Blizzard of 77; 38 Years Later

[landtracdeerhunter]

How many remember? I lived 63 hours straight,  of snow plowing with V plow  4 wd. trucks until they all failed.

Edited January 28, 2015 by landtracdeerhunter

[Lawdwaz]

I was only 16 at the time but remember it pretty well. One fond memory is of walking OVER strung power lines behind Mill Middle school. Probably not the smartest move...........

The drifts were unreal all over the place, high lifts and the National Guard took care of things!

[landtracdeerhunter]

Three feet of snow on the ground. Seventy two mph. wind gusts. Zero degrees. Towns were shut down for weeks. Remember the Arab  Oil Embargo? Schools and Businesses were forced to closed because of no heating oil.

[Pygmy]

That was back in the day we got REAL snow here in the southern tier..Seems like from '56 to about '79 we had at least a couple of major blizzards each winter... Living out in the boondocks, it was common to be snowed in for a week or more at a time.

 

In 1980, EVERYBODY had a snowmobile..By about 1985, most people had sold them because the only way they could run them was to trailer them to Tug Hill or the Adirondacks...

[thphm]

Here you go .  http://www.weather.gov/aly/MajorWinterStorms .

[Merlot]

Stuck at Huntley steam station in Tonawanda for a day until the storm passed. The half hour ride home to Cheektowaga was 3 hours..and that was after I shoveled the snow out of the engine compartment of my Ford.

[jjb4900]

Here you go .  http://www.weather.gov/aly/MajorWinterStorms .

https://www.google.com/search?q=blizzard+of+1978+long+island&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=vSDJVITeAY_AgwS6iIPAAw&ved=0CC

Now I remember, was it 77 or 78? either way, being only 11 at the time it didn't seem like too much of an inconvenience..........for some reason it's no longer fun.

Edited January 28, 2015 by jjb4900

[ants]

I was 12 or 13. I remember me and my father walking in knee deep snow, around the corner to my grandparents house. My uncle lived in the top floor and wanted to get his car out of the driveway to go somewhere. We started to shovel the driveway and then pointed out to my uncle that is was useless because there was still 3 feet of snow in the street. Then all hell broke loose when my father, grandfather and uncle all started arguing about it.  Italians tend to be loud. My grandmother called me in the house for hot chocolate and cookies. My uncle ended up staying home.

[G-Man]

Skied off the barn roof, and dug some awesome snow caves in drifts. Had some trapped motorists stay at the house on the couch till dad got home and fave them a ride home by snowmobile

[GreeneHunter]

Grew up in NYC ... more than 4 inches is/was a nightmare , except if your a kid !

[growalot]

Yes sir I graduate high school that year...I was driving a tank...a used olive green plymouth fury with studded snow tires.....

[Two Track]

I was about 9 during that one and living about 200 miles south of NY.  We had ~3 foot snow.  Mom was stuck for 3 days in another town at the daycare center she was a director of. National guard had to bring her home.  We had only seen dad cook eggs and bacon in the house, and grill a steak or some chicken outside. So we thought we would starve at the time.

 

Only had one door to the house that would open and we had to keeping opening it up every hour to clear off the steps to still be able to get out. The other door was frozen shut and had snow drifts against it.

 

Couldn't tell where the yard stopped and where the ditch was before reaching the road, that is until my sister sank 4 feet into it and dissappered from view.

 

Didn't see a plow until the morning of day three.

 

We did puzzles, and played games since the winds took out the TV antenna.

 

One of the farmers down the road that my dad was friends with, came by with his largest tractor and cleared 70% of the driveway in 2-3 sweeps of his plow blade. Saved us a lot of shoveling, and caused a few dropped jaws by our neighbors.  We helped them shovel out once we finished our driveway.

[landtracdeerhunter]

Pygmys right. I remember a bad one in  63 and another in 66.

 

We rescued many people in those we hours of the night into the next day in 77.  Couples with children trapped in several feet snow drifts.  No cell phones in those days. Either stayed with the car to freeze to death, or make a  dash for the nearest house.I remember running a V plow in the rear end of a Dodge Dart. Four feet of snow over the car.  Dislodged it so the doors could be open. People inside were happier than heck we found them. Open fields looked like junk yards with all the cars pulled out of the roadways.   My grandparents lived with strangers for 10 days. My parents had no power for a weeks.  Milk got dumped on dairy farms by the thousands of gallons. We delivered hay in Pembroke over two weeks later, and roads their were still impassable.

[Pygmy]

I was about 9 during that one and living about 200 miles south of NY.  We had ~3 foot snow.  Mom was stuck for 3 days in another town at the daycare center she was a director of. National guard had to bring her home.  We had only seen dad cook eggs and bacon in the house, and grill a steak or some chicken outside. So we thought we would starve at the time.

