At 15:03 it should be square miles of snow, not feet! That's the difference between the size of a couple houses and an entire lake... Thanks to everyone who pointed this out
Winter of 1969 in the Sierras might be worth looking at, it was the 'beginning of new ice age' many feared, and would have been if every yr were like that or at least local glaciers would be returning.
I'm from Boston Mass and I'm 37 all I ever heard about was the blizzard of 78' and how awful it was and as kid I always wanted it snow like that and the older people and my mom told me even as kid you don't want that much snow! But ya that is still the worst winter in Boston history
Weatherbox, I just want to compliment you on an OUTSTANDING production. I'm glad YT recommended it to me. I experienced this blizzard, but had no idea how far beyond Boston this weather phenomena touched. You are a EXCELLENT presenter and hope to see more of you. You remind me of the actor who played Doogie Howser M.D.. I wish you much success.
I was a truck driver stuck in the blizzard . Pulled into a truck stop in central Ohio that evening it was probably 50 degrees. When I woke up the next morn the tires of my truck were frozen to the ground and it was near zero. The governor closed all interstates so I spent the next three days in the truck stop sleeping on the floor with dozens of other people. By the third day the restaurant was running out of food so they only served a few hours a day. Ive told my kids about this ,but Im sure they thought I made a lot of it up. 50 years later I.m still talking about it.
It was raining the night before but the radio was saying there was a "blizzard warning." I'm thinking yeah, right. But when I woke up the next morning there was snow everywhere.
I was an eleven year old kid living in Ontario, Canada when this storm hit. Both my parents were trapped at work and I was tasked with looking after my two younger brothers, and for some reason a kid from the neighborhood. I made fried chicken and baked potatoes for dinner after my mom had specifically told me not to touch the oven. 😀 I gained a lot of respect and independence from my parents after those two days.
@@booooo-urns He was my younger brother's best friend. It's been so many years, I don't recall how or why he ended up at our house, but we certainly couldn't send him home. You couldn't see two feet in front of your face in that storm.
I had always remembered it as the best winter of my childhood and spent decades unaware of how hard it was for others. My parents homesteaded in northern Michigan, so we had plenty of food and wood heat. When the plowing guy was able to come over, after nearly a week , us kids were sledding in our own backyard. Another memory is of my Dad opening the front door. There was nothing but a wall of snow! Oh, and no school for 2 weeks 😊
Michigan here I remember but what people don't know we already had a butt load of snow before the big one hit there was trouble finding places to put it
Was thinking the same from an opposite perspective. No training or experience personally and the information seemed a deep dive, but manageable for viewers such as myself. And therefore, interesting.
It was my first winter as a bookkeeper turned dairy farmer. It was in NY State. I thought I had moved to the north pole. Was too busy fighting the cold and snow to realize everyone was getting it. Even at 94, The memory is still vivid.
@@maxthefool Max, I look back over my life and I can't help but fel grateful to God for all the wonderful experiences I have had. The internet has been the most amazing as it puts the world at my finger tips. And better than that, I'm in touch with my big family throuh email, texting, facetime, Marco Polo. I can see them and talk to them. Today I watched my great great grandchildren play in a place far removed from me. Life is good and if I go tomorrow, it will be with a smile on my face.
I was in 8th grade and delivered newspapers in East Aurora NY (suburb of Buffalo) during these blizzards. I had to burrow through the snow across a field (1/2 mile) to get to my first delivery. It ultimately turned into a snowy hallway that I had to dig myself and it was feet over my head. I actually found out later that I had been walking over a car that was buried in the snow, and I had no idea it was there. I could actually walk onto the roof of my house, and many houses were just giant snowy lumps. I found out that I was one of the only paperboys in Buffalo who hadn't quit during these snowstorms. The trucks arrived at 3AM with the papers, and would wait to make sure I was going to deliver each day, because almost no one else was. I often had to stand on the handrails of the front steps and wave to them because the snow was to the roof, and I hadn't fully dug my way out the front door to the sidewalk. Some of my customers were incredulous that I delivered their papers at all, and an equal number were pissed off I was late. It was ridiculous.
I was in 2nd grade, south of Buffalo, in Cattaraugus county. To be honest I was 6, I didn't realize it was out of the ordinary, it was just a lot of snow, and fun with no school. But it was a ski town, and always gets lots of snow, and i think I was on the southern edge of that storm. But I do remember people kept talking about it for years after. I remeber a board game came out based on the storm "Blizzard of '77... the game"
This is when the south end of Lake Michigan froze from Illinois to the Michigan side. On a dare, a guy drove his car from the Michigan side 60 miles to the Illinois side. He had to drive around massive ice heaves and had several spin outs. As soon as he got within 10 miles of Chicago, the traffic watchers in the Sears Tower could see his car making its way across the lake. When he arrived at the shore of Grant Park, he was arrested by the awaiting Chicago Police and thrown in jail. However, the DA couldn't find any law he had violated other than "driving across a public park" which was a $15 fine. They tried to arrest him on violating Illinois lake navigation laws, but there were none on the books. He was released and paid his ticket and drove back to Michigan the normal way. Shortly thereafter both the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois passed laws banning the use of cars to cross Lake Michigan.
I just read a detailed article on "MLive" titled "Remembering the Great Blizzard of 1978, when winter packed a wallop". Lots of pictures too. No mention whatsoever of that story. And that after an extended internet search that found no other mention of that story. Methinks that your memory of that story may be off. Back then, of course, we heard stuff all the time but had no way of confirming if it was true.
@@jimwerther I dunno. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Because having lived through those years, albeit as a child, people were characters back then. And I knew people wild enough to pull a stunt like that.
@@lightspeed4596 I don't doubt that he's saying it as he remembers it. But those of us who lived before the internet became a thing know that we used to hear stuff all the time and assume it was true, having no way to check it out. And a lot of the stuff we heard back then was not true.
@jimwerther753 All I can say is hit a library in Chicago and go nuts in periodicals. Why would I make up something so silly? It was reported on the local TV affiliates as well but being so cold at the time, the coverage was skimpy. It took my dad 13 hours to get home on the April Fools Day blizzard in 1975. No one believes that either. What can I say?
I was 6-7 years old at this time. I remember us not being able to find our car for weeks on end; my Dad had joined a car pool. Unable to go to the grocery, we walked a lot to the local restaurant. We were good friends with the owner. He worked with what food he had on hand. Some of his distributors were still working. I honestly think he bought what he could at the local grocery store. A bread store was also in walking distance. I remember bundling up more than Ralphie's brother in "A Christmas Story". We lived in Battle Creek, Michigan; that's the southwest corner. Great video. It really helps a guy that was just a boy at the time really understand things. I think it was events like this that made me a weather geek as I got older.
My father was a locomotive engineer for Conrail based out of Rochester. He took the first train to Buffalo after the blizzard of '77. Buffalo is only about 60 miles from Rochester but it took THREE Days to get there. The train was proceeded by a front end loader to cut thru the snow drifts that had packed so dense, they would lift the locomotive off the rails if not cleared.
Contrail loaded snow from those storms into empty coal cars and sent them south till the snow melted . Contrail was paralyzed by that winter and a lot of top management was fired because the railroad was in effect frozen in place
The legend also goes that the winters of '77 & '78 reeked such havoc on Conrail's electrical locomotives (GG1s, E33s, E34s) that it contributed to Conrail's decision to abandon electric locomotives altogether in '81
The Amtrak Floridian was trapped in snow in west central Indiana for several days, and many RR cuts were filled with snow. After the blizzards, I went by train from Lafayette IN to chicago and snow was as high as the passenger cars. Only way to see above it was from the dome car that was on that train.
I was born in the blizzard of '78. Got a special escort from a state snow plow after my dad contacted the local volunteer fire company who stated they couldn't get the ambulance to us. Dad had' 77 Jeep J10 and following that plow at 15mph for the 20 mile trip to the hospital was a lifetime for my mother. She said I was lucky to not have been born in the front seat of that Jeep in the middle of the road!
Yeah, I was a teenager, just graduating High School in Sunny Santa Monica, heading to City College, when I heard the “climate activists” of my daying touting the “Endless Winter” as proof of the “Man Made 2nd ICE AGE!!!” (Rather than just a bad Winter) and it was - so bad - it took a DECADE for the propagandists to switch to “global warning” (until that - too - proved to be a UN / University of East Anglia HOAX… and it took another decade to switch to the “Hot or Cold” (like the thermos) either way… its “Climate Change” that needs endless taxation to ensure survival…. 🧐
Pain makes minutes feel like hours. Glad the community understood the assignment. 🍼🚼 I watched a documentary about the blizzard of 49. The storm was lower than normal, earlier in the year, and trapped people for months. People had the leave messages in the snow for flyovers to see what was needed like food, blankets, medical, etc. pregnant women had to be picked up by plane.
My grandpa was a mailman in rural Ohio during this time and he ended up getting caught in the blizzard during his route and his truck ended up being buried in a snow bank during it He nearly died because his truck got completely covered but he ended up being saved by the Amish family who’s yard he ended up driving into because he couldn’t see Ended up having to stay with them for a week before the roads got cleaned up enough that he could go home My grandma was so worried and my grandpa ended up walking in alive right when she was about to call their church to try to prepare for a funeral
that must have been a really touching reunion, we really take for granted the inter connectivity of modern day, being able to keep in touch with loved ones
For anyone who asks, "Why didn't he just call home to let his family know he was okay?!" Well, even if the phone lines somehow stayed functional, the Amish don't have phones.
@@katewalchle6704 - well, some Amish DO have phones and other technology devices, but they are prohibited from using those in their homes. Their tech devices would be in a shed or shack. I will post a link to a site that shows an Amish phone shack (posting it separately because the link might get this comment deleted if posted in this comment).
@Kate Walchle The phones were out for 2 weeks where I live, 20 miles from Cincinnati. The electricity was out for 3 days also. To add insult to injury, the water pipes going into most homes froze up and busted.
I was 14 years old living in Jamaica .We got a cold front from this blizzard that caused the temp to drop to 65 degrees in certain parts .it remain the coldest Jamaica ever experienced in recorded history .Yes ,this blizzard wasn't no joke .It affected the Caribbean also with the cold air from up north .We call this " Cold Front .
I'm in Eastern CT. I was 9, and my dad thought it was a good idea to take his Girl Scout Cadet troop "Winter " camping at a large cabin in the woods. I remember the girls parents having a hard time picking up their kids. When we got home, we had no power, and 2 feet of snow with an inch of ice on top. We did have a fireplace, so at least we had heat. My brother chopped up the backyard, and used the squares to build an igloo in the front yard. Still have a picture of him peeking out of it. After the blizzard of '73, my dad built the fireplace. After the Blizzard of '78, he installed a cast iron stove, too. Never worried about not having heat again.
I was 16 years old in January 1977, living in the "snow belt" of WNY. I was just starting my drivers road test to get my license when the blizzard started. At that time, you had to use hand signals to pass your driver's road test, so my window was down. It was RIDICULOUS! There was so much sleet pouring into the car that myself, and the DMV tester were soaked, freezing and couldn't see out the windshield. I turned to the tester and said, "I'm rolling this window up, so please tell me now if you are going to fail me." He said he wouldn't and I passed, but my mother and I barely made it home before the drifts locked us into our house for days.
I also took my drivers test during a bad snow storm. My Mom begged me to stay home that day, but I had to have my drivers license...lol. We also barely got home....but I got to drive us..... I felt so grown up!
I was 16 too, when i came from Puerto Rico in 1977 (May during the 1st week or second) when they had a snow storm - So it was my first time seeing snow and feeling cold. I also felt the 1978 blizzard when we were out from school
I was a grad student at IU in Bloomington, Indiana during 77-78. The 78 blizzard and aftermath especially was the experience of a lifetime. One factor that didn’t come up in your video was that there was a coal strike going on all winter. Because there wasn’t enough coal, the university shut down for 4 weeks that winter. This was a wonderful time-nothing to do but stay inside and drink tea and read undisturbed. You can google that coal strike-it affected a lot of things and is a very interesting part of union history.
I was in early grade school that winter in PA. We lived in a town of about 100 people that was not far from the Allegheny Forest. I only remember the snow days, playing in HUGE snow drifts and seeing the dump trucks full of coal driving past. Given the recent droughts in the western US, it makes me worry that the winters of '24 and '25 could be just as devastating right as our various governments are pushing us to electricity sources that wouldn't easily survive those extreme lows. My next major home investment will probably be better insulation and windows, then an upgraded fireplace.
@Lou Loutrel Were you around Tionesta, Tidioute, Smethport? Oil City resident's child here. Frequent visitor of Venango, Crawford Counties, occasional travel to Forest County : )
@@pierowmania2775 We are starting to rely so heavily on electricity and it's going to go wrong at some point in the future, not just heat but our need for food and money. All online.
Yeah, I was a teenager, just graduating High School in Sunny Santa Monica, heading to City College, when I heard the “climate activists” of my daying touting the “Endless Winter” as proof of the “Man Made 2nd ICE AGE!!!” (Rather than just a bad Winter) and it was - so bad - it took a DECADE for the propagandists to switch to “global warning” (until that - too - proved to be a UN / University of East Anglia HOAX… and it took another decade to switch to the “Hot or Cold” (like the thermos) either way… its “Climate Change” that needs endless taxation to ensure survival…. 🧐
I remember our elementary school passing out "I survived the Blizzard of '78" book bags. What a memory. In CT we had snow drifts to the roofs but it was heaven for kids making snow forts! What a time to be alive.
Lol I was in the 6th grade in 1978, snowed in for almost a month in southern Indiana and when I finally went back to school kids had T-Shirts that said "I survived the Blizzard of 1978 " too !
Yeah, we made snow tunnels in my front yard, it was so deep and sticky. Perfect for sculpting. I think we had three days off from school in my town (in central CT), but my memory kinda sucks. It might have been more. Unique!
Great video, especially graphics! The 77 blizzard I was on break my first year of college in Pennsylvania. My boyfriend, about 4 of our friends, and I decided to take a road trip to Stowe in Vermont to go skiing (we were passionate skiers and knew no fear). I think we had an old station wagon or a jeep (that part’s a blur). I do remember we had a ‘cb’ radio, and my BF was versed in its use. As the snow fell and mounted (we’re talking feet) and night came, the state police closed down the New York interstate and on-ramps behind us. We raced to stay just ahead of them, and followed the last snowplow clearings the trucks would make for the days to come. Seemingly no one else was on the road, conditions were so treacherous. We were too stupid to be afraid, and instead, embraced the beauty of the storm in our quest to ski ‘big.’ In hindsight, for the grace of God, we arrived at our destination in one piece. These 45 years later, I don’t even remember the skiing part - I only remember our abandon-all-wisdom journey!
We were 6 high schoolkids packed in a 64 Chevy Impala, rescuing all our friends from the bars for a good 18 hours, and being to stupid to worry... lol. What an adventure. Our heater didn't work well at all so the 12 pack of rescue elixir was always cold. People slept in and stayed sheltered in Bars in Kettering Ohio. Try Remote cross-country skiing, alone in heavy snow fall. You will be glad in memory that there is a God. Getting buried in hidden drifts ... Priceless.
@@rodneycaupp5962 Oh my gosh - I hear you! In our defense, our cerebral cortexes (like all kids’) were still a WIP and few parents knew how to protect us from ourselves beyond their own experience. But ever since, there’s been a pendulum swing from not enough knowledge to too much. It seems that today, there’re so many ‘rubber bumpers’ to protect us from peril (and consequences, where we actually learn so much the hard way), fear-of-winter mongering, and so much else. Still, I must admit many advances since then are good, like seatbelts (I was ejected from my brother’s early 1960s Porsche doing 60 mph on a country corkscrew turn, and really could have used one)!
I was 16-17 during this period. Holy freaking cow, I have NEVER seen such a deep, accurate, comprehensive meteorological dissertation on these 2 years! Seriously epic work here. Thank you!
I lived in Boston most of my life. The blizzard/hurricane of 1978 was monumental. My solid brick apt. building shook. the winds were so strong. I will never forget.
I was 9 years old in north providence Rhode Island. me and my mom took the toboggan and walked to the store to get milk and stuff for my grandparents. on the way back we were at the top of a huge hill and looked down to see about 4 feet or more of compacted snow in the road and cars all higgeldy piggeldy on the side of the road. my mom turns to me and says you ready to go down. I was so shocked. I never thought she would suggest it. I assumed she wanted to walk back. so she laid down on the toboggan and I got on top of her and we pushed off and it seemed like we were going 60 miles an hour. we made it almost to the midpoint of the next hill. was an awesome ride.
