5 Times Winter Storms Have Spoiled Thanksgiving Travel

(CNN) -- An estimated 20 million people may face brutal weather as they travel this Thanksgiving, but they won't be alone. History provides a few examples of holiday storms that left wintry chaos in their wake.

Here are five notable storms, starting with the Great Appalachian Storm in 1950 through the Thanksgiving Day storm that hit New York just 5 years ago.

November 24-25, 1950: The Great Appalachian Storm

During Thanksgiving weekend in 1950, a storm rolled into the Appalachian Mountains bringing piles of snow with it. Coburn Creek, West Virginia, got 62 inches of snow, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The storm is considered one of the worst wind events ever recorded. Winds gusted up to 160 mph on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, and it was the costliest storm up until that time, according to the National Weather Service.

160 people died in the storm by the time it was over.

November 24-25, 1971: Thanksgiving Snowstorm

Albany, New York, took a major punch on Thanksgiving 1971. The area accumulated 22.5 inches of snow -- the greatest November snowfall on record. Up to 30 inches of snow was reported in the Catskills and across the Upper Hudson Valley, according to the NWS.

Roads were not plowed until the next day, causing chaos for transportation.

November 26-27, 1983, The Great Thanksgiving Weekend Blizzard

This infamous snowstorm covered Denver in more than 20 inches of snow in just 37 hours, according to the NWS. Wind speeds reached up to 36 mph and temperatures fell into the teens and low 20s across the area.

All of the roads in and around Denver were closed, and Stapleton International Airport, the airport at the time, was shut down for 24 hours.

But Coloradans didn't get rid of the snow until 63 days later -- the longest stretch of continuous snow cover in Denver's history.

November 23, 1989: Thanksgiving Day Storm

This white Thanksgiving storm produced up to nine inches of snow over Long Island, New York and up to 14 inches in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

It started in the Carolinas and then blanketed the Mid-Atlantic Coast and New England in heavy snow, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.

November 26-27, 2014: Thanksgiving Day Storm

A nor'easter was the culprit of this Thanksgiving storm in 2014. In Albany, New York, 10.4 inches of snow fell making it one of the greatest November snowstorms on record for that area, according to the NWS.

Nearly 310,000 customers lost power between New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. It took nearly a week to restore it. The storm created New Hampshire's fourth greatest power outage in history, according to the NWS.

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