Across generations, January 28 has repeatedly intersected with pivotal weather, infrastructure, and institutional moments that shaped how American farmers produce, move, and market food. From catastrophic winter storms that isolated barns and silos to the creation of a federal maritime service that keeps grain and fertilizer flowing, the date has carried durable lessons about risk, resilience, and the systems that support U.S. agriculture.
1937: The Ohio River flood inundates fertile bottomlands
Record-breaking rains in January 1937 swelled the Ohio River and its tributaries to unprecedented levels. By January 28, many communities from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, were at or near crest, with river-bottom farms under water and levees under extreme stress. Farmsteads, stored grain, and haystacks were inundated; livestock had to be moved to higher ground on short notice; and washed-out roads severed rural access to markets.
The flood left behind thick layers of silt—both a destructive force and, paradoxically, a long-term soil amendment on some fields. It also reinforced a national push for modern flood control, complementing New Deal–era investments that followed. For agriculture, the episode underscored how hydrology and infrastructure policy are inseparable from planting decisions, insurance needs, and the economic life of river valleys.
1977: The Blizzard of ’77 paralyzes Great Lakes agriculture
Beginning January 28, 1977, gale-force winds swept across the Great Lakes, blasting powdery snow off frozen surfaces and piling drifts high across western New York and neighboring states. Whiteouts stranded milk tankers, feed deliveries, veterinarians, and repair crews. In many dairy barns, producers had to dump milk when trucks could not reach farms; caretaking routines stretched into round-the-clock efforts to keep waterers unfrozen and animals sheltered.
The storm became a case study in winter contingency planning: generator readiness, redundant fuel storage, and mutual-aid agreements among neighbors. Cooperative processors and haulers later refined routing and emergency protocols based on hard-won lessons from that week.
1922: The Knickerbocker Storm weighs on Mid-Atlantic farms and food supply
On January 27–28, 1922, a heavy, wet snowfall buried the Mid-Atlantic. The storm’s tragic emblem was the collapse of the Knickerbocker Theatre roof in Washington, D.C., but its reach extended across the regional food system. Rural Maryland and Virginia orchardists reported broken limbs under snow load; older greenhouse structures and barn roofs failed in places; and truck routes into urban markets were blocked, interrupting deliveries of milk, eggs, and winter produce.
Beyond the immediate losses, the event highlighted a technical issue still relevant today: snow-load design. Over the following decades, builders and growers more consistently incorporated local snow-load standards into barns and greenhouse spans—part of a broader shift toward engineering-based resilience on farms.
2009: A devastating ice storm cripples power—and farm operations
From January 26–28, 2009, a far-reaching ice storm glazed parts of the lower Midwest and Appalachia. By the 28th, tree and line damage had triggered extensive power outages, particularly in Kentucky and Arkansas. Poultry, swine, and dairy operations—highly dependent on electricity for ventilation, heating, lighting, and milking—scrambled to keep generators running and fuel supplied.
Producers reported milk dumping where tanks could not be cooled and roads were impassable. The event accelerated investments in backup power, transfer switches, and fuel logistics on livestock farms, and it prompted utilities and rural cooperatives to revisit vegetation management and hardening priorities on critical agricultural circuits.
1915: A new federal maritime service that keeps farm commodities moving
On January 28, 1915, the United States formally created the Coast Guard by combining the Revenue Cutter Service and the Life-Saving Service. While not a farm agency, the Coast Guard’s missions—maintaining navigation aids, conducting icebreaking on key waterways, and safeguarding ports—quietly underpin agricultural commerce. Grain, feed, fertilizer, and farm machinery move through harbors and inland routes that depend on reliable channels and winter ice management. The institutional milestone marked an enduring, if often invisible, link between maritime safety and the agricultural supply chain.
2019: A dangerous polar vortex tests cold-weather protocols
During the last days of January 2019, with warnings intensifying around January 28, an Arctic outbreak sent temperatures plunging across the Upper Midwest. Farmers enacted cold-weather plans: adding bedding, adjusting rations for higher energy needs, checking water lines and heaters, and staging generators and fuel. States issued emergency declarations to keep heating fuel and feed moving, while haulers and processors adjusted schedules to protect workers and equipment.
The episode reinforced the value of weather-driven flexibility across the supply chain—from on-farm management to transportation policy—when extreme cold threatens animals, infrastructure, and labor.
Recurring themes and takeaways
- Weather is infrastructure: Snow, ice, and flood events on this date have repeatedly exposed the dependence of modern agriculture on power, roads, and navigable waterways.
- Preparedness pays: Generators, fuel planning, snow-load design, and neighbor-to-neighbor mutual aid often make the difference between disruption and disaster.
- Institutions matter: From federal navigation services to state emergency waivers, public systems play a quiet but decisive role in keeping food moving when nature closes in.
- After-action learning is cumulative: Each January shock—whether 1922, 1937, 1977, 2009, or 2019—has fed a culture of adaptation that continues to shape farm design, insurance, logistics, and policy.
Taken together, the history of January 28 in U.S. agriculture reads like a field manual for resilience: understand local hazards, harden what you can, plan for what you can’t, and keep the links between farms, roads, rivers, and markets as sturdy as the barns themselves.