FINALLY FOUND IT! Ive had an interest in blizzards, specifically the blizzard of 1977 and am so happy someone finally made this! So interesting to see the photos and just how much snow the weather generated, as well as showing the science in to why this blizzard even occurred. Great video!
when people say it is cold, occasionally...I remember trying to walk to my friend's house Jan '78 a block away in 24" of snow. BTW, seems like the lakes froze over _every_ winter in the 1970's (like ~ 10 hectare range lakes, for skating)
I was a kid experiencing my second snowy winter in Indiana in '77. We were sent home from school when we arrived days before the Christmas break and were stuck for 3 weeks. My neighbors had to take my parents to get groceries on their new snowmobiles. We lost power for a few days and had to melt snow on the wood stove for drinking, cooking, and bathing. I had a great time.
Wow I have to say I never thought that I’d ever be glued to my youtube app for 36 minutes listening to someone explain the reasons why a blizzard happened in 1977/78. This was so informative in such detail that Ive learned more about weather patterns and the physics behind them in 36 min than all the videos combined that Ive watched in whole life. Bravo this was incredibly well done, thank you
It was a wild 2 winters with that high heat Summer of 1977 sandwiched in between. We had over 90* days in May in NorthEast Ohio. Living thru this time period was a wild ride! I still have the Cleveland newspapers on January 26,1978. Then 5,10,15 & 20th anniversary newspapers editions. But lately, NOTHING! Just like it didn’t exist or ever happened. Just like all of us dinosaurs that lived thru it died out. I wrote an editorial to our local newspaper, chewing them out on not even mentioning it 45 years later 1/26/23.CB
I was a student at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond in January, 1978. I wrote a note to my girlfriend beneath her dorm room's window in the fourteen inches of snow that was on the ground at the time. Mother Nature took exception to that. Later that night, the blizzard struck and buried my note (and everything else) under eighteen inches of new snow! It all worked (and thawed) out. She & I have been married since 1980. We got married on the hottest day of an oppressive heat wave in a church that had no air conditioning!
I went to school just south of Toledo OH, I had teachers that used to tell us about this storm. It was a big part of their psyche. One was an older woman and anytime the temp would drop below 0 F and snow was predicted she would refuse to come in, citing the storm and not wanting to be stranded. I can empathize now, I didn't really get it as a kid
I was in high school in toledo and tried to get out my front door but it was drifted over and frozen shut. Climbed out bathroom window to walk through 3 ft of snow to find school closed. My Dad was trapped at Ford factory for 3 days living on vending machine food. 12’ foot drifts. I built a snow slide connecting to our roof. We always kept candles, matches, blankets in the trunk.
I was 14 years old and lived just north of Buffalo when this happened. We were sent home from school just an hour after we arrived. The storm came in so quickly that my mom brought home several of her coworkers from the local hospital, as they had become stranded, since most of the roads were now impassable and closed. Only snowmobiles we’re allowed on the road. They camped out in sleeping bags on the family room couch and floor. I still remember, so vividly, bundling up the second night to go outside and look around. It was so silent but so beautiful, like something out of Frozen.
Andi: even snowmobiles we're stranded in fields in those white outs. A man was decapitated by not seeing Barb Wire fencing as he was travelling thru fields at night. Tail end of Boomers came of age!! Good times.....
@Tery Wetherlow I remember hearing about the guy getting decapitated, it was even on the news in the Cincinnati area, warning people who had snowmobiles to be careful.
My mom grew up in the Boston metro area. She always told me as a kid about how she caused the blizzard by praying to have a snow day at school the night before it hit. I never understood just how big the storm was until this video
My Dad, his brothers, and a couple of their friends had snowmobiles, and during the blizzards they helped stranded motorists in the Akron area and brought them home, and also helped their neighbors get food and supplies. Most of them including my Dad were still in high school at the time.
That story is awesome. I was north of your dad in Stow and drove to Hudson to work as a machinist afternoon shift. Well, I got to work night shift as well. Drove three miles home on Rt 91 and saw like two cars. Made it but my radiator was completely frozen from diluted anti-freeze. Never phased my 65 Skylark. Never got hot enough.
I lived in a small Massachusetts town, I was 14 years old. We had folks on snowmobiles riding around asking people if they needed anything at the store making runs for them. I always thought that was pretty awesome
We had just moved from the Ft. Walton Beach, FL to Springfield, OH in late summer of '77. I can remember the '78 blizzard vividly because I wasn't used to seeing snow and there was A LOT OF IT. Our front door was buried in a snow drift that we had to dig out of from the inside, melting the snow in a bathtub. We were stuck at home for days. My mom's cousin was a deputy sheriff in Preble County, OH over on the Indiana boarder. He was on patrol that night when everyone went to bed and it was 50 degrees. When the snow hit, his patrol car got stuck so he walked to a farmhouse in the rural county and knocked on the door in the middle of the night. The farmer didn't believe that he was a deputy or what he was telling him because it had been so warm that night. So the farmer sent him on his way, only to turn the radio on and hear the news and then had to go looking for him. Probably saved his life. I need to find an "I survived the blizzard of '78" t-shirt.
I gave birth to my son during this little blizzard. I had planned to stay at home and do a home delivery anyway but my doctor was supposed to have come to the house and he could not make it because of this storm. I delivered my son all by myself, it was the most awesome experience of my life😊
Where I lived a husband put his in labor wife on sled and pulled her many blocks to the fire department where she delivered her baby with the help of trained firemen.
Husband in grad school at UOf Michigan. People having babies on snowmobiles, emergency services begging citizens to loan their 4 wheel drive vehicles. I went into labor at 22 weeks, we lost our first child that day. Staff at hospital had to stay over, couldn't get home, they were very kind
Problem is, he is OBVIOUSLY too young to have survived the Blizzard of 78., I'm old enough to be this guys father and I was a just a kid. To me, all the nor'easter meant was a day or 2 off school.
@@tarstarkusz I don't see a problem. He put together an awesome presentation! He's quite knowledgeable but managed to put together something that was entertaining and easy to understand as far as the mechanics of how those storms, and others, are formed. I was 15 at the time and lived in Maryland. We had 10 foot drifts and I remember how bone cold it was and, of course, windy!
@@kayelane5868 I wasn't saying anything bad about him. Just he looks to young to have been alive in 1978. In a different video, he said his mother was a girl in 1969. My guess is he was born some time in the mid 90s. I remember we did have a major nor'easter about the time he's talking about here in Philadelphia. But being 8, to me it was just all fun and time off school.
@@tarstarkusz I was born in Bristol PA. 1961. We moved to MD round about '72. I find myself in the Pacific Northwest Washington for the time being. When I retire, hubby and I will head back towards the east. Not sure where we'll end up but we're tired of the rain!
There were countless horrific stories about that blizzard. I had a friend whose mother died at home and was placed in the freezing cold outside for four days to keep her body from decomposing until it could be removed for autopsy and burial.
Probably like what happened in Texas a few years back. So sad people had to freeeze to death. Nobody was prepared for all that cold. I don't remember how cold it was back then in Cincinnati. I suppose being in kindergarten all I was thinking was playing in all that snow.
@@hugaflowerthat freeze was pretty terrible power didnt even last under 30 degrees farenheit which is normal winter for a northern state. we slept in a nightclub after our house power went out then theirs went out. It was so cold the battery on our phones would die within 2 hours due to the temps.
@@hugaflowerliterally nothing happened in Texas it snowed like an inch and yall lost ur damn minds. Just know that the whole country was laughing at u lol
@@hugaflowerthey didn't say anyone froze to death. They said grandma died and they couldn't have the body removed and had to leave it outside in the cold so it wouldn't rot in the house
What I remember most about the 2021 cold snap was the response to it. I live in New England (Maine, specifically) and have never set foot in Texas, but I remember everyone I knew talking about it and being so worried for the people in Texas. There wasn't much we could do to help, so people organized Facebook groups and discord servers to gather resources and keep tabs on people. All of my socials were flooded with people from Canada and New England reaching out and giving comprehensive lists of what to do, how to keep warm, what signs to look out for, things to have on hand, numbers to call---anything. I had a four day silence from a discord server I was in playing Minecraft with some kids from Texas and I was so worried about them, until they were finally able to get back online to say thank you for everything. It didn't feel like much, but I was glad they were okay. We played every now and then, but mostly lost touch until months later when the second heat wave of 2021 (after the one that caused so much damage in the Northwest U.S.) passed over us and I watched the same thing happen in reverse. Texans and other southern states started making groups to keep track of us and compile resources on how to keep our houses cool, making DIY air conditioners out of box fans, what we needed to do to keep our pets safe, and the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses to look out for. I heard from those kids for the first time in months when they reached out to me to make sure my family and I were okay, and to share a chart comparing the symptoms of heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, and heat rash, and what I should do to treat each (which I still keep with me). I remember how much we all worried and looked after each other, people we had never known, and how months after the initial power grid failure in Texas they found a way to return that kindness. It's nice to know that one way or another, people will find a way to look after each other.
My family of 7 was snowed in without heat for 2 weeks. We all had to stay in the kitchen, with the rest of the house blocked off so we could use the heat of the oven, and the stove top burners for heat. We lived in an apartment complex, and everyone was in the same boat. I was a teenager and thought I would die being trapped with my 5 siblings, in one room! lol As the week wore on we were able to traverse the roads, just barely. My most vivid memory was watching a car flip over a guardrail on US 23, land on the roof of his car, slid down a snow covered embankment, flipped back over onto his wheels, and sailed out onto the surface of the frozen Olentangy river. It was terrifying and amazing! The man was not hurt, thankfully. ( my friend and I prayed out loud for the man as it was happening, He climbed out of his car and started walking around his car over and over. We were on a road adjacent to the river, and waved , and yelled at the man asking if he was okay. We hiked down to greet the man and take him to make some phone calls to retrieve his car and made him some coffee. He was in complete shock. He kept saying, " No one will believe it, I dont believe it! Did you see it really happened didnt it?" It was absolutely amazing that very little damage was done to his car. I truly believe God had his hand on that man and his car. My second most vivid memory was seeing the Ohio River completely frozen over, and people had driven their cars out onto the ice . And we did walk from Newport Ky to Cincinnati Oh. I can still remember the looks on the adults faces, out there playing around like a bunch of kids! The thing that touched me most was how everyone came together to take care of everyone. People with snow mobiles did double duty bring food and fuel for kerosene heaters out in that cold. Honestly, as a young person, we had a blast once we settled in and started playing in the snow! I can still remember the snow drifts that were piled so high beside the road it felt like you were driving through a tunnel. Never again have I seen the Ohio River freeze solid.
what great stories! My college roommate was from Kentucky and she’d never seen so much snow. We lived a mile away from most of our friends. So I said come on we’re walking. And we bundled up and she immediately tipped over in the deep snow. Took awhile for her to figure it out, also bc we were laughing so hard. For days everyone single file walked in the little trails on the streets. I’m not sure how long it took for them to plow and I think houses were cold for a while. But we were 20 and only knew we didn’t have classes and we had beer and pot and each other. It was fabulous we laughed and ate pancakes every day.
I will never forget that winter. I was 17 then and I have never seen anything like that since, Thank God. I lived in Conneaut, Ohio (Northeast tip of Ohio & PA Border) and our town look similar to what Buffalo looked like. Most of the cities on Lake Erie were devastated. You brought back a lot of memories. No phones, no lights, no motor cars...just like Gilligan's Island...only 30 below zero.
Even in the mid Atlantic region that time period was famous because a lot of the major rivers that fed into the Chesapeake Bay froze over all the way down to southeast Virginia! I can only imagine what it was like in the Great Lakes.
Yeah, I was a teenager, just graduating High School in Sunny Santa Monica, heading to City College, when I heard the “climate activists” of my daying touting the “Endless Winter” as proof of the “Man Made 2nd ICE AGE!!!” (Rather than just a bad Winter) and it was - so bad - it took a DECADE for the propagandists to switch to “global warning” (until that - too - proved to be a UN / University of East Anglia HOAX… and it took another decade to switch to the “Hot or Cold” (like the thermos) either way… its “Climate Change” that needs endless taxation to ensure survival…. 🧐
This explains why my memories of winter as a kid in northeastern Kansas is very different from my experiences as an adult....I remembered huge piles of snow, digging snow tunnels, sledding on town streets regularly, and as I aged I just assumed that nostalgia had exaggerated it all. But now I feel better about it; there really were some big winters back then!
All it takes is a simple look on weather history to realize what we are experiencing isn’t new. Im starting to feel like this climate doomsday nonsense is only to create new markets and cause weird political division. The devils in the details.
You should remember the winter of 85 in NE Kansas, I was stationed at Ft Riley and we were out in the field when a storm hit that had ambient temps around -35° to -40°f without wind chills, with them it was around -90°f, it was absolutely horrible, we couldn't maneuver because it was so cold it was breaking the drive trains in the vehicles which left us stuck out there in it, they couldn't pull us out of the field so all we could do was button up in our vehicles and ride it out, it was 4 or 5 days until it warmed up to just above 0° and they could finally order us out. I've never been so cold in my life and promised myself that if I got out of it with the tip of my nose, my finger tips and my ear lobes intact that I'd never again in my life complain about being cold. Since then I've had plenty of jobs requiring me to work outside in the winter including being an ironworker putting up bridges and buildings in the winter time along with working in a shipyard during the winter, when ask by the people around me in those places who would be complaining about the cold when it would get down around 0° why I wasn't complaining all I'd have to do is think about that winter at Ft Riley and I'd just say "I've been colder".
My mom talks about this when she was little. She was a pastor daughter and recalls lots of people seeking shelter in the church. Snowmobile were going around getting grocery and delivering them through the chimney for people who were in need of food. Our family lives in the lake effect area of Michigan by lake Michigan.
My Grandma was a nurse in rural Ohio and during this time a nearby farmer with a two-seat “crop duster” airplane flew her to see patients who couldn’t get to the hospital. Wild. My dad was young during this time but he talks about the blizzard all the time, it was a formative event for people his age.
The impending ice age scare was in all the media back then. I even had a teacher cry in front of class while reading from a Scientific American magazine because we were going to have it so hard as adults living in the ice age. We were supposed to be under 2.5 miles of ice by 2010. She terrified me! This is why I remember it so clearly. Television programs were interrupted so a special program could air about the impending ice age. Even, "environmental awareness experts," would interrupt classes to preach about the impending ice age. My how times have changed.
The Winter of '78 was the only Winter my mother ever experienced in South Dakota, and is why even though my father is a Minnesota native, I've lived my entire life in California (she noped out of South Dakota, my dad followed her to California, they married a year later, and in Summer '84 I was born).
Thats a cool story. Glad your family could spend winters in the su lol. I wanted to live in CA since before i was 12 (native newyorker and born way after the 78 Blizz.) I only remember a few bad blizzards in the 80s but none like this one and then a crazy hurricaine where thw sky was green and the winds were blowing sideways. 🤔😐
The winter of 77-78 was the first winter I had spent as a teen in Indiana. We got so much snow along with the high winds we were off of school for a full week with snow amounts of around 3 feet we were able to climb on top of the house with out a ladder.. Man, that was one crazy winter that I had lived through. Blizzard of 78 survivor for sure...
Currently going on about a week below freezing with 30 below windchill for a few nights in the midwest right after new year (Fort Wayne, IN) and I gotta say I couldn't imagine this for 41 consecutive days, that's absolutley wild
I was 8 years old in 77. That entire year, 77-78 was probably the most memorable and ideal of my entire childhood. The snow covered my entire swing set and my dad made snow caves under it. Frightening and fun at the same time. It took dad an entire day to dig the snowblower and snowmobile out of the garage. The local boys made a killing fetching groceries. That year would have been the year I made a movie about like Ralph in the Christmas Story.
Right? I was ten and my favorite memories of my childhood winters were this winter. I had a snow fort that must have been 25 yards long, all excavated in a giant snowbank created by my 3 brothers and myself shoveling. Epic winter for a kid, I am sure it sucked for adults!
I was born in 76 and have no memory of the Blizzard of 78 but I heard about it all throughout my childhood. I grew up in northern indiana. People talked about it for years afterwards. My dad told me that the snow melt was so lengthy that he remembered buying beer on july 4 1978 and there was a small snow melt pile still in a parking lot melting in the summer heat. Truly amazing amounts of snow.
I feel you. I was 9. Highlight for me was they put all the snow in the corner of the schoolyard. It was almost as high as the school. We had tunnels through it and slides down it. We would get to school so early just to screw around on the pile. And the streets were like trenches the snow was so high. Good times.
Our furnace lay down and died that year. My dad set up camping in the living room. We didn't have to worry about school, but the next day, my sister HAD to go out into the snow. She couldn't find her hat so she took a pair of long John pants and cut eyeholes in them and tied the legs over her head. We called her "Bunny" for a while after that. My furnace gave out this year, during that Christmas time cold snap. I knew what and what not to do, thanks to my dad.
