Visibility was reduced to feet, preventing fans from seeing the action. Officials and players could not see the field markers nor each other except when close together. Officials were forced to stop the game and resume it when conditions improved the next day. The story begins late on November 23th, Thanksgiving Day, as a cold front sweeps southeastward across Ohio. The storm to which the front is associated then stalls north of Lake Superior funneling arctic air over the State.
Rain turns first to sleet and then to snow as the temperature plunged to deep winter levels.
Intermittent snowfall continued all day Friday in Columbus. But the forecast did not account for the influence of a second storm center located off the Carolina coast. This system began pumping moisture like a fire hose into the cold air over Ohio and western Pennsylvania. By the time the sun rose Saturday, the region resembled the Arctic. Transportation ground to a halt all across Ohio.