 

Only had one door to the house that would open and we had to keeping opening it up every hour to clear off the steps to still be able to get out. The other door was frozen shut and had snow drifts against it.

 

Couldn't tell where the yard stopped and where the ditch was before reaching the road, that is until my sister sank 4 feet into it and dissappered from view.

 

Didn't see a plow until the morning of day three.

 

We did puzzles, and played games since the winds took out the TV antenna.

 

One of the farmers down the road that my dad was friends with, came by with his largest tractor and cleared 70% of the driveway in 2-3 sweeps of his plow blade. Saved us a lot of shoveling, and caused a few dropped jaws by our neighbors.  We helped them shovel out once we finished our driveway.

 

 

Did you ever find your sister ?

 

[Lawdwaz]

I thought the "Blizzard Of 77" was an event just in the Buffalo area?

 

You guys all got the snow off lake Erie too?

[Pygmy]

I can't remember where it CAME from, Larry, but we sure GOT it...

 

I could tell you some pretty good snow/blizzard stories from the 60s and 70s.

 

Like the time in the late 60s when my ex wife and I ( we were dating at the time) tried to make it up to my Mom and Dad's place with an emergency cargo of beer and cigarettes.. I was driving Dad's 1959 Volkswagon.  I drove PAST a 4WD Jeep and finally buried the bug in a big snowdrift.

 

We slogged back to a nearby farm for help...The farmer buried his 2 big tractors trying to get us out. We spent the night at his place..I slept on the couch. My ex  slept with his young daughter, who peed the bed....hehehehehe.

 

The farmer and I had lots of beer and Marlboros that night, as I remember it..

[growalot]

That was the year us neighbor kids went out and walked around listening to all the trees cracking and snapping...very eerrie....

I also remember that storm in the 60s....snow was half way up out front door and the snow banks were getting pretty close to the electric lines....

 

Then one when the kids were little I think late 80's that took out the power for a week....

[Lawdwaz]

 

 

Then one when the kids were little I think late 80's that took out the power for a week....

 

That the ice storm of 1991?

 

Boy did THAT change the landscape in the Finger Lakes........funny thing though, IIRC the east facing hillside got hammered worse than west facing.  That ice storm completely ended my spring gobbler hunting on the west side of Canadice.  I had been doing very well there from the early 80's until then....After the storm, the woods were totally impenetrable.

 

After about ten years it was hunt-able again but I had found some other hotspots.

[jjb4900]

That the ice storm of 1991?

 

Boy did THAT change the landscape in the Finger Lakes........funny thing though, IIRC the east facing hillside got hammered worse than west facing.  That ice storm completely ended my spring gobbler hunting on the west side of Canadice.  I had been doing very well there from the early 80's until then....After the storm, the woods were totally impenetrable.

 

After about ten years it was hunt-able again but I had found some other hotspots.

I remember that ice storm very well...my father works for the power company on Long Island and they sent him and a bunch of guys up to help out, he said it was unreal.

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/05/nyregion/an-ice-storm-paralyzes-western-and-northern-new-york.html

[Jeremy K]

I was still eating through my belly button so i don't remember it.

[Lawdwaz]

I remember that ice storm very well...my father works for the power company on Long Island and they sent him and a bunch of guys up to help out, he said it was unreal.

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/05/nyregion/an-ice-storm-paralyzes-western-and-northern-new-york.html

 

Bingo!

 

Good job on the link.

[jjb4900]

Bingo!

 

Good job on the link.

I remember him telling me about driving down roads and the next thing he knew he was almost in Canada.....they were in very desolate areas and met power company's from all over NY and adjoining States......interesting for them, but probably not so much for the residents....and according to that article Andy's Dad was governor, wow how time flies

Edited January 29, 2015 by jjb4900

[Lawdwaz]

I remember him telling me about driving down roads and the next thing he knew he was almost in Canada.....they were in very desolate areas and met power company's from all over NY and adjoining States......interesting for them, but probably not so much for the residents.

 

On a MUCH smaller scale the October Surprise in 2006 we had here was horribly devastating.  I don't exactly remember right now but I think we were out of electric for a week.  The epicenter war within a mile or two of me and it was also unreal damage.  Scary as hell hearing those monster branches and trees coming down.

 

I spent two days making sure my family was A-OK then it was balls to the wall work.........I ripped out tens of thousands of square feet of wet carpet in the next 10 days or so!!  Cha-CHING! 

Edited January 29, 2015 by Lawdwaz

[jjb4900]

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=A2&Date=20110303&Category=MULTIMEDIA03&ArtNo=103030802&Ref=PH

I had front row seat to most major storms in NY because of my Fathers occupation.....good stuff to look back on and reflect.

Edited January 29, 2015 by jjb4900

[BizCT]

I only remember 1996, no school for a week and we made tunnels and igloos everywhere

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