I grew up just west of Cleveland and these 2 years were my junior and senior years of highschool. I don't think it's possible to exagerate those 2 winters. As boneheaded kids we had a blast. We were having contests to see how many city blocks we could traverse without taking a step. Simply letting the wind blow us across the ice. The ice on the lake was incredible. We were at times a half mile out onthe lake. There were spots where the ice had buckled and the shards sticking up were 5 ft thick. You are right about one thing, we still talk about "the blizzard" all the time
My dad told me about the snow in Florida. He was in school. He said some of the class were showing up and shedding what layers they had to share with those who didn’t have cold weather clothes. Oddly he said the snow didn’t fall till later in the day and his teacher excitedly rushed them outside for what she claimed was “a historic and unexpected recess!” It melted into mud as soon as it hit the ground but in the moments before they fell my dad insisted it was like the stars in the night sky had drifted down to float around him like fireflies.
I was 8 years old living in Chicago, and remember it well. Being as old as I am now and seeing it as an adult, really gets me thinking how great my parents were. It was incredibly cold and rough outside, but have great memories of how they made the best of the situation. Thank you for such a great indepth video in this. This was done very nicely.
_SAME!_ I just posted my comment about how much fun it was, such an unforgettable childhood experience. (And why I've lived my entire life telling the younger generations that they've never seen snow as deep as we used to get when we were kids!) 😂🌨️💞
I was 12 yrs old when this storm hit. We lived in Mertztown PA. My Grandma asked me to go to the A&P in Trexlertown to get some necessity before the storm hit. It's roughly about 15 miles. It was flurrying when we left. By the time we got out of the store there was already 8" of snow. The wind was blowing so hard it was hard to stand. We started heading home. Everyone was just crawling along because visibility was 15-20 feet at most. It took us about 3hrs to go 15 miles. My grandma had a old nova at the time. She just kept that thing a movin'!! By the time we got home there was over 2 foot on the ground. It stormed like that all night. The next morning you couldn't even see the cars. The snow was as high as they were! We lost power for a long time. We were fortunate because we had a enormous coal stove in our house. So we had heat. We had neighbors that didn't have heat came to our place. Grandma had coffee going and food out for folks. I miss those days. Good memories of neighbors looking out for and taking care of each other. Sure do miss Grandma.
I was 8 years old living in Maine when we got hit with the blizzard of 78 , but as a kid from Maine , I didn't know how bad it really was . But i had so much fun playing in the snow that winter. The storm my family always talked about was the blizzard of 62.
As a kid in Buffalo, I remember sledding off the top of a ranch style home. Lake Erie was frozen and had 5' or more of snow on it. While this blizzard produced little snow, the extreme high winds for days blew all of that snow off the lake on to the surrounding areas.
Again, a professionally presented historic weather story. Toledo was slammed by the 1978 storm. It seems that every winter in the seventies was very cold, but 77-78 were the most memorable winters.
My teachers kept repeating the story of when we got 2 feet of snow and someone had to volunteer to pick up the kids from school on their snowmobile because cars wouldn't make it. There hasn't been a winter storm like that here ever since.
I was born in Port Clinton OH and lived there until early ‘79. I vividly recall both the ‘77 and ‘78 winter weather events you describe so well. We lived in a one story home less than 2 miles from the lake front. In ‘77 there was snow drift that went all the over the house on one end. I was the smallest, so my family pushed me out of a high window in the bathroom, I slid down the show bank and dug out the front door-otherwise we were trapped in the house! An elderly couple lived across the street-this was a typical small town neighborhood street with small lots so the houses facing each other couldn’t have been more than 50 or 60 feet apart. I was sent over to check on them and make sure they had firewood since the power was out. It was blowing snow so hard I couldn’t see 10 feet much less all the way across the street! My dad kept a small boat in the garage during the winter and he tied a few ski ropes together, attached it to the boat hitch, and I hooked the handle at the other end over my arm so I could find my way back if I got lost! My father was a pharmacist and with the help of friend who owned snowmobiles we went to his drug store, collected prescriptions that were vital for certain patients and delivered them to their houses. When school finally resumed, the national guardsman were sleeping in the gymnasium for a few weeks as they dealt with the aftermath. I’m over 60 now and it’s difficult to separate in my mind events that took place in the winter storms of ‘77 and ‘78, but within a few months - in early ‘79 - we moved to the south where summers are hot, winters are warm, and the girls are friendlier and prettier! Best thing that ever happened to me!
@@Jack-xe8ki I was in central Ohio during that time and was 12-13 years old. I went to Alamosa Colorado in the winter of 83/84 for college and it was the coldest winter ever there! Actual temperature of -42° I remember seeing -43° on the bank sign as I was going in the door to class after having to walk clear across campus.
In ‘77-‘78, I was 8-9 years old growing up in the Eastern Panhandle of WV. I remember those brutal winters. Huge snow drifts, bitter cold, and snow frozen so solid that it was literally a sheet of ice. I remember throwing rocks from my house on a ridge down the backyard hill and seeing them slide out of sight into the hollow below. This brought back fond memories. Thank you!
Love it! My parents always used to talk about this storm. My dad got 3 days off of work in Akron at a rubber factory. You know it was bad when the rubber factories closed. For another week, he had to walk to the main road to get his boss to pick him up... their car was stuck for nearly 2 weeks. Unimaginable!!
@weatherbox my parents lived in an apartment complex right off of West Market St in Akron. The apartment complex didn't remove any of the snow, and every time the city cleared Market Street, more snow got pushed into their alley that they parked on. I can understand why so many people around here still talk about it.
My grandparents owned a very large cattle ranch in southeastern Montana during this time. I've been told stories about how much of their cattle froze to death, standing up, due to the insane amount of snow and crazy low temperatures. Unfortunately, this loss began events that would eventually lead to them losing their ranch a few short years later.
Northwest Iowa got hammered Nov 8 - 10 in 1977. The snow amount was not much but the winds were the worst I've seen. Many times I couldn't see past the hood ornament on my 74 Chevelle. Wildlife like pheasants and partridge will face into a strong wind otherwise their feathers get lifted and they freeze. The horrific wind packed their beaks/nostrils. When it was all done you could dead pheasants in every field. The pheasant and partridge took many years to "recover" and it was not a complete recover. As I recall the fall of 78 was very mild so all the crops had been harvested. That took away some wind protection and made the deadly aftermath easy to see. An uncle had snow drifts that went over the cattle yard fence. Drifts were so hard the cattle walked out of the yards and were in the neighbor's field. So we helped build a temporary fence on top of the snow but we had to round up the cattle first. That's the only time I've seen snow drifts that hard, like packed down soil.
Woodstock Illinois got hit bad to. Don't remember how much snow got, it was a lot and snow drifts were deep. I was 19 years old then could not get to work for 3 days.
I remember this as an 8-year-old who was out of school for several days and got to play in the snow out at the farm. just down the 2-lane road we lived on, there was a spot the Highway dept was only able to get a one-lane-wide path through, because it was so deep.
Great video. I was a kid in Dayton Ohio back then. We had over a month of school snow days for winter 77-78 and we were forced to make up a couple of weeks of class in the summer. Waiting for the school bus in the morning was brutal because it didn't get above freezing for about 3 months. 1978 wasn't quite as cold, and the number of snow days wasn't quite as bad, but the blizzard was insane. A tree about 4 inches in diameter in our back yard snapped off at ground level and apparently blew over our 2 story house and landed in the front yard during the storms.
I was a senior in high school in Brighton, Michigan 40 miles nw of Detroit. I remembered so many things that happened during that crazy time. First time our school district closed due to dangerous windchill, I had completely forgotten about that. People were xcountry skiing and snowmobiling down main streets. We were lucky we didn't lose power, it was a fun time with lots of baking. Thank you for your very indepth video and the memories it brought back.
I was HS senior in Ohio in '77, and our district had to give up on trying to stay open. They closed down for the entire month of February due to the persistent cold and snow, which had led to a shortage of natural gas in Ohio. We weren't exactly heartbroken about being out of school for a month and not having to make up any of it.
I remember the 78 blizzard well, I was 11 and lived in Grand Rapids MI. The drifts were so high we kids could climb to the roof of our houses on one side and walk across then jump off into the smaller drifts on the other side. Great video, thank you!
I was 12 in 1977 living in Corydon Indiana. I remember the snow starting after Christmas break and we didn't go back to school until the end of January. My dad and the other farmers in the area used their tractors to clear the roads. The Ohio River was frozen solid and people were driving across it.
There’s a photo my grandma took of my mom’s childhood home in Muskegon - literally footsteps from Lake Michigan - completely covered to the roof in snow. How she got out to take the picture and how she got back in is a mystery I wish I’d gotten to solve before my grandma passed.
My grandparents lived on Norton Hills road by where Seminole Road ends by the Big Lake. They too were buried to the roof by the monster drifts blown in by the blizzard. I remember being at their house the first weekend in May and still finding snow under fallen leaves in the treeline on the north side of their property. Amazing times.
I lived in Louisville, Kentucky in 1977 and remember being off school for so long that the state started broadcasting classes on public television stations. My daughter having to attend classes online during 2020 reminded me of that time. I found myself telling her "back in my day" stories of how we survived that winter without such luxuries as the internet or video game systems.
What blows my mind about the stat about Chicago staying below freezing for 41 consecutive days is the fact that this is an unsually long stretch even for my hometown of Edmonton. If Edmonton had a 41 day stretch below freezing, it would be the 6th longest ever recorded. The fact that this happened at a much lower elevation and latitude over large bodies of water is just mind blowing.
I usually wouldn’t stay through an entire video this long based on the weather, BUT I LIVED IT! And your video was so well done and clear that I understood everything you explained I had to stay until the end! Well done!! Those winters were something to live through! I lived in Marietta Ohio on the Ohio River. Yes it froze over! And below freezing for days as you said. I was thankful we had installed a wood stove the summer before. Definitely a memorable winter to say the least! Again, great great job!!
January 1978, I was only 8 years old. We lived in Jenison, MI, just southwest of Grand Rapids. I remember waking up that morning and the snow in my front yard had completely covered the living room window in our 1 story ranch style house. It actually was worse than I first thought. We couldn't get the garage door open the snow was pressing so hard up against it. Even if we could, it was way too deep to get the cars out for my for my dad to be able to get the lawn tractor that was fitted with a plow out. Somehow we we able to get the little door out the back of the garage open. My dad decided that we needed to at least shovel the snow off the roof of the house. I remember climbing up the snow drift onto the roof-it was so densely packed it actually supported our weight with no problem! No ladder was needed. After we were done I got the wild idea to jump off the roof into the front yard. After about 10 minutes of my dad digging me out of the hole I created he had an idea. We dug a snow tunnel up to the front porch and were able to move enough snow that we could open the front door and walk in. It was crazy, that snow tunnel stayed there for almost a week before it finally collapsed in on itself-and by then we had been able to clear the main garage door and driveway out to the street. The rest of the world around us was really surreal. The drifts that were left by the snow plows were so tall, people had resorted to tying red flags to the top of their radio antennas on their cars so there would be some hope of cars being able to see each other at intersections. I don't remember another winter like it. We moved to Chicago in 1979, and down to eastern NC in 1991. I do think that, at least in the Chicago area, that the January cold snaps of the early to mid 80's were colder (I remember -26F at O'Hare with -77F wind chills on of those years) but the snow fall was just a pittance compared to the Blizzard of '78.
I was in the Twin Cities for that storm - I remember my brothers and dad had to dig out the front path from front door to driveway. The odd thing is when they opened the front door, the snow was almost the full height of the door, and since the wind had blown so much, the snow had taken on the form of a reverse casting of the door itself, including the trim panels and door knocker which were very clearly defined on the surface of the snow (in reverse).
I lived through the winters of 1977 and 1978, and I assure anyone who was born in 1985 or later that the coldest winter you can imagine was mild in comparison to these winters.
My parents and Nana talked about the blizzard of '78 a lot. Mostly because the winter of '08-'09 we had that ice storm hit Indiana and Kentucky, and my parents were like, "Oh we haven't had this kind of weather since '78."
Check out those bell-bottom jeans, though! My husband looked so awesome in those! We were stationed at Ft. Dix, NJ, and that was more snow than I'd ever seen in my whole life, those winters. I was from Oklahoma, and we got snow periodically, but we rarely got more than 6 or 8 inches or so at a time, so several feet of it was astounding to me. My husband had been shoveling hard trying to get our car unburied, for hours, and along comes the snowplow again and almost reburied it, LOL--he was so mad. Thanks for the memories!
I was an 11 year old kid when the Blizzard of '78 struck us - some of those shots in your video are from 95/128 maybe a mile from my childhood home. There have been a few years where snow accrued to similar levels over the course of a whole winter, but nothing ever quite as crazy as that storm. Thanks for the analysis!
yes as an 11 year old you absolutely remember it- i was born in 76 and i was drooling in a diaper for all of this- I hate when people claim to remember worldly events when they were no older than 5- "yea i remember the 80s because i was born in 86"---- ahhhh no!
My 2 kids, husband and a recovering from surgery -- Me, lived through the blizzard of 1978 in WV (near Morgantown). The Monogahela River froze solid; feet of snow; 24" drifts; thousands of people stranded on streets; wind-chill -50; communities of us stranded in our homes; people dying due to no heat; burst water pipes couldn't be accessed to turn off water lines, and we were without access to food and water for days. Helicopter pilots had to air-drop supplies to us for days!! A month later, Settlement Houses were assisting folks.
Wow! You were recovering from surgery in West Virginia near a frozen river with 24 foot snow drifts and food had to be air dropped to you after no food for several days. That is a very believable story after watching this video. You are lucky to be alive, and your experience ought to be included in a documentary some day, as should many of the experiences in this comments section. Glad you are here to tell the tale.
LOL, it happens. I was thinking, 'why are they complaining about such a small drift?' 🤔 I remember drifts up to my bedroom window on the 2nd floor. Fun times.
I was in high school in suburban Dayton OH. All that rain which fell the day before the 78 blizzard froze overnight then snow fell and drifted in the howling winds. The streets were plowed but the ice under didn't melt. It was so cold they didn't bother salting the roads. We put on ice skates and skated all up and down our street. School was closed for two weeks which we had to make up at the end of the semester not finishing until mid-June.
I was a high schooler living in a mobile home near Newark, OH. I was terrified. My mother needed insulin and Dad somehow got the car past overturned semi trucks and waist deep snow to get us and the pets to safety at a miraculously open and heated motel. He was a hero.
YES, We had a ice storm that cut power off then before every was in case in ice and then the blizzard, drifts it was insane. Sledding was amazing. Lol.
My mother recounts her life every winter due to how bad it was during the Blizzard of '77, it traumatized her. She was 19 and had twins the June prier, they were not prepared for such a storm. My dad working diligently keeping the family farm afloat. Having to rely on family and friends for food until roads and stores were open. Every time there is a Lake Effect Warning her anxiety still goes up. Even today with a few feet being called for she called and said "You know me, and please, just humor me... Do you have enough food to last a week?" And time and time again I reassure her we are ok and well stocked. Meanwhile, my southern fiance thinks I'm nuts for even humoring her. Even after last year getting about 6ft of snow from one storm, I try to keep a level head that everything will be ok. Times have changed, and I am thankful.
1976 was horrid in Clarksville Tennessee. We got an ice storm after Thanksgiving and that never melted. School was closed for over 45 days, nobody could get out. Thanks for this concise summary ❤
I remember the blizzard of 78, my father plowed for the state and my mother was essential personal so me and my sister stayed at my grandparents house for almost 2 weeks. This was so good and brought back so many memories of a time long gone by but far from forgotten.
And I remember back then all the climate scientists saying the next ice age was coming. And is exactly why I know that the global warming scam is nothing more than a money making scheme through scare tactics, just like they did back then except using the coming ice age as a way of scaring everyone into funding their research departments, because it's better than working in the private sector where they actually have to produce results. Flim flam scam, that's the name of the game with those people, "You're all gonna die from this unless you give us money to figure it out".
My grandpa was a plower too. He still used his own tractor, he made a makeshift snow plow attachment for it. This being in Rural South East Austria. He tells us stories about how winters used to be harsh. Now we only get good snow each 10 years.
I'm a native Californian who in the fall of 1977 took the train to NYC and stayed in a brownstone in Harlem during the winter of 1978. I actually had the presence of mind to take photographs which I'm using in the book I will publish this summer. Thank you for explaining the mechanics of this unforgettable climatic event.
I will happily purchase 2 copies of that book. My Hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. I missed so much school I'm an intellectual stone boat. Let me know what you title it it and when it hits the shelves.
