The winter of 1948-49 brought a series of powerful storms that blanketed much of Nebraska, Wyoming and the Dakotas with heavy snow, extreme cold and blinding winds. Snowdrifts reached as high as 30 feet in places, isolating towns, ranches and farms. Millions of livestock were at risk of being lost to starvation and dangerously cold temperatures.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, alongside the Fifth Army and 10th Air Force, led a massive disaster response known as Operation Snowbound, mobilizing more than 6,200 personnel and 1,665 pieces of heavy equipment, including bulldozers, snowplows, graders and Army M-29 cargo carriers, known as Weasels.