p>\n A snow-lined stretch of Burrows Avenue between Fife Avenue and Railway Street.<\/p>\n Even by April, Old Man Winter hadn’t loosened his grip on Winnipeg.<\/p>\n Those in the snowplow businesses back then may have been the only ones not complaining about the long winter.<\/p>\n Metro employees in creative garb during an April storm.<\/p>\n A trusty pair of snowshoes helped this young Winnipegger on his paper route delivering copies of the now-defunct Tribune in Fort Garry in May, when there was still snow on the ground that year.<\/p>\n Winnipeg isn\u2019t known for mild winters, but even by the Manitoban capital\u2019s standards, 1966 was a bad one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":156757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11108],"tags":[11105,11131,6486],"coauthors":[8692],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"winnipeg-blizzard-1966-1\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-blizzard-1966-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nStranded<\/h2>\n
![\"blizzard-1966-winnipeg-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/blizzard-1966-winnipeg-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nSnowblowers came in handy<\/h2>\n
![\"winnipeg-blizzard-1966-7\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-blizzard-1966-7.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nDigging out<\/h2>\n
![\"winnipeg-blizzard-1966-4\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-blizzard-1966-4.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nStandstill traffic<\/h2>\n
![\"winnipeg-blizzard-1966-5\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-blizzard-1966-5.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Jerry Olenko<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nMore fun and games<\/h2>\n
![\"winnipeg-blizzard-3\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-blizzard-3.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nBurrows Avenue<\/h2>\n
![\"winnipeg-blizzard-1966-6\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-blizzard-1966-6.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Jerry Olenko<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nOld Man Winter<\/h2>\n
![\"winter-winnipeg-april-1966\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winter-winnipeg-april-1966.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nDigging out \u2014 again<\/h2>\n
![\"winter-winnipeg-1966-car\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winter-winnipeg-1966-car.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nMetro employees<\/h2>\n
![\"winnipeg-winter-1966-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-winter-1966-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nSnowshoes<\/h2>\n
![\"winnipeg-winter-1966\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/winnipeg-winter-1966.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: University of Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n