@@michaelcoffman4185 I will keep u posted absolutely. The title is: Winter in America and the Summer of Dreams. August or September it will be released. Thanks
Best wishes with your book. It would be nice if the owner of this channel put a link in his description. Together you could keep the memories of this storm alive.
I was 6-7 years old in 1977-78 N.E. Ohio. I remember some of the storms, but that's through photos and stories from my mom. I was too young to really understand the severity of those storms, but thank you for explaining this in such detail. To all the youngsters that wonder why grandma keeps all those ugly blankets in the closet. This is why.
I was wondering why these years sounded so familiar, and then when the 77 January arctic blast segment came in, I remembered. I'm from Tampa, originally, and people there talk about the only time they had real snow: January 1977. It's so fascinating to hear an explanation for what, to me, sounded like legend for years. Awesome video!
I was in seventh grade when that storm hit Boston. I lived in a very rural area and we were without power for 2 weeks. People came together and did what they could to help each other.
i'm from the northeast of brazil, an area that has mostly consistent weather all year. it's very interesting to see videos like these when i'm very much unaffected by these things. the only experience i have with snow was an exchange program where i spent the first half of 2019 in winnipeg, and it was unexpectedly cruel and difficult for someone who had zero experience, i can't even imagine how difficult this must have been. nice video!
Dang, I spent 3 years in Portage La Prairie, a town about 40 miles west of Winnipeg definitely cold. My lunch would freeze on the bus in the 10 minute ride to school. I've met a few people from warm climates and yes.... it's a shock. None of them realized how warm you had to dress. They almost always never wore enough clothing no matter how much they were warned. It's a belief issue. No way could anything be that cold. My wife saw it at a daycare where she used to work, the kids and parents under dressed and complaining about the cold... repeatedly. To be fair I don't think I could handle a South Carolina summer let alone one in the Dominican. The locals wouldn't like how much clothing I'd have to remove.
22 years old living in Bennington Vt night of the 78 Snow Storm. It was an odd snow fall the size of the snowflakes were crazy. Really big flakes you could hold one in your hand. Really cold. It snowed so heavy and non stop you couldn't see the other side of the street for like 18 hours. Owned a Dodge Van in those days parked in my back yard. Woke up in the AM and couldn't see my van it was just a big mountain of snow. Owned a Siberian Husky when i let him out that night he wouldn't come back in. I brought him in and he just sat at the door and cried. Left him out all night in the morning I went out and he was gone. i started screaming his name in terror thought he ran away. His head popped up out of 3 feet of snow lol he was sound asleep in the snow. He finally came back in had the time of his life in that snow.
I was nine/ten years old living in Missouri during this time. It was the only time I've ever seen snow so deep the local roads were like driving in a white canyon.
Our family was ok. We lived on a farm and our dad was a preper ahead of his time. The part that made the blizzard of ‘78 scary was that our mom fell ill the day before and dad missed his chance to get moms meds. She was sick in bed during this ordeal. And we were hoping her condition wouldn’t worsen because of lack of meds. It was likely the event that set the wheels in my dads head in motion to move us to our parents native Czechoslovakia.
I was six months old in December of '76. We lived in Buffalo. My parents still tell stories of spending a whole week snowed in, eating peanut butter and crackers. Then when stores opened again, they had to climb out a second story window with me on a sled to walk to the store for more food. My sister was born in September of '77 and it happened again in '78. That year, my Dad requested a transfer to a base in Missouri. We still had snow but not like that. You have done a great amount of research for this piece and the actual footage must have been challenging to find. Thank you for putting some pictures to events I was too young to remember and always hear about.
I was 2mos old when tge '78 blizzard hit in Grand Rapids, MI. We lived in a valley that had only two hill roads to take out. My mother said the snow was up to the roof of our ranch style house. We were trapped inside for four days before crews were able to get down our street and clear the front of the home enough to be able to get out and clear what we wanted out. Thankfully, we had a combination wood and gas burning furnace at the time and enough wood to keep the house warm enough.
Snow banks in rural west Michigan were 20-30 feet high, the national guard was using huge Terex loaders to clear intersections and country roads. People were riding snowmobiles into mid April. 2008/2009 was the last _real winter_ season we have had here. Now it rains more than it snows.
The drifts were so high we'd slide on our sleds down the roof of our garage. We had cows and chickens and had to dig a path 100 yds to the barn to feed them. Twas good times.
Blizzard of 78 in Boston we had 39 inches of snow and I was 11 years old. My brother's and I built a snow tunnel from the front of the house to the back of the house. Crazy!!
I know there is a 1978 National Geographic magazine story on 1977 Buffalo. I have the story, named “ The Year The Weather Went Wild”. ( or, more than likely mid 1977 ). CB
Winter ❄️☃️ of 77-78 was a kid's dream. I lived in northwest Missouri which rarely gets significant snow. 77-78 was tons of fun sledding on hills! It unfortunately wasn't that way for everyone. 😢
I was in JHS for the 78’ blizzard. I was happy to have a “snow day” from school until my father got me out of bed and made me shovel him out to go to work. The snow was almost as high as my head and it took me hours. To this day I vividly remember this.
I was born a couple years after this time, but my parents always talked about it. We were in North-Central IL. One of the things I've learnt is that there was actually a mini-babyboom due to the amount of time people spent couped up and unable to do anthing else... or even go to a gas station for "supplies".
In London, Ontario, Canada, in 1978, as I left my apartment building to go to work, the superintendent in the foyer said be careful, going to be a big blizzard. I thought, well lucky I don't have to drive that far. I started out in my small car to pick up my coworker in the next subdivision. Part way there, I could not see for the blanketed snow and my car got stuck and stalled. As I sat in whiteness, wondering what to do, a woman came to my door and said "get in my jeep, I will drive you home" which she somehow did before driving on to her own home. Some people died after being stuck in their cars, so I am forever grateful to her!
I was home from college with a broken arm when the blizzard hit, and I'll never forget that storm! The snow (in Ft. Wayne, IN) was so high that it came up to the roof on one side of the house. We watched "Roots" in the evenings, and my mom started getting creative with making us dinner because we were running out of food, but everything she made tasted great anyway, and there were so many great memories of being together as a family. Thanks for the great video!
I lived in Woonsocket, RI at the time of the blizzard of 78 and I can tell you for certain once that snow and wind started it became really bad really quick. Nothing moved for about a week but on the plus side folks around the neighborhood all helped one another out as best we could, and the folks were very friendly, people all just walking outside a few days after and just taking it all in. People you normally would not converse with you ended up becoming more friendly after the storm had past etc.
Thank you so much for the video I'm blind so I couldn't see the footage but everything was really really done well and it brought back tons of memories and I was looking for in comments for for somebody that yeah I got to start this reply over because I thought I was replying to the just making a regular comment I clicked on to reply cuz I was looking through all the comments to see if I can find someone from Rhode Island that was there at the time at that time I was 18 and I was living in Providence and I remember yeah you're right it was forecast it was forecasted and it came really really quick I had a friend from Woonsocket and it's actually two friends who you know after that it stops snowing and stuff 30 days afterwards when the roads are still all closed down I remember they came to visit us on snowshoes across country skiing they they they came all the way to hang outit was pretty cool I remember I grew up in New York City but so the winters in Rhode Island were really special and different I remember the ice storms we would get how beautiful that was especially at night with the lights so that weren't knocked down LOL but with the lights glittering off the The ice which was everything would be in case in ice I'm sure you must remember this I'm sure you must remember the ice storms that we would have I remember for some reason that we had snow in Providence in May and I don't know if that's just something that I I thought I thought about it and I made up and started to believe all these years or if it really what happened because the snow was so high we were able to take the the letters on the local movie theater off the billboard off theirdo you remember when they had to have the national guard from I forgot it was a Southern state come and dig us out I remember only you know the army going down Hope Street in Providence right by my house and there was like just the whole train of military vehicles and they were hanging off the sides and stuff like that cuz I was walking alongside I walked about three miles to the nearest grocery store for me and my family and for my girlfriend and her family anyway please excuse any typos misspelled words lack of punctuation etc I'm not stupid and I'm not illiterate without people think I am and my friends say that I am LOL but all kidding aside I'm blind that you speech to text and it has its own unique take on the English language and how it's written sincerely David Rafael AKA Bob the blind bedroom guitars PS I haven't been back to Rhode Island in a very long time and I'm thinking of calling a couple of friends up there pretty soon and maybe seeing if I'll go up there for a few days and I get in touch with my old school buddies and friends that are still left living there because it's been a real long timecoming from New York City to Providence the first it was East Providence for about 6-7 months and I was a little too rural if you could believe rural it was East Providence for my mother so we ended up moving to the east side of Providence Randolph Hope Street in between Rochambeau and I think it was Laura Butler Austin hope that this is this video had fun memories for you also cuz they work for me after they did the plowing and stuff there was like a 12-foot a wall that surrounded the my whole property because we had a corner house and a quarter of an acre which in that area was a lot of land because the average lot was like $125 ft by 40 so it has snowed us completely in and then the plows everything in front of our house my parents couldn't leave the house for a very long time because it took a long time for that 12-ft and but I was able to climb over it when I when I went out with a ladder for a while and then I was able to just get up there by chiseling out footholds and stuff pretty pretty wild all right I'm going on forever here take care and good luck to you😊
I grew up in the western suburbs of Boston. I remember the sweltering summer of '77 and the relentless February blizzard of '78. I was only a kid, but I recall it well. Nice to see Bruce Schwoegler at 32:36!
I remember walking home from school after the blizzard hit my hometown. All the way home I couldn't see the road despite it only being a few feet away (not counting driveways). Also a huge snow fort that the students built had a base so thick it didn't completely melt until the middle of May.
Thank you! Finally someone says the blizzard of '78 was the biggest of the storms we've ever gotten. In 2021 every station was carrying stories about the biggest storms in history and not one mentioned '78 (or'77)! I was on the east coast of Massachusetts when the '78 blizzard hit. No one was expecting anything close to what we got (at least 30".) My friends and I were hanging out at the local tavern, having some dinner and gabbing away when I looked out the windows and saw that the snowflakes had become really huge (and wet) and the wind was blowing sideways - really fast. At that point, I thought uh-oh, this might be worse than we thought and so I told people I was going to head home. It was really scary. I lived about 20 minutes away and almost got stuck on the on-ramp to the highway. It took me well over an hour to get home. Fortunately, my son was with my folks that night so he was safe. The next morning I had to climb out one of my windows and roll across the snow to get to the street. The news was showing aerial footage of the four-lane highway and all that could be seen was snow. The cars and and tractor trailer trucks had been completely buried. The Nat'l Guard came with these gigantic snow movers and a few of them even got stuck and had to be towed. We were running out of places to even move the snow to! There were giant mountains of snow in shopping center parking lots that took almost three months to completely melt. I wish I'd stayed with my friends because they spent the next several days partying in the streets and building snow sculptures. (There was a ban on driving and the electricity was out almost everywhere.)
The raising of the water table due to the melting after the blizzard of ‘77 strongly influenced the environmental disaster at Love Canal in Niagara Falls. The connection it super interesting.
My parents were living in Rochester, NY during those years and boy are they completely unimpressed with every blizzard that's happened in my entire lifetime living in the Philadelphia area. I think our ability to mitigate these storms has also improved, so it would take some crazy conditions to lead to paralyzed cities like we had in the 70s.
I grew up in Asheville and was 13 in January 1977. We got heavy snows twice a week. They didn't have a lot of salt and equipment in those days so they stopped trying to clear the roads. We went to school only two days for the whole month. It wasn't horribly cold, just below freezing so we went sledding every day. I built an igloo. Best winter of my life.
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At 15:03 it should be square miles of snow, not feet! That's the difference between the size of a couple houses and an entire lake... Thanks to everyone who pointed this out
Winter of 1969 in the Sierras might be worth looking at, it was the 'beginning of new ice age' many feared, and would have been if every yr were like that or at least local glaciers would be returning.
@@Mrbfgray to my link 🔗🔗🖇️🖇️🖇️🖇️🖇️🖇️
Good eye, I wondered why he said feet but that young fella did a very good job.
I'm from Boston Mass and I'm 37 all I ever heard about was the blizzard of 78' and how awful it was and as kid I always wanted it snow like that and the older people and my mom told me even as kid you don't want that much snow! But ya that is still the worst winter in Boston history
Weatherbox, I just want to compliment you on an OUTSTANDING production. I'm glad YT recommended it to me. I experienced this blizzard, but had no idea how far beyond Boston this weather phenomena touched. You are a EXCELLENT presenter and hope to see more of you. You remind me of the actor who played Doogie Howser M.D.. I wish you much success.
I was a truck driver stuck in the blizzard . Pulled into a truck stop in central Ohio that evening it was probably 50 degrees. When I woke up the next morn the tires of my truck were frozen to the ground and it was near zero. The governor closed all interstates so I spent the next three days in the truck stop sleeping on the floor with dozens of other people. By the third day the restaurant was running out of food so they only served a few hours a day. Ive told my kids about this ,but Im sure they thought I made a lot of it up. 50 years later I.m still talking about it.
Damn that’s wild. How did you end up getting out of there in the end?
It was raining the night before but the radio was saying there was a "blizzard warning." I'm thinking yeah, right. But when I woke up the next morning there was snow everywhere.
How strange was it to be trapped with strangers like that? Was there any kind of indication at all when you guys would be able to leave?
We lived it. Everything shut down for 3 days.
my math says it's been 45 years (not 50)
I was an eleven year old kid living in Ontario, Canada when this storm hit. Both my parents were trapped at work and I was tasked with looking after my two younger brothers, and for some reason a kid from the neighborhood. I made fried chicken and baked potatoes for dinner after my mom had specifically told me not to touch the oven. 😀 I gained a lot of respect and independence from my parents after those two days.
@cool leo I was 8 soo fun!
Can we talk about the kid from the neighborhood that was there for no apparent reason?
@@booooo-urns He was my younger brother's best friend. It's been so many years, I don't recall how or why he ended up at our house, but we certainly couldn't send him home. You couldn't see two feet in front of your face in that storm.
@@BunnEFartz 👍😀
In today’s world your parents would have called off work before storm hit
I had always remembered it as the best winter of my childhood and spent decades unaware of how hard it was for others. My parents homesteaded in northern Michigan, so we had plenty of food and wood heat. When the plowing guy was able to come over, after nearly a week , us kids were sledding in our own backyard. Another memory is of my Dad opening the front door. There was nothing but a wall of snow! Oh, and no school for 2 weeks 😊
_YES!_ One of my fondest childhood memories! Ahh... when we were young~ 🥰🌨️💞
Michigan here, too. We had an old gas stove with a box oven that doubled as a heater in ice storms. Camping in the kitchen. No school. Loved it. XD
@@michellegiacalone1079
💪🏼 Michiganders unite!! 😂💞🎉
From Traverse City, MI during this.
Michigan here I remember but what people don't know we already had a butt load of snow before the big one hit there was trouble finding places to put it
Meteorologist by degree here. Your explanation was superb, good terminology without boring or overwhelming most.
I never got to go to college for it, but I study the courses on COMET. I haven't in a while and this really scratched the itch for me.
Was thinking the same from an opposite perspective. No training or experience personally and the information seemed a deep dive, but manageable for viewers such as myself. And therefore, interesting.
It was my first winter as a bookkeeper turned dairy farmer. It was in NY State. I thought I had moved to the north pole. Was too busy fighting the cold and snow to realize everyone was getting it. Even at 94, The memory is still vivid.
God bless…I hope you’re doing well and that you have another 94 left in the tank!
Pretty sure I found an interview of you, really interesting stuff! museum.dmna.ny.gov/application/files/5215/9464/4436/Gabriel_Edward.pdf
HERE HERE
hope you’re still doing well!
@@maxthefool Max, I look back over my life and I can't help but fel grateful to God for all the wonderful experiences I have had. The internet has been the most amazing as it puts the world at my finger tips. And better than that, I'm in touch with my big family throuh email, texting, facetime, Marco Polo. I can see them and talk to them. Today I watched my great great grandchildren play in a place far removed from me. Life is good and if I go tomorrow, it will be with a smile on my face.
I was in 8th grade and delivered newspapers in East Aurora NY (suburb of Buffalo) during these blizzards. I had to burrow through the snow across a field (1/2 mile) to get to my first delivery. It ultimately turned into a snowy hallway that I had to dig myself and it was feet over my head. I actually found out later that I had been walking over a car that was buried in the snow, and I had no idea it was there. I could actually walk onto the roof of my house, and many houses were just giant snowy lumps. I found out that I was one of the only paperboys in Buffalo who hadn't quit during these snowstorms. The trucks arrived at 3AM with the papers, and would wait to make sure I was going to deliver each day, because almost no one else was. I often had to stand on the handrails of the front steps and wave to them because the snow was to the roof, and I hadn't fully dug my way out the front door to the sidewalk. Some of my customers were incredulous that I delivered their papers at all, and an equal number were pissed off I was late. It was ridiculous.
I was in 2nd grade, south of Buffalo, in Cattaraugus county. To be honest I was 6, I didn't realize it was out of the ordinary, it was just a lot of snow, and fun with no school. But it was a ski town, and always gets lots of snow, and i think I was on the southern edge of that storm.
But I do remember people kept talking about it for years after. I remeber a board game came out based on the storm "Blizzard of '77... the game"
Just wow, you were/are a bound & determined young man 👌🏻 i probably would of played like i was sick 🤒
Was in Elma
Respect. I hope you got some good tips.😊
The bus picks my kids up in front of my house
This is when the south end of Lake Michigan froze from Illinois to the Michigan side. On a dare, a guy drove his car from the Michigan side 60 miles to the Illinois side. He had to drive around massive ice heaves and had several spin outs. As soon as he got within 10 miles of Chicago, the traffic watchers in the Sears Tower could see his car making its way across the lake. When he arrived at the shore of Grant Park, he was arrested by the awaiting Chicago Police and thrown in jail. However, the DA couldn't find any law he had violated other than "driving across a public park" which was a $15 fine. They tried to arrest him on violating Illinois lake navigation laws, but there were none on the books. He was released and paid his ticket and drove back to Michigan the normal way. Shortly thereafter both the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois passed laws banning the use of cars to cross Lake Michigan.
🤣 oh wow! That is too funny! 🤣 if they can't find a reasonable law they just simply invent one. There was no reason to arrest him.
I just read a detailed article on "MLive" titled "Remembering the Great Blizzard of 1978, when winter packed a wallop". Lots of pictures too. No mention whatsoever of that story. And that after an extended internet search that found no other mention of that story. Methinks that your memory of that story may be off. Back then, of course, we heard stuff all the time but had no way of confirming if it was true.
@@jimwerther I dunno. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Because having lived through those years, albeit as a child, people were characters back then. And I knew people wild enough to pull a stunt like that.
@@lightspeed4596
I don't doubt that he's saying it as he remembers it. But those of us who lived before the internet became a thing know that we used to hear stuff all the time and assume it was true, having no way to check it out. And a lot of the stuff we heard back then was not true.
@jimwerther753 All I can say is hit a library in Chicago and go nuts in periodicals. Why would I make up something so silly? It was reported on the local TV affiliates as well but being so cold at the time, the coverage was skimpy. It took my dad 13 hours to get home on the April Fools Day blizzard in 1975. No one believes that either. What can I say?
I was 6-7 years old at this time. I remember us not being able to find our car for weeks on end; my Dad had joined a car pool. Unable to go to the grocery, we walked a lot to the local restaurant. We were good friends with the owner. He worked with what food he had on hand. Some of his distributors were still working. I honestly think he bought what he could at the local grocery store. A bread store was also in walking distance. I remember bundling up more than Ralphie's brother in "A Christmas Story". We lived in Battle Creek, Michigan; that's the southwest corner. Great video. It really helps a guy that was just a boy at the time really understand things. I think it was events like this that made me a weather geek as I got older.
My father was a locomotive engineer for Conrail based out of Rochester. He took the first train to Buffalo after the blizzard of '77. Buffalo is only about 60 miles from Rochester but it took THREE Days to get there. The train was proceeded by a front end loader to cut thru the snow drifts that had packed so dense, they would lift the locomotive off the rails if not cleared.
Contrail loaded snow from those storms into empty coal cars and sent them south till the snow melted . Contrail was paralyzed by that winter and a lot of top management was fired because the railroad was in effect frozen in place
@@genegleason4987 wow, imagine seeing snow loads regularly lol
The legend also goes that the winters of '77 & '78 reeked such havoc on Conrail's electrical locomotives (GG1s, E33s, E34s) that it contributed to Conrail's decision to abandon electric locomotives altogether in '81
@@genegleason4987 The C&NW was doing the same, shipping it to warmer weather
The Amtrak Floridian was trapped in snow in west central Indiana for several days, and many RR cuts were filled with snow. After the blizzards, I went by train from Lafayette IN to chicago and snow was as high as the passenger cars. Only way to see above it was from the dome car that was on that train.
I was born in the blizzard of '78. Got a special escort from a state snow plow after my dad contacted the local volunteer fire company who stated they couldn't get the ambulance to us. Dad had' 77 Jeep J10 and following that plow at 15mph for the 20 mile trip to the hospital was a lifetime for my mother. She said I was lucky to not have been born in the front seat of that Jeep in the middle of the road!
Yeah, I was a teenager, just graduating High School in Sunny Santa Monica, heading to City College, when I heard the “climate activists” of my daying touting the “Endless Winter” as proof of the “Man Made 2nd ICE AGE!!!” (Rather than just a bad Winter) and it was - so bad - it took a DECADE for the propagandists to switch to “global warning” (until that - too - proved to be a UN / University of East Anglia HOAX… and it took another decade to switch to the “Hot or Cold” (like the thermos) either way… its “Climate Change” that needs endless taxation to ensure survival…. 🧐
Pain makes minutes feel like hours. Glad the community understood the assignment. 🍼🚼
I watched a documentary about the blizzard of 49. The storm was lower than normal, earlier in the year, and trapped people for months. People had the leave messages in the snow for flyovers to see what was needed like food, blankets, medical, etc. pregnant women had to be picked up by plane.
Did they name you Bliz?
@@genericamerican7574 whoa. Brutal. Imagine such blizzards in the world before even telegraphs were invented.
😂😂😂😂
My grandpa was a mailman in rural Ohio during this time and he ended up getting caught in the blizzard during his route and his truck ended up being buried in a snow bank during it
He nearly died because his truck got completely covered but he ended up being saved by the Amish family who’s yard he ended up driving into because he couldn’t see
Ended up having to stay with them for a week before the roads got cleaned up enough that he could go home
My grandma was so worried and my grandpa ended up walking in alive right when she was about to call their church to try to prepare for a funeral
that must have been a really touching reunion, we really take for granted the inter connectivity of modern day, being able to keep in touch with loved ones
For anyone who asks, "Why didn't he just call home to let his family know he was okay?!"
Well, even if the phone lines somehow stayed functional, the Amish don't have phones.
@@katewalchle6704 - well, some Amish DO have phones and other technology devices, but they are prohibited from using those in their homes. Their tech devices would be in a shed or shack. I will post a link to a site that shows an Amish phone shack (posting it separately because the link might get this comment deleted if posted in this comment).
@Kate Walchle The phones were out for 2 weeks where I live, 20 miles from Cincinnati. The electricity was out for 3 days also.
To add insult to injury, the water pipes going into most homes froze up and busted.
I was 14 years old living in Jamaica .We got a cold front from this blizzard that caused the temp to drop to 65 degrees in certain parts .it remain the coldest Jamaica ever experienced in recorded history .Yes ,this blizzard wasn't no joke .It affected the Caribbean also with the cold air from up north .We call this " Cold Front .
I'm in Eastern CT. I was 9, and my dad thought it was a good idea to take his Girl Scout Cadet troop "Winter " camping at a large cabin in the woods. I remember the girls parents having a hard time picking up their kids. When we got home, we had no power, and 2 feet of snow with an inch of ice on top. We did have a fireplace, so at least we had heat. My brother chopped up the backyard, and used the squares to build an igloo in the front yard. Still have a picture of him peeking out of it. After the blizzard of '73, my dad built the fireplace. After the Blizzard of '78, he installed a cast iron stove, too. Never worried about not having heat again.
In the 1970's, why/how did your father lead a GIRL Scout troop instead of Boy Scouts?
@@becauseweare1 Why not?
@@becauseweare1 Because he was cool? And why not?
@@EneTheGene It was my (mis)understanding that men weren't allowed to lead girl troops in that era. Apparently, I am wrong.
I was 16 years old in January 1977, living in the "snow belt" of WNY. I was just starting my drivers road test to get my license when the blizzard started. At that time, you had to use hand signals to pass your driver's road test, so my window was down. It was RIDICULOUS! There was so much sleet pouring into the car that myself, and the DMV tester were soaked, freezing and couldn't see out the windshield. I turned to the tester and said, "I'm rolling this window up, so please tell me now if you are going to fail me."
He said he wouldn't and I passed, but my mother and I barely made it home before the drifts locked us into our house for days.
This is an amazing story
Glad I lived in civilization. I took my road test in 1970 and hand signals weren’t mentioned or on any testing material. Cool story
I also took my drivers test during a bad snow storm. My Mom begged me to stay home that day, but I had to have my drivers license...lol. We also barely got home....but I got to drive us..... I felt so grown up!
I was 16 too, when i came from Puerto Rico in 1977 (May during the 1st week or second) when they had a snow storm - So it was my first time seeing snow and feeling cold. I also felt the 1978 blizzard when we were out from school
They didn’t believe in safety back then. No seatbelts or no texting while driving laws.
I was a grad student at IU in Bloomington, Indiana during 77-78. The 78 blizzard and aftermath especially was the experience of a lifetime. One factor that didn’t come up in your video was that there was a coal strike going on all winter. Because there wasn’t enough coal, the university shut down for 4 weeks that winter. This was a wonderful time-nothing to do but stay inside and drink tea and read undisturbed. You can google that coal strike-it affected a lot of things and is a very interesting part of union history.
I was there.
I was in early grade school that winter in PA. We lived in a town of about 100 people that was not far from the Allegheny Forest. I only remember the snow days, playing in HUGE snow drifts and seeing the dump trucks full of coal driving past.
Given the recent droughts in the western US, it makes me worry that the winters of '24 and '25 could be just as devastating right as our various governments are pushing us to electricity sources that wouldn't easily survive those extreme lows.
My next major home investment will probably be better insulation and windows, then an upgraded fireplace.
@Lou Loutrel
Were you around Tionesta, Tidioute, Smethport?
Oil City resident's child here. Frequent visitor of Venango, Crawford Counties, occasional travel to Forest County : )
@@AJKPenguin Clarion County
@@pierowmania2775 We are starting to rely so heavily on electricity and it's going to go wrong at some point in the future, not just heat but our need for food and money. All online.
Dude, this is amazing historical and scientific research. The work it must have took to research the clips, write, record, and edit is insane. Kudos.
Yeah, I was a teenager, just graduating High School in Sunny Santa Monica, heading to City College, when I heard the “climate activists” of my daying touting the “Endless Winter” as proof of the “Man Made 2nd ICE AGE!!!” (Rather than just a bad Winter) and it was - so bad - it took a DECADE for the propagandists to switch to “global warning” (until that - too - proved to be a UN / University of East Anglia HOAX… and it took another decade to switch to the “Hot or Cold” (like the thermos) either way… its “Climate Change” that needs endless taxation to ensure survival…. 🧐
Yeah this probably took, well’ a long time 😮💨 good job too 👌🏻
@@trickywoo5165 your RUclips handle is trickywoo! Are you a James Herriot fan?
I lived through those storms in western PA. This past winter we barely had a flake. Just plain strange.
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ Hail Satan
I remember our elementary school passing out "I survived the Blizzard of '78" book bags. What a memory. In CT we had snow drifts to the roofs but it was heaven for kids making snow forts! What a time to be alive.
Lol I was in the 6th grade in 1978, snowed in for almost a month in southern Indiana and when I finally went back to school kids had T-Shirts that said "I survived the Blizzard of 1978 " too !
Yeah, we made snow tunnels in my front yard, it was so deep and sticky. Perfect for sculpting. I think we had three days off from school in my town (in central CT), but my memory kinda sucks. It might have been more. Unique!
Idaho I’m the 90s.
In
@@wayneperry7077 shakamak
Great video, especially graphics!
The 77 blizzard I was on break my first year of college in Pennsylvania. My boyfriend, about 4 of our friends, and I decided to take a road trip to Stowe in Vermont to go skiing (we were passionate skiers and knew no fear). I think we had an old station wagon or a jeep (that part’s a blur). I do remember we had a ‘cb’ radio, and my BF was versed in its use. As the snow fell and mounted (we’re talking feet) and night came, the state police closed down the New York interstate and on-ramps behind us. We raced to stay just ahead of them, and followed the last snowplow clearings the trucks would make for the days to come. Seemingly no one else was on the road, conditions were so treacherous. We were too stupid to be afraid, and instead, embraced the beauty of the storm in our quest to ski ‘big.’ In hindsight, for the grace of God, we arrived at our destination in one piece. These 45 years later, I don’t even remember the skiing part - I only remember our abandon-all-wisdom journey!
Thank God you made it!
This is proof that there's at least some truth to the adage "it's about the journey, not the destination."
We were 6 high schoolkids packed in a 64 Chevy Impala, rescuing all our friends from the bars for a good 18 hours, and being to stupid to worry... lol. What an adventure. Our heater didn't work well at all so the 12 pack of rescue elixir was always cold. People slept in and stayed sheltered in Bars in Kettering Ohio. Try Remote cross-country skiing, alone in heavy snow fall. You will be glad in memory that there is a God. Getting buried in hidden drifts ... Priceless.
@@rodneycaupp5962 Oh my gosh - I hear you! In our defense, our cerebral cortexes (like all kids’) were still a WIP and few parents knew how to protect us from ourselves beyond their own experience. But ever since, there’s been a pendulum swing from not enough knowledge to too much. It seems that today, there’re so many ‘rubber bumpers’ to protect us from peril (and consequences, where we actually learn so much the hard way), fear-of-winter mongering, and so much else. Still, I must admit many advances since then are good, like seatbelts (I was ejected from my brother’s early 1960s Porsche doing 60 mph on a country corkscrew turn, and really could have used one)!
Oh the ignorance of our youth how did we survive? Love your story thanks for sharing.❤️
I was 16-17 during this period. Holy freaking cow, I have NEVER seen such a deep, accurate, comprehensive meteorological dissertation on these 2 years!
Seriously epic work here. Thank you!
I was a Sophomore in HS in Jan 78, and had to take my driving test right after the storm. THAT was FUN!!!
I was -2 during this period. But even a year before conception I was still cold.
I lived in Boston most of my life. The blizzard/hurricane of 1978 was monumental. My solid brick apt. building shook. the winds were so strong. I will never forget.
Lynn area. I thumbed home from Buzzards Bay that day. 2 rides.
@Jay
honey where are my car keys?
They’re in the clothes drawer.
Not my khakis my car keys.
I was 9 years old in north providence Rhode Island. me and my mom took the toboggan and walked to the store to get milk and stuff for my grandparents. on the way back we were at the top of a huge hill and looked down to see about 4 feet or more of compacted snow in the road and cars all higgeldy piggeldy on the side of the road. my mom turns to me and says you ready to go down. I was so shocked. I never thought she would suggest it. I assumed she wanted to walk back. so she laid down on the toboggan and I got on top of her and we pushed off and it seemed like we were going 60 miles an hour. we made it almost to the midpoint of the next hill. was an awesome ride.
North Shore
Have photos of homes literally destroyed near the waterfront over here
FINALLY FOUND IT! Ive had an interest in blizzards, specifically the blizzard of 1977 and am so happy someone finally made this! So interesting to see the photos and just how much snow the weather generated, as well as showing the science in to why this blizzard even occurred. Great video!
when people say it is cold, occasionally...I remember trying to walk to my friend's house Jan '78 a block away in 24" of snow. BTW, seems like the lakes froze over _every_ winter in the 1970's (like ~ 10 hectare range lakes, for skating)
I was a kid experiencing my second snowy winter in Indiana in '77. We were sent home from school when we arrived days before the Christmas break and were stuck for 3 weeks. My neighbors had to take my parents to get groceries on their new snowmobiles. We lost power for a few days and had to melt snow on the wood stove for drinking, cooking, and bathing.
I had a great time.
It was a good time for a kid 15 years old with a snowmobile.
Wow I have to say I never thought that I’d ever be glued to my youtube app for 36 minutes listening to someone explain the reasons why a blizzard happened in 1977/78. This was so informative in such detail that Ive learned more about weather patterns and the physics behind them in 36 min than all the videos combined that Ive watched in whole life. Bravo this was incredibly well done, thank you
Could of been done in 20
@@chucknorris277could have*
@@chucknorris277 alright grandpa, back to the retirement home
@@chucknorris277 could've = could have.
It was a wild 2 winters with that high heat
Summer of 1977 sandwiched in between.
We had over 90* days in May in NorthEast
Ohio. Living thru this time period was a wild
ride! I still have the Cleveland newspapers
on January 26,1978. Then 5,10,15 & 20th
anniversary newspapers editions. But lately,
NOTHING! Just like it didn’t exist or ever
happened. Just like all of us dinosaurs that
lived thru it died out. I wrote an editorial to
our local newspaper, chewing them out on
not even mentioning it 45 years later 1/26/23.CB
I was a student at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond in January, 1978. I wrote a note to my girlfriend beneath her dorm room's window in the fourteen inches of snow that was on the ground at the time. Mother Nature took exception to that. Later that night, the blizzard struck and buried my note (and everything else) under eighteen inches of new snow!
It all worked (and thawed) out. She & I have been married since 1980. We got married on the hottest day of an oppressive heat wave in a church that had no air conditioning!
What a great story!
What a wonderful story. And congratulations on setting a great example for so many to follow.
Weather: "You will not marry this girl!"
DaBlazes: "I don't take order from a blizzard. Watch me."
@Matt Taylor I hear you.
Glad to hear that it worked out for you.
I went to school just south of Toledo OH, I had teachers that used to tell us about this storm. It was a big part of their psyche. One was an older woman and anytime the temp would drop below 0 F and snow was predicted she would refuse to come in, citing the storm and not wanting to be stranded. I can empathize now, I didn't really get it as a kid
Howdy neighbor I live in bairdstown a small spec in north baltimore
I was in high school in toledo and tried to get out my front door but it was drifted over and frozen shut. Climbed out bathroom window to walk through 3 ft of snow to find school closed. My Dad was trapped at Ford factory for 3 days living on vending machine food. 12’ foot drifts. I built a snow slide connecting to our roof. We always kept candles, matches, blankets in the trunk.
I was 14 years old and lived just north of Buffalo when this happened. We were sent home from school just an hour after we arrived. The storm came in so quickly that my mom brought home several of her coworkers from the local hospital, as they had become stranded, since most of the roads were now impassable and closed. Only snowmobiles we’re allowed on the road. They camped out in sleeping bags on the family room couch and floor. I still remember, so vividly, bundling up the second night to go outside and look around. It was so silent but so beautiful, like something out of Frozen.
Andi: even snowmobiles we're stranded in fields in those white outs. A man was decapitated by not seeing Barb Wire fencing as he was travelling thru fields at night.
Tail end of Boomers came of age!! Good times.....
@Tery Wetherlow I remember hearing about the guy getting decapitated, it was even on the news in the Cincinnati area, warning people who had snowmobiles to be careful.
😊
My mom grew up in the Boston metro area. She always told me as a kid about how she caused the blizzard by praying to have a snow day at school the night before it hit.
I never understood just how big the storm was until this video
Hey everyone! It's this guy's mom's fault! Let's get him!
Love that story!
I was near Boston in '78. I-95 was shutdown and side roads had only one lane plowed for emergency vehicles only. The skiing in NH was epic!
@@heckzotica LOL. AND da momma too! CB
My Dad, his brothers, and a couple of their friends had snowmobiles, and during the blizzards they helped stranded motorists in the Akron area and brought them home, and also helped their neighbors get food and supplies. Most of them including my Dad were still in high school at the time.
My husband was lucky he made it to a friend's home. Me and the kids were safe at home. We lived west of Chicago.
Wow they’re heroes!!!
That story is awesome. I was north of your dad in Stow and drove to Hudson to work as a machinist afternoon shift. Well, I got to work night shift as well. Drove three miles home on Rt 91 and saw like two cars. Made it but my radiator was completely frozen from diluted anti-freeze. Never phased my 65 Skylark. Never got hot enough.
I lived in a small Massachusetts town, I was 14 years old. We had folks on snowmobiles riding around asking people if they needed anything at the store making runs for them. I always thought that was pretty awesome
@mosinnagant266 i was in high school and did same with snowmobile. Saved clothes of people.
We had just moved from the Ft. Walton Beach, FL to Springfield, OH in late summer of '77. I can remember the '78 blizzard vividly because I wasn't used to seeing snow and there was A LOT OF IT. Our front door was buried in a snow drift that we had to dig out of from the inside, melting the snow in a bathtub. We were stuck at home for days. My mom's cousin was a deputy sheriff in Preble County, OH over on the Indiana boarder. He was on patrol that night when everyone went to bed and it was 50 degrees. When the snow hit, his patrol car got stuck so he walked to a farmhouse in the rural county and knocked on the door in the middle of the night. The farmer didn't believe that he was a deputy or what he was telling him because it had been so warm that night. So the farmer sent him on his way, only to turn the radio on and hear the news and then had to go looking for him. Probably saved his life. I need to find an "I survived the blizzard of '78" t-shirt.
Right on !
I gave birth to my son during this little blizzard. I had planned to stay at home and do a home delivery anyway but my doctor was supposed to have come to the house and he could not make it because of this storm. I delivered my son all by myself, it was the most awesome experience of my life😊
Where I lived a husband put his in labor wife on sled and pulled her many blocks to the fire department where she delivered her baby with the help of trained firemen.
Thanks for sharing your story, amazing.
Husband in grad school at UOf Michigan. People having babies on snowmobiles, emergency services begging citizens to loan their 4 wheel drive vehicles. I went into labor at 22 weeks, we lost our first child that day. Staff at hospital had to stay over, couldn't get home, they were very kind
@@meman6964 Thanks for sharing your story, so sorry for your loss.
@@meman6964 😢
This might be your best video yet. The wardrobe change after the news report was a nice touch! Thanks for all your work making these.
Thanks Joshua! I was real lucky to find the original vinyl shirt transfers on eBay... was worried I would screw the shirt up but it turned out fine!
Problem is, he is OBVIOUSLY too young to have survived the Blizzard of 78., I'm old enough to be this guys father and I was a just a kid. To me, all the nor'easter meant was a day or 2 off school.
@@tarstarkusz I don't see a problem. He put together an awesome presentation! He's quite knowledgeable but managed to put together something that was entertaining and easy to understand as far as the mechanics of how those storms, and others, are formed. I was 15 at the time and lived in Maryland. We had 10 foot drifts and I remember how bone cold it was and, of course, windy!
@@kayelane5868 I wasn't saying anything bad about him. Just he looks to young to have been alive in 1978. In a different video, he said his mother was a girl in 1969. My guess is he was born some time in the mid 90s.
I remember we did have a major nor'easter about the time he's talking about here in Philadelphia. But being 8, to me it was just all fun and time off school.
@@tarstarkusz I was born in Bristol PA. 1961. We moved to MD round about '72. I find myself in the Pacific Northwest Washington for the time being. When I retire, hubby and I will head back towards the east. Not sure where we'll end up but we're tired of the rain!
There were countless horrific stories about that blizzard. I had a friend whose mother died at home and was placed in the freezing cold outside for four days to keep her body from decomposing until it could be removed for autopsy and burial.
Probably like what happened in Texas a few years back. So sad people had to freeeze to death. Nobody was prepared for all that cold. I don't remember how cold it was back then in Cincinnati. I suppose being in kindergarten all I was thinking was playing in all that snow.
@@hugaflowerthat freeze was pretty terrible power didnt even last under 30 degrees farenheit which is normal winter for a northern state. we slept in a nightclub after our house power went out then theirs went out. It was so cold the battery on our phones would die within 2 hours due to the temps.
@@hugaflowerliterally nothing happened in Texas it snowed like an inch and yall lost ur damn minds. Just know that the whole country was laughing at u lol
Wild
@@hugaflowerthey didn't say anyone froze to death. They said grandma died and they couldn't have the body removed and had to leave it outside in the cold so it wouldn't rot in the house
What I remember most about the 2021 cold snap was the response to it. I live in New England (Maine, specifically) and have never set foot in Texas, but I remember everyone I knew talking about it and being so worried for the people in Texas. There wasn't much we could do to help, so people organized Facebook groups and discord servers to gather resources and keep tabs on people. All of my socials were flooded with people from Canada and New England reaching out and giving comprehensive lists of what to do, how to keep warm, what signs to look out for, things to have on hand, numbers to call---anything. I had a four day silence from a discord server I was in playing Minecraft with some kids from Texas and I was so worried about them, until they were finally able to get back online to say thank you for everything. It didn't feel like much, but I was glad they were okay.
We played every now and then, but mostly lost touch until months later when the second heat wave of 2021 (after the one that caused so much damage in the Northwest U.S.) passed over us and I watched the same thing happen in reverse. Texans and other southern states started making groups to keep track of us and compile resources on how to keep our houses cool, making DIY air conditioners out of box fans, what we needed to do to keep our pets safe, and the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses to look out for. I heard from those kids for the first time in months when they reached out to me to make sure my family and I were okay, and to share a chart comparing the symptoms of heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, and heat rash, and what I should do to treat each (which I still keep with me). I remember how much we all worried and looked after each other, people we had never known, and how months after the initial power grid failure in Texas they found a way to return that kindness. It's nice to know that one way or another, people will find a way to look after each other.
My family of 7 was snowed in without heat for 2 weeks. We all had to stay in the kitchen, with the rest of the house blocked off so we could use the heat of the oven, and the stove top burners for heat. We lived in an apartment complex, and everyone was in the same boat. I was a teenager and thought I would die being trapped with my 5 siblings, in one room! lol As the week wore on we were able to traverse the roads, just barely.
My most vivid memory was watching a car flip over a guardrail on US 23, land on the roof of his car, slid down a snow covered embankment, flipped back over onto his wheels, and sailed out onto the surface of the frozen Olentangy river. It was terrifying and amazing! The man was not hurt, thankfully. ( my friend and I prayed out loud for the man as it was happening, He climbed out of his car and started walking around his car over and over. We were on a road adjacent to the river, and waved , and yelled at the man asking if he was okay. We hiked down to greet the man and take him to make some phone calls to retrieve his car and made him some coffee. He was in complete shock. He kept saying, " No one will believe it, I dont believe it! Did you see it really happened didnt it?" It was absolutely amazing that very little damage was done to his car. I truly believe God had his hand on that man and his car.
My second most vivid memory was seeing the Ohio River completely frozen over, and people had driven their cars out onto the ice . And we did walk from Newport Ky to Cincinnati Oh. I can still remember the looks on the adults faces, out there playing around like a bunch of kids!
The thing that touched me most was how everyone came together to take care of everyone. People with snow mobiles did double duty bring food and fuel for kerosene heaters out in that cold. Honestly, as a young person, we had a blast once we settled in and started playing in the snow! I can still remember the snow drifts that were piled so high beside the road it felt like you were driving through a tunnel.
Never again have I seen the Ohio River freeze solid.
what great stories! My college roommate was from Kentucky and she’d never seen so much snow. We lived a mile away from most of our friends. So I said come on we’re walking. And we bundled up and she immediately tipped over in the deep snow. Took awhile for her to figure it out, also bc we were laughing so hard. For days everyone single file walked in the little trails on the streets. I’m not sure how long it took for them to plow and I think houses were cold for a while. But we were 20 and only knew we didn’t have classes and we had beer and pot and each other. It was fabulous we laughed and ate pancakes every day.
Great story thanks for sharing
I will never forget that winter. I was 17 then and I have never seen anything like that since, Thank God. I lived in Conneaut, Ohio (Northeast tip of Ohio & PA Border) and our town look similar to what Buffalo looked like. Most of the cities on Lake Erie were devastated. You brought back a lot of memories. No phones, no lights, no motor cars...just like Gilligan's Island...only 30 below zero.
Only in ohio
Sure was , Youngstown was hammered too .
Even in the mid Atlantic region that time period was famous because a lot of the major rivers that fed into the Chesapeake Bay froze over all the way down to southeast Virginia! I can only imagine what it was like in the Great Lakes.
I was also 17. I don't remember it being unusual in Mi. Looking at it now, I see it being unusual!
Yeah, I was a teenager, just graduating High School in Sunny Santa Monica, heading to City College, when I heard the “climate activists” of my daying touting the “Endless Winter” as proof of the “Man Made 2nd ICE AGE!!!” (Rather than just a bad Winter) and it was - so bad - it took a DECADE for the propagandists to switch to “global warning” (until that - too - proved to be a UN / University of East Anglia HOAX… and it took another decade to switch to the “Hot or Cold” (like the thermos) either way… its “Climate Change” that needs endless taxation to ensure survival…. 🧐
This explains why my memories of winter as a kid in northeastern Kansas is very different from my experiences as an adult....I remembered huge piles of snow, digging snow tunnels, sledding on town streets regularly, and as I aged I just assumed that nostalgia had exaggerated it all. But now I feel better about it; there really were some big winters back then!
All it takes is a simple look on weather history to realize what we are experiencing isn’t new. Im starting to feel like this climate doomsday nonsense is only to create new markets and cause weird political division. The devils in the details.
You should remember the winter of 85 in NE Kansas, I was stationed at Ft Riley and we were out in the field when a storm hit that had ambient temps around -35° to -40°f without wind chills, with them it was around -90°f, it was absolutely horrible, we couldn't maneuver because it was so cold it was breaking the drive trains in the vehicles which left us stuck out there in it, they couldn't pull us out of the field so all we could do was button up in our vehicles and ride it out, it was 4 or 5 days until it warmed up to just above 0° and they could finally order us out.
I've never been so cold in my life and promised myself that if I got out of it with the tip of my nose, my finger tips and my ear lobes intact that I'd never again in my life complain about being cold.
Since then I've had plenty of jobs requiring me to work outside in the winter including being an ironworker putting up bridges and buildings in the winter time along with working in a shipyard during the winter, when ask by the people around me in those places who would be complaining about the cold when it would get down around 0° why I wasn't complaining all I'd have to do is think about that winter at Ft Riley and I'd just say "I've been colder".
Yea, climate change is indeed real
@@ripred42
Yea, the climate changes 4 times a year.
@@dukecraig2402 Yeah, no climate change going on at all. It’s all in our imaginations. Just keep telling yourself that. 🙄
My mom talks about this when she was little. She was a pastor daughter and recalls lots of people seeking shelter in the church. Snowmobile were going around getting grocery and delivering them through the chimney for people who were in need of food. Our family lives in the lake effect area of Michigan by lake Michigan.
My Grandma was a nurse in rural Ohio and during this time a nearby farmer with a two-seat “crop duster” airplane flew her to see patients who couldn’t get to the hospital. Wild. My dad was young during this time but he talks about the blizzard all the time, it was a formative event for people his age.
The impending ice age scare was in all the media back then. I even had a teacher cry in front of class while reading from a Scientific American magazine because we were going to have it so hard as adults living in the ice age. We were supposed to be under 2.5 miles of ice by 2010. She terrified me! This is why I remember it so clearly. Television programs were interrupted so a special program could air about the impending ice age. Even, "environmental awareness experts," would interrupt classes to preach about the impending ice age. My how times have changed.
They haven't changed that much. "Reputable sources" are still saying the apocalypse is right around the corner.
Nah, they really haven't changed much. Alarmism over climate is alive and well.
And the same idiots now want us to believe the world will end in 10 years, due to "man-made" climate change.
@@MintyLime703 "alarmism"... this was two winters, we can tell the climate has been changing since the industrial revolution
@@h.f6364 it's been changing for thousands of years
The Winter of '78 was the only Winter my mother ever experienced in South Dakota, and is why even though my father is a Minnesota native, I've lived my entire life in California (she noped out of South Dakota, my dad followed her to California, they married a year later, and in Summer '84 I was born).
My dad would've moved us out of Ohio if
he could've.
Thats a cool story. Glad your family could spend winters in the su lol. I wanted to live in CA since before i was 12 (native newyorker and born way after the 78 Blizz.) I only remember a few bad blizzards in the 80s but none like this one and then a crazy hurricaine where thw sky was green and the winds were blowing sideways. 🤔😐
The winter of 77-78 was the first winter I had spent as a teen in Indiana. We got so much snow along with the high winds we were off of school for a full week with snow amounts of around 3 feet we were able to climb on top of the house with out a ladder.. Man, that was one crazy winter that I had lived through. Blizzard of 78 survivor for sure...
Currently going on about a week below freezing with 30 below windchill for a few nights in the midwest right after new year (Fort Wayne, IN) and I gotta say I couldn't imagine this for 41 consecutive days, that's absolutley wild
I was 8 years old in 77. That entire year, 77-78 was probably the most memorable and ideal of my entire childhood. The snow covered my entire swing set and my dad made snow caves under it. Frightening and fun at the same time. It took dad an entire day to dig the snowblower and snowmobile out of the garage. The local boys made a killing fetching groceries. That year would have been the year I made a movie about like Ralph in the Christmas Story.
Same for me as well. When can't see over the snow that drop over the last few days, it was pretty cool for a kid.
Right? I was ten and my favorite memories of my childhood winters were this winter. I had a snow fort that must have been 25 yards long, all excavated in a giant snowbank created by my 3 brothers and myself shoveling. Epic winter for a kid, I am sure it sucked for adults!
I was born in 76 and have no memory of the Blizzard of 78 but I heard about it all throughout my childhood. I grew up in northern indiana. People talked about it for years afterwards. My dad told me that the snow melt was so lengthy that he remembered buying beer on july 4 1978 and there was a small snow melt pile still in a parking lot melting in the summer heat. Truly amazing amounts of snow.
I feel you. I was 9. Highlight for me was they put all the snow in the corner of the schoolyard. It was almost as high as the school. We had tunnels through it and slides down it. We would get to school so early just to screw around on the pile. And the streets were like trenches the snow was so high. Good times.
Our furnace lay down and died that year. My dad set up camping in the living room. We didn't have to worry about school, but the next day, my sister HAD to go out into the snow. She couldn't find her hat so she took a pair of long John pants and cut eyeholes in them and tied the legs over her head. We called her "Bunny" for a while after that.
My furnace gave out this year, during that Christmas time cold snap. I knew what and what not to do, thanks to my dad.
I grew up just west of Cleveland and these
2 years were my junior and senior years of highschool. I don't think it's possible to exagerate those 2 winters.
As boneheaded kids we had a blast. We were having contests to see how many city blocks we could traverse without taking a step. Simply letting the wind blow us across the ice.
The ice on the lake was incredible. We were at times a half mile out onthe lake. There were spots where the ice had buckled and the shards sticking up were 5 ft thick.
You are right about one thing, we still talk about "the blizzard" all the time
I remember that blizzard/snowfall very well in CT, people were walking on the highways and roads in the town, cars were stranded on the roads.
My dad told me about the snow in Florida. He was in school. He said some of the class were showing up and shedding what layers they had to share with those who didn’t have cold weather clothes. Oddly he said the snow didn’t fall till later in the day and his teacher excitedly rushed them outside for what she claimed was “a historic and unexpected recess!” It melted into mud as soon as it hit the ground but in the moments before they fell my dad insisted it was like the stars in the night sky had drifted down to float around him like fireflies.
Was your dad an author? That's a good description
@@skullingtonfx4441 no but I fancy myself a writer.
And then Florida man beat him up for being weird
@@KAOSshortyrip Curse you, Florida Man!
@@skullingtonfx4441 the power of story telling!!
I was 8 years old living in Chicago, and remember it well. Being as old as I am now and seeing it as an adult, really gets me thinking how great my parents were. It was incredibly cold and rough outside, but have great memories of how they made the best of the situation. Thank you for such a great indepth video in this. This was done very nicely.
same here. It was the best winter of my life, three weeks of snow days. If we had hardships, my parents shielded me from them.
_SAME!_ I just posted my comment about how much fun it was, such an unforgettable childhood experience. (And why I've lived my entire life telling the younger generations that they've never seen snow as deep as we used to get when we were kids!) 😂🌨️💞
I was in Chicago at that time I believe it's set a record of the most snow in a season .
I was 12 yrs old when this storm hit. We lived in Mertztown PA. My Grandma asked me to go to the A&P in Trexlertown to get some necessity before the storm hit. It's roughly about 15 miles. It was flurrying when we left. By the time we got out of the store there was already 8" of snow. The wind was blowing so hard it was hard to stand. We started heading home. Everyone was just crawling along because visibility was 15-20 feet at most. It took us about 3hrs to go 15 miles. My grandma had a old nova at the time. She just kept that thing a movin'!! By the time we got home there was over 2 foot on the ground. It stormed like that all night. The next morning you couldn't even see the cars. The snow was as high as they were! We lost power for a long time. We were fortunate because we had a enormous coal stove in our house. So we had heat. We had neighbors that didn't have heat came to our place. Grandma had coffee going and food out for folks. I miss those days. Good memories of neighbors looking out for and taking care of each other. Sure do miss Grandma.
I was 8 years old living in Maine when we got hit with the blizzard of 78 , but as a kid from Maine , I didn't know how bad it really was .
But i had so much fun playing in the snow that winter.
The storm my family always talked about was the blizzard of 62.
As a kid in Buffalo, I remember sledding off the top of a ranch style home. Lake Erie was frozen and had 5' or more of snow on it. While this blizzard produced little snow, the extreme high winds for days blew all of that snow off the lake on to the surrounding areas.
Again, a professionally presented historic weather story. Toledo was slammed by the 1978 storm. It seems that every winter in the seventies was very cold, but 77-78 were the most memorable winters.
My cousins lived near Toledo and they still talk about that storm.
My teachers kept repeating the story of when we got 2 feet of snow and someone had to volunteer to pick up the kids from school on their snowmobile because cars wouldn't make it.
There hasn't been a winter storm like that here ever since.
And the experts kept telling us it was the start of a new Ice Age.
I was born in Port Clinton OH and lived there until early ‘79. I vividly recall both the ‘77 and ‘78 winter weather events you describe so well. We lived in a one story home less than 2 miles from the lake front. In ‘77 there was snow drift that went all the over the house on one end. I was the smallest, so my family pushed me out of a high window in the bathroom, I slid down the show bank and dug out the front door-otherwise we were trapped in the house! An elderly couple lived across the street-this was a typical small town neighborhood street with small lots so the houses facing each other couldn’t have been more than 50 or 60 feet apart. I was sent over to check on them and make sure they had firewood since the power was out. It was blowing snow so hard I couldn’t see 10 feet much less all the way across the street! My dad kept a small boat in the garage during the winter and he tied a few ski ropes together, attached it to the boat hitch, and I hooked the handle at the other end over my arm so I could find my way back if I got lost! My father was a pharmacist and with the help of friend who owned snowmobiles we went to his drug store, collected prescriptions that were vital for certain patients and delivered them to their houses. When school finally resumed, the national guardsman were sleeping in the gymnasium for a few weeks as they dealt with the aftermath. I’m over 60 now and it’s difficult to separate in my mind events that took place in the winter storms of ‘77 and ‘78, but within a few months - in early ‘79 - we moved to the south where summers are hot, winters are warm, and the girls are friendlier and prettier! Best thing that ever happened to me!
Very cool story
thank you for sharing this & for your acts of kindness in a needed time.
so weird.. what i find fascinating is i bet that hasn't happened there again.. It's so random that it may happen once in 200 years
only in ohio
@@Jack-xe8ki I was in central Ohio during that time and was 12-13 years old. I went to Alamosa Colorado in the winter of 83/84 for college and it was the coldest winter ever there! Actual temperature of -42° I remember seeing -43° on the bank sign as I was going in the door to class after having to walk clear across campus.
In ‘77-‘78, I was 8-9 years old growing up in the Eastern Panhandle of WV. I remember those brutal winters. Huge snow drifts, bitter cold, and snow frozen so solid that it was literally a sheet of ice. I remember throwing rocks from my house on a ridge down the backyard hill and seeing them slide out of sight into the hollow below. This brought back fond memories. Thank you!
I was in michigan during these storms. As an early teen, it was a fun winter wonderland. I'm sure as an adult, it caused worry for the family.
Love it! My parents always used to talk about this storm. My dad got 3 days off of work in Akron at a rubber factory. You know it was bad when the rubber factories closed. For another week, he had to walk to the main road to get his boss to pick him up... their car was stuck for nearly 2 weeks. Unimaginable!!
2 weeks?? Wow... Hope he got some good deals on snow tires!
@weatherbox my parents lived in an apartment complex right off of West Market St in Akron. The apartment complex didn't remove any of the snow, and every time the city cleared Market Street, more snow got pushed into their alley that they parked on.
I can understand why so many people around here still talk about it.
The rubber bowl.
Don't you mean Inconceivable??
"My dad got 3 days off of work in Akron at a rubber factory" Do you mean it wasn't a "Goodyear?"
My grandparents owned a very large cattle ranch in southeastern Montana during this time. I've been told stories about how much of their cattle froze to death, standing up, due to the insane amount of snow and crazy low temperatures. Unfortunately, this loss began events that would eventually lead to them losing their ranch a few short years later.
Northwest Iowa got hammered Nov 8 - 10 in 1977. The snow amount was not much but the winds were the worst I've seen. Many times I couldn't see past the hood ornament on my 74 Chevelle. Wildlife like pheasants and partridge will face into a strong wind otherwise their feathers get lifted and they freeze. The horrific wind packed their beaks/nostrils. When it was all done you could dead pheasants in every field. The pheasant and partridge took many years to "recover" and it was not a complete recover.
As I recall the fall of 78 was very mild so all the crops had been harvested. That took away some wind protection and made the deadly aftermath easy to see.
An uncle had snow drifts that went over the cattle yard fence. Drifts were so hard the cattle walked out of the yards and were in the neighbor's field. So we helped build a temporary fence on top of the snow but we had to round up the cattle first. That's the only time I've seen snow drifts that hard, like packed down soil.
Woodstock Illinois got hit bad to. Don't remember how much snow got, it was a lot and snow drifts were deep. I was 19 years old then could not get to work for 3 days.
Sorry to hear that.
I remember this as an 8-year-old who was out of school for several days and got to play in the snow out at the farm. just down the 2-lane road we lived on, there was a spot the Highway dept was only able to get a one-lane-wide path through, because it was so deep.
Great video. I was a kid in Dayton Ohio back then. We had over a month of school snow days for winter 77-78 and we were forced to make up a couple of weeks of class in the summer. Waiting for the school bus in the morning was brutal because it didn't get above freezing for about 3 months. 1978 wasn't quite as cold, and the number of snow days wasn't quite as bad, but the blizzard was insane. A tree about 4 inches in diameter in our back yard snapped off at ground level and apparently blew over our 2 story house and landed in the front yard during the storms.
I was a senior in high school in Brighton, Michigan 40 miles nw of Detroit. I remembered so many things that happened during that crazy time. First time our school district closed due to dangerous windchill, I had completely forgotten about that. People were xcountry skiing and snowmobiling down main streets. We were lucky we didn't lose power, it was a fun time with lots of baking. Thank you for your very indepth video and the memories it brought back.
Was in southeast Michigan, by the race track, we were kids jumping off the roof into the drifting
I was 12 in Detroit for 78. funny, I'm in Brighton now and my kids just had a snow day last week. seemed . . .weak.
I was HS senior in Ohio in '77, and our district had to give up on trying to stay open. They closed down for the entire month of February due to the persistent cold and snow, which had led to a shortage of natural gas in Ohio. We weren't exactly heartbroken about being out of school for a month and not having to make up any of it.
I remember the 78 blizzard well, I was 11 and lived in Grand Rapids MI. The drifts were so high we kids could climb to the roof of our houses on one side and walk across then jump off into the smaller drifts on the other side. Great video, thank you!
I was 12 in 1977 living in Corydon Indiana. I remember the snow starting after Christmas break and we didn't go back to school until the end of January. My dad and the other farmers in the area used their tractors to clear the roads. The Ohio River was frozen solid and people were driving across it.
There’s a photo my grandma took of my mom’s childhood home in Muskegon - literally footsteps from Lake Michigan - completely covered to the roof in snow. How she got out to take the picture and how she got back in is a mystery I wish I’d gotten to solve before my grandma passed.
My grandparents lived on Norton Hills road by where Seminole Road ends by the Big Lake. They too were buried to the roof by the monster drifts blown in by the blizzard. I remember being at their house the first weekend in May and still finding snow under fallen leaves in the treeline on the north side of their property. Amazing times.
I was in Glenside and in High Skool.... oh the stories we can tell!
@@MaryFrantz-hc5wnI bet it's about going to school under that weather
My first son was born in mid December of 77 so he was a month old and I remember shoving so much snow.
@@davidlaing7684 a newborn in that blizzard I cannot imagine how you stayed sane 😂 I have one of my own and the newborn phase is no joke
I lived in Louisville, Kentucky in 1977 and remember being off school for so long that the state started broadcasting classes on public television stations. My daughter having to attend classes online during 2020 reminded me of that time. I found myself telling her "back in my day" stories of how we survived that winter without such luxuries as the internet or video game systems.
What blows my mind about the stat about Chicago staying below freezing for 41 consecutive days is the fact that this is an unsually long stretch even for my hometown of Edmonton. If Edmonton had a 41 day stretch below freezing, it would be the 6th longest ever recorded. The fact that this happened at a much lower elevation and latitude over large bodies of water is just mind blowing.
I usually wouldn’t stay through an entire video this long based on the weather, BUT
I LIVED IT! And your video was so well done and clear that I understood everything you explained I had to stay until the end!
Well done!!
Those winters were something to live through! I lived in Marietta Ohio on the Ohio River. Yes it froze over! And below freezing for days as you said.
I was thankful we had installed a wood stove the summer before.
Definitely a memorable winter to say the least!
Again, great great job!!
January 1978, I was only 8 years old. We lived in Jenison, MI, just southwest of Grand Rapids.
I remember waking up that morning and the snow in my front yard had completely covered the living room window in our 1 story ranch style house. It actually was worse than I first thought. We couldn't get the garage door open the snow was pressing so hard up against it. Even if we could, it was way too deep to get the cars out for my for my dad to be able to get the lawn tractor that was fitted with a plow out.
Somehow we we able to get the little door out the back of the garage open. My dad decided that we needed to at least shovel the snow off the roof of the house. I remember climbing up the snow drift onto the roof-it was so densely packed it actually supported our weight with no problem! No ladder was needed.
After we were done I got the wild idea to jump off the roof into the front yard. After about 10 minutes of my dad digging me out of the hole I created he had an idea. We dug a snow tunnel up to the front porch and were able to move enough snow that we could open the front door and walk in.
It was crazy, that snow tunnel stayed there for almost a week before it finally collapsed in on itself-and by then we had been able to clear the main garage door and driveway out to the street.
The rest of the world around us was really surreal. The drifts that were left by the snow plows were so tall, people had resorted to tying red flags to the top of their radio antennas on their cars so there would be some hope of cars being able to see each other at intersections.
I don't remember another winter like it. We moved to Chicago in 1979, and down to eastern NC in 1991.
I do think that, at least in the Chicago area, that the January cold snaps of the early to mid 80's were colder (I remember -26F at O'Hare with -77F wind chills on of those years) but the snow fall was just a pittance compared to the Blizzard of '78.
Jumping off a roof into that much snow sounds like a kid's dream come true! Thanks for sharing that story
Certainly a memory to cherish forever. Thanks for sharing.
What a great time to be a kid in the winter of 77-78 I was 11 and lived about 30 miles north of Lansing. :o)
Greetings form a fellow West Michigander. That was a fine time wasn't it.
I was in the Twin Cities for that storm - I remember my brothers and dad had to dig out the front path from front door to driveway.
The odd thing is when they opened the front door, the snow was almost the full height of the door, and since the wind had blown so much, the snow had taken on the form of a reverse casting of the door itself, including the trim panels and door knocker which were very clearly defined on the surface of the snow (in reverse).
I lived through the winters of 1977 and 1978, and I assure anyone who was born in 1985 or later that the coldest winter you can imagine was mild in comparison to these winters.
My parents and Nana talked about the blizzard of '78 a lot. Mostly because the winter of '08-'09 we had that ice storm hit Indiana and Kentucky, and my parents were like, "Oh we haven't had this kind of weather since '78."
I was 9 when that ice storm hit. We lost power all week. Only for it to come on for an hour and then go back out.
It started around Thanksgiving that year I'd been hunting white tail an the big wet flakes was amazing
yep i remember it was a wild time ..good looking
Check out those bell-bottom jeans, though! My husband looked so awesome in those! We were stationed at Ft. Dix, NJ, and that was more snow than I'd ever seen in my whole life, those winters. I was from Oklahoma, and we got snow periodically, but we rarely got more than 6 or 8 inches or so at a time, so several feet of it was astounding to me. My husband had been shoveling hard trying to get our car unburied, for hours, and along comes the snowplow again and almost reburied it, LOL--he was so mad. Thanks for the memories!
I was an 11 year old kid when the Blizzard of '78 struck us - some of those shots in your video are from 95/128 maybe a mile from my childhood home. There have been a few years where snow accrued to similar levels over the course of a whole winter, but nothing ever quite as crazy as that storm. Thanks for the analysis!
yes as an 11 year old you absolutely remember it- i was born in 76 and i was drooling in a diaper for all of this- I hate when people claim to remember worldly events when they were no older than 5- "yea i remember the 80s because i was born in 86"---- ahhhh no!
My 2 kids, husband and a recovering from surgery -- Me, lived through the blizzard of 1978 in WV (near Morgantown). The Monogahela River froze solid; feet of snow; 24" drifts; thousands of people stranded on streets; wind-chill -50; communities of us stranded in our homes; people dying due to no heat; burst water pipes couldn't be accessed to turn off water lines, and we were without access to food and water for days. Helicopter pilots had to air-drop supplies to us for days!! A month later, Settlement Houses were assisting folks.
Wow! You were recovering from surgery in West Virginia near a frozen river with 24 foot snow drifts and food had to be air dropped to you after no food for several days. That is a very believable story after watching this video. You are lucky to be alive, and your experience ought to be included in a documentary some day, as should many of the experiences in this comments section. Glad you are here to tell the tale.
This is a movie, especially if Hollywood threw Christmas in there, and the joys of holiday family cheer amid struggle 😉
Drifts of 24' or 24"?
@@judycee9263 oops .....24' (feet)
LOL, it happens. I was thinking, 'why are they complaining about such a small drift?' 🤔 I remember drifts up to my bedroom window on the 2nd floor. Fun times.
I was in high school in suburban Dayton OH. All that rain which fell the day before the 78 blizzard froze overnight then snow fell and drifted in the howling winds. The streets were plowed but the ice under didn't melt. It was so cold they didn't bother salting the roads. We put on ice skates and skated all up and down our street. School was closed for two weeks which we had to make up at the end of the semester not finishing until mid-June.
I was in Columbus Oh, also in high school; when people complain about the weather now, I just laugh.
I was a high schooler living in a mobile home near Newark, OH. I was terrified. My mother needed insulin and Dad somehow got the car past overturned semi trucks and waist deep snow to get us and the pets to safety at a miraculously open and heated motel. He was a hero.
YES, We had a ice storm that cut power off then before every was in case in ice and then the blizzard, drifts it was insane. Sledding was amazing. Lol.
My mother recounts her life every winter due to how bad it was during the Blizzard of '77, it traumatized her. She was 19 and had twins the June prier, they were not prepared for such a storm. My dad working diligently keeping the family farm afloat. Having to rely on family and friends for food until roads and stores were open. Every time there is a Lake Effect Warning her anxiety still goes up. Even today with a few feet being called for she called and said "You know me, and please, just humor me... Do you have enough food to last a week?" And time and time again I reassure her we are ok and well stocked. Meanwhile, my southern fiance thinks I'm nuts for even humoring her. Even after last year getting about 6ft of snow from one storm, I try to keep a level head that everything will be ok. Times have changed, and I am thankful.
1976 was horrid in Clarksville Tennessee. We got an ice storm after Thanksgiving and that never melted. School was closed for over 45 days, nobody could get out. Thanks for this concise summary ❤
I was in Williamson county in Tn 7th grade I to remember that year well also
I remember the blizzard of 78, my father plowed for the state and my mother was essential personal so me and my sister stayed at my grandparents house for almost 2 weeks. This was so good and brought back so many memories of a time long gone by but far from forgotten.
And I remember back then all the climate scientists saying the next ice age was coming.
And is exactly why I know that the global warming scam is nothing more than a money making scheme through scare tactics, just like they did back then except using the coming ice age as a way of scaring everyone into funding their research departments, because it's better than working in the private sector where they actually have to produce results.
Flim flam scam, that's the name of the game with those people, "You're all gonna die from this unless you give us money to figure it out".
My grandmother was Chief Operator and my mother was a repair clerk at the phone company, so my sister and I just stayed home and watched TV in 78.
My grandpa was a plower too. He still used his own tractor, he made a makeshift snow plow attachment for it. This being in Rural South East Austria. He tells us stories about how winters used to be harsh. Now we only get good snow each 10 years.
I'm a native Californian who in the fall of 1977 took the train to NYC and stayed in a brownstone in Harlem during the winter of 1978. I actually had the presence of mind to take photographs which I'm using in the book I will publish this summer. Thank you for explaining the mechanics of this unforgettable climatic event.
I will happily purchase 2 copies of that book. My Hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. I missed so much school I'm an intellectual stone boat. Let me know what you title it it and when it hits the shelves.
@@michaelcoffman4185 I will keep u posted absolutely. The title is: Winter in America and the Summer of Dreams. August or September it will be released. Thanks
Best wishes with your book. It would be nice if the owner of this channel put a link in his description. Together you could keep the memories of this storm alive.
Yes. That was an unusually cold and snowy winter not just in Western NY but in southeastern NY (i.e. NYC as well).
@@NorthSouthEasthi! Did you release it?
I was 6-7 years old in 1977-78 N.E. Ohio. I remember some of the storms, but that's through photos and stories from my mom. I was too young to really understand the severity of those storms, but thank you for explaining this in such detail.
To all the youngsters that wonder why grandma keeps all those ugly blankets in the closet. This is why.
I was wondering why these years sounded so familiar, and then when the 77 January arctic blast segment came in, I remembered.
I'm from Tampa, originally, and people there talk about the only time they had real snow: January 1977. It's so fascinating to hear an explanation for what, to me, sounded like legend for years. Awesome video!
I was in seventh grade when that storm hit Boston. I lived in a very rural area and we were without power for 2 weeks. People came together and did what they could to help each other.
what did you guys do for fun?? or to pass the time?
@@saradomin89898 Read books, tell stories, eat food, and be grateful you're alive, be humble, play outside if it wasn't too dangerously cold.
i'm from the northeast of brazil, an area that has mostly consistent weather all year. it's very interesting to see videos like these when i'm very much unaffected by these things. the only experience i have with snow was an exchange program where i spent the first half of 2019 in winnipeg, and it was unexpectedly cruel and difficult for someone who had zero experience, i can't even imagine how difficult this must have been. nice video!
Dang, I spent 3 years in Portage La Prairie, a town about 40 miles west of Winnipeg definitely cold. My lunch would freeze on the bus in the 10 minute ride to school. I've met a few people from warm climates and yes.... it's a shock. None of them realized how warm you had to dress. They almost always never wore enough clothing no matter how much they were warned. It's a belief issue. No way could anything be that cold. My wife saw it at a daycare where she used to work, the kids and parents under dressed and complaining about the cold... repeatedly. To be fair I don't think I could handle a South Carolina summer let alone one in the Dominican. The locals wouldn't like how much clothing I'd have to remove.
I've never been colder than when I was on a field exercise with the army in Manitoba one January many years ago. -55C. Unbelievable!
22 years old living in Bennington Vt night of the 78 Snow Storm. It was an odd snow fall the size of the snowflakes were crazy. Really big flakes you could hold one in your hand. Really cold. It snowed so heavy and non stop you couldn't see the other side of the street for like 18 hours. Owned a Dodge Van in those days parked in my back yard. Woke up in the AM and couldn't see my van it was just a big mountain of snow. Owned a Siberian Husky when i let him out that night he wouldn't come back in. I brought him in and he just sat at the door and cried. Left him out all night in the morning I went out and he was gone. i started screaming his name in terror thought he ran away. His head popped up out of 3 feet of snow lol he was sound asleep in the snow. He finally came back in had the time of his life in that snow.
I was nine/ten years old living in Missouri during this time. It was the only time I've ever seen snow so deep the local roads were like driving in a white canyon.
Our family was ok. We lived on a farm and our dad was a preper ahead of his time. The part that made the blizzard of ‘78 scary was that our mom fell ill the day before and dad missed his chance to get moms meds. She was sick in bed during this ordeal. And we were hoping her condition wouldn’t worsen because of lack of meds. It was likely the event that set the wheels in my dads head in motion to move us to our parents native Czechoslovakia.
Pharmacies were closed?
@@ms-jl6dl Cities in general were closed. Travel was banned in many areas...You watched the video?
I was six months old in December of '76. We lived in Buffalo. My parents still tell stories of spending a whole week snowed in, eating peanut butter and crackers. Then when stores opened again, they had to climb out a second story window with me on a sled to walk to the store for more food. My sister was born in September of '77 and it happened again in '78. That year, my Dad requested a transfer to a base in Missouri. We still had snow but not like that. You have done a great amount of research for this piece and the actual footage must have been challenging to find. Thank you for putting some pictures to events I was too young to remember and always hear about.
I was 2mos old when tge '78 blizzard hit in Grand Rapids, MI. We lived in a valley that had only two hill roads to take out. My mother said the snow was up to the roof of our ranch style house. We were trapped inside for four days before crews were able to get down our street and clear the front of the home enough to be able to get out and clear what we wanted out. Thankfully, we had a combination wood and gas burning furnace at the time and enough wood to keep the house warm enough.
Snow banks in rural west Michigan were 20-30 feet high, the national guard was using huge Terex loaders to clear intersections and country roads. People were riding snowmobiles into mid April. 2008/2009 was the last _real winter_ season we have had here. Now it rains more than it snows.
I remember on Easter Sunday still having 4' snow banks left from this storm!
The drifts were so high we'd slide on our sleds down the roof of our garage. We had cows and chickens and had to dig a path 100 yds to the barn to feed them. Twas good times.
I was in northern Iowa and remember that vividly lol
Blizzard of 78 in Boston we had 39 inches of snow and I was 11 years old. My brother's and I built a snow tunnel from the front of the house to the back of the house.
Crazy!!
Im loving all the stories here. So many cool stories. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences
Yeah, they were "cool" alright.
This is the most interesting comment section I've ever read!
I know there is a 1978 National Geographic
magazine story on 1977 Buffalo. I have the
story, named “ The Year The Weather Went Wild”. ( or, more than likely mid 1977 ). CB
Winter ❄️☃️ of 77-78 was a kid's dream. I lived in northwest Missouri which rarely gets significant snow. 77-78 was tons of fun sledding on hills! It unfortunately wasn't that way for everyone. 😢
I was 18 and living in Maine during the Blizzard of ‘78! I remember 95 shutting down and many being stranded. It was quite the snow storm!!
I was in JHS for the 78’ blizzard. I was happy to have a “snow day” from school until my father got me out of bed and made me shovel him out to go to work. The snow was almost as high as my head and it took me hours. To this day I vividly remember this.
He should have stayed home too, could have gotten trapped on the road.
@@spunkyspaz of course
I was born a couple years after this time, but my parents always talked about it. We were in North-Central IL.
One of the things I've learnt is that there was actually a mini-babyboom due to the amount of time people spent couped up and unable to do anthing else... or even go to a gas station for "supplies".
In London, Ontario, Canada, in 1978, as I left my apartment building to go to work, the superintendent in the foyer said be careful, going to be a big blizzard. I thought, well lucky I don't have to drive that far. I started out in my small car to pick up my coworker in the next subdivision. Part way there, I could not see for the blanketed snow and my car got stuck and stalled. As I sat in whiteness, wondering what to do, a woman came to my door and said "get in my jeep, I will drive you home" which she somehow did before driving on to her own home. Some people died after being stuck in their cars, so I am forever grateful to her!
I was home from college with a broken arm when the blizzard hit, and I'll never forget that storm! The snow (in Ft. Wayne, IN) was so high that it came up to the roof on one side of the house. We watched "Roots" in the evenings, and my mom started getting creative with making us dinner because we were running out of food, but everything she made tasted great anyway, and there were so many great memories of being together as a family. Thanks for the great video!
I lived in Woonsocket, RI at the time of the blizzard of 78 and I can tell you for certain once that snow and wind started it became really bad really quick. Nothing moved for about a week but on the plus side folks around the neighborhood all helped one another out as best we could, and the folks were very friendly, people all just walking outside a few days after and just taking it all in. People you normally would not converse with you ended up becoming more friendly after the storm had past etc.
That's the way it should be. Why do we have to wait till sh!t goes bad .
@@p_campbell I agree !!!
My wife's ppl were from Woonsocket.
Thank you so much for the video I'm blind so I couldn't see the footage but everything was really really done well and it brought back tons of memories and I was looking for in comments for for somebody that yeah I got to start this reply over because I thought I was replying to the just making a regular comment I clicked on to reply cuz I was looking through all the comments to see if I can find someone from Rhode Island that was there at the time at that time I was 18 and I was living in Providence and I remember yeah you're right it was forecast it was forecasted and it came really really quick I had a friend from Woonsocket and it's actually two friends who you know after that it stops snowing and stuff 30 days afterwards when the roads are still all closed down I remember they came to visit us on snowshoes across country skiing they they they came all the way to hang outit was pretty cool I remember I grew up in New York City but so the winters in Rhode Island were really special and different I remember the ice storms we would get how beautiful that was especially at night with the lights so that weren't knocked down LOL but with the lights glittering off the The ice which was everything would be in case in ice I'm sure you must remember this I'm sure you must remember the ice storms that we would have I remember for some reason that we had snow in Providence in May and I don't know if that's just something that I I thought I thought about it and I made up and started to believe all these years or if it really what happened because the snow was so high we were able to take the the letters on the local movie theater off the billboard off theirdo you remember when they had to have the national guard from I forgot it was a Southern state come and dig us out I remember only you know the army going down Hope Street in Providence right by my house and there was like just the whole train of military vehicles and they were hanging off the sides and stuff like that cuz I was walking alongside I walked about three miles to the nearest grocery store for me and my family and for my girlfriend and her family anyway please excuse any typos misspelled words lack of punctuation etc I'm not stupid and I'm not illiterate without people think I am and my friends say that I am LOL but all kidding aside I'm blind that you speech to text and it has its own unique take on the English language and how it's written sincerely David Rafael AKA Bob the blind bedroom guitars PS I haven't been back to Rhode Island in a very long time and I'm thinking of calling a couple of friends up there pretty soon and maybe seeing if I'll go up there for a few days and I get in touch with my old school buddies and friends that are still left living there because it's been a real long timecoming from New York City to Providence the first it was East Providence for about 6-7 months and I was a little too rural if you could believe rural it was East Providence for my mother so we ended up moving to the east side of Providence Randolph Hope Street in between Rochambeau and I think it was Laura Butler Austin hope that this is this video had fun memories for you also cuz they work for me after they did the plowing and stuff there was like a 12-foot a wall that surrounded the my whole property because we had a corner house and a quarter of an acre which in that area was a lot of land because the average lot was like $125 ft by 40 so it has snowed us completely in and then the plows everything in front of our house my parents couldn't leave the house for a very long time because it took a long time for that 12-ft and but I was able to climb over it when I when I went out with a ladder for a while and then I was able to just get up there by chiseling out footholds and stuff pretty pretty wild all right I'm going on forever here take care and good luck to you😊
I grew up in the western suburbs of Boston. I remember the sweltering summer of '77 and the relentless February blizzard of '78. I was only a kid, but I recall it well. Nice to see Bruce Schwoegler at 32:36!
I remember walking home from school after the blizzard hit my hometown. All the way home I couldn't see the road despite it only being a few feet away (not counting driveways). Also a huge snow fort that the students built had a base so thick it didn't completely melt until the middle of May.
Thank you! Finally someone says the blizzard of '78 was the biggest of the storms we've ever gotten. In 2021 every station was carrying stories about the biggest storms in history and not one mentioned '78 (or'77)! I was on the east coast of Massachusetts when the '78 blizzard hit. No one was expecting anything close to what we got (at least 30".) My friends and I were hanging out at the local tavern, having some dinner and gabbing away when I looked out the windows and saw that the snowflakes had become really huge (and wet) and the wind was blowing sideways - really fast. At that point, I thought uh-oh, this might be worse than we thought and so I told people I was going to head home. It was really scary. I lived about 20 minutes away and almost got stuck on the on-ramp to the highway. It took me well over an hour to get home. Fortunately, my son was with my folks that night so he was safe.
The next morning I had to climb out one of my windows and roll across the snow to get to the street. The news was showing aerial footage of the four-lane highway and all that could be seen was snow. The cars and and tractor trailer trucks had been completely buried. The Nat'l Guard came with these gigantic snow movers and a few of them even got stuck and had to be towed. We were running out of places to even move the snow to! There were giant mountains of snow in shopping center parking lots that took almost three months to completely melt. I wish I'd stayed with my friends because they spent the next several days partying in the streets and building snow sculptures. (There was a ban on driving and the electricity was out almost everywhere.)
I think about that time when young people say "it's cold out"
I was in Framingham MA. I just know my car completely disappeared
The raising of the water table due to the melting after the blizzard of ‘77 strongly influenced the environmental disaster at Love Canal in Niagara Falls. The connection it super interesting.
My parents were living in Rochester, NY during those years and boy are they completely unimpressed with every blizzard that's happened in my entire lifetime living in the Philadelphia area. I think our ability to mitigate these storms has also improved, so it would take some crazy conditions to lead to paralyzed cities like we had in the 70s.
I lived in Rochester during those storms as well
Weather like that doesn't get 'mitigated'.
I grew up in Asheville and was 13 in January 1977. We got heavy snows twice a week. They didn't have a lot of salt and equipment in those days so they stopped trying to clear the roads. We went to school only two days for the whole month. It wasn't horribly cold, just below freezing so we went sledding every day. I built an igloo. Best winter of my life.