On This Day 1978

[GypsmJim]

RE. Blizzards and snow in Western New York.

One of the young couples from our church moved to the Buffalo area, they had no job lined up and everything they owned fit in their two 4x4 Pick-up trucks. About 8 years later they came by our church for a Homecoming Sunday. I got to talking to the wife about their employment. They never found jobs. The put snow blades on the trucks and plowed snow for a living. The previous winter they owned 14 trucks and had 20 some employees! They had no other jobs, plow snow as long as it lasted, then repair trucks getting ready for next year.

Ivan

I'm a 5th Generation Buffalonian. My Great Grandfather and Great Grand Uncle came with their families in the 1890's. They were stone masons, thus they helped build some of the classic buildings in town.

As a local Engineering Manager I often had issues coaxing stellar candidates to come to Buffalo. But after they came they resolved to never leave.

A dear friend had 5 kids, and all moved away to seek their fortune. But their end goal was to come back home. A few years ago he told me that all of them, and all of his 26 Grandchildren are finally back.

Go Bills....

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

and all of his 26 Grandchildren are finally back.

26 grandkids, Central Ohio winters aren't so bad in comparison, I only have 9 grandkids!

Ivan

 

[GypsmJim]

26 grandkids, Central Ohio winters aren't so bad in comparison, I only have 9 grandkids!

Ivan

I've been to central Ohio. Nice place. OTOH, I've been to Ohio on the Lake (i.e. Cleveland, Elyria) when I got stuck.

When the "Buffalo" weather forecast is broadcast, the TV says "X" feet of snow. Twenty miles south (where the ski resorts are) they actually get double that. We live 12 miles north and get HALF that.

The recent storm made headlines. I saw grass in my front lawn and I washed my car in the driveway.

It's hard to make people understand "lake Effect".

We live 12 miles north.

 

[desi2358]

I've lived through a couple close calls from tornados growing up in Ohio in the 60's and 70's. Had a couple pass within a short distance of where I was. Was in the truck in a storm and saw a barn seem to roll across the road less than half a mile ahead of me before it fell apart in the field. I had stopped because of the wind and lack of visibility when I saw the big white side of the barn moving, couldn't see a tornado but something was moving it! A few years before that I stuck my head up to look during a storm (mom was yelling at me to get down by the sink with her and my brother) and saw the garage down the road seem to vanish in a black cloud. Later found the garage out in the fields, flat as a pancake.

Missed the worst of the 78 blizzard because I had moved to Florida, started aviation tech school. Didn't miss all of it though, temps got really low and had @ an inch or so of snow in Daytona. Pretty much everything came to a halt, kids down there got to play in the snow and it seemed like no one knew how to drive in it. Didn't last long but it stayed chilly for several days, took a part time job next summer installing insulation in homes that had never had any. Heard it snowed in Miami Beach too, first snowfall ever recorded there IIRC.

Moved around with various jobs over the years, discovered Memphis didn't know what to do when it snowed either. Everyone told us when we moved there "it hardly ever snows and usually melts away the same day". Hah! The first couple winters there we saw 3 plus inches of snow a few times and it lasted for days! Eventually ended up back in Ohio. A few winters have sucked for cold and snow but nothing like the blizzard and while tornados are always a possibility we have been fortunate that none have come directly our way............. Hope it stays that way too!

 

[llowry61]

I've lived through a couple close calls from tornados growing up in Ohio in the 60's and 70's. Had a couple pass within a short distance of where I was. Was in the truck in a storm and saw a barn seem to roll across the road less than half a mile ahead of me before it fell apart in the field. I had stopped because of the wind and lack of visibility when I saw the big white side of the barn moving, couldn't see a tornado but something was moving it! A few years before that I stuck my head up to look during a storm (mom was yelling at me to get down by the sink with her and my brother) and saw the garage down the road seem to vanish in a black cloud. Later found the garage out in the fields, flat as a pancake.

Missed the worst of the 78 blizzard because I had moved to Florida, started aviation tech school. Didn't miss all of it though, temps got really low and had @ an inch or so of snow in Daytona. Pretty much everything came to a halt, kids down there got to play in the snow and it seemed like no one knew how to drive in it. Didn't last long but it stayed chilly for several days, took a part time job next summer installing insulation in homes that had never had any. Heard it snowed in Miami Beach too, first snowfall ever recorded there IIRC.

Moved around with various jobs over the years, discovered Memphis didn't know what to do when it snowed either. Everyone told us when we moved there "it hardly ever snows and usually melts away the same day". Hah! The first couple winters there we saw 3 plus inches of snow a few times and it lasted for days! Eventually ended up back in Ohio. A few winters have sucked for cold and snow but nothing like the blizzard and while tornados are always a possibility we have been fortunate that none have come directly our way............. Hope it stays that way too!

I have never seen a tornado, but I was affected by the Derecho that hit central Ohio in late June 2012.

I was in Baltimore testifying at a trial as a witness for the company I represented at the time. My wife called me and told me that a huge storm was coming and with the upcoming holiday I should get the heck out of dodge as soon as practical.

To make a long story short we reached a settlement at the 23rd hour. It was 9am and I could head home. Called the airlines to get an earlier flight no confirmations but could do standby. I knew better than risk that, so I contacted the rental company and advised that I wanted to drive the car to Columbus Ohio dropping off at CMH airport then hit the road in an attempt to beat the storm.

I almost made it.... almost. Driving on I70 just east of Zanesville it hit, and it was bad. I was driving a VW Jetta, and I thought it was going to get swept away. The remaining drive home I was dodging limbs and debris on the freeway. I have no idea what the wind speeds were, but they were fast enough that it was howling, and I was worried that something would come through the windshield. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was intense.

Power was out everywhere for days. Quite a bad storm.

10 years later: Remembering the 2012 Derecho that hit Ohio | 10tv.com

 

[LVSteve]

In terms of unusual life threatening weather, I have a couple. Living in Vegas the weather is always trying to kill you in summer.

First one was as a small child traveling to the US the first time on the Queen Mary. We were not allowed outside for four days as it seemed like the North Atlantic was determined to kill us. Spray was going past our portholes, and we were on A deck as I recall. The ship was pitching huge amounts fore and aft, sufficient that they ropes hung along the walls of the corridors to hang onto. Negotiating companion ways that ran fore and aft was a matter of timing and moving quickly.

Second was the winter of 81-82 in the UK. We got a Beast from the East where Siberian air slides West over NW Europe. We had oodles of snow and nighttime temperatures down to -13°F. I had a good antifreeze mix in my car, but even so the coolant in the header tank was in slivers. A quick turn over of the motor and the coolant flowed just fine, but after ten minutes at fast idle, you could still put your hand on the exhaust very close to the head. mind you, 1200cc doesn't put out that much heat.

 

[jtcarm]

My most memorable weather event:

16 yo and walking out the front door when there was a giant boom and everything turned orange.

I went reeling back into the house, thinking the Russians had struck.

There was no one else home at the time, and the family all thought I was nuts when I described the experience, until the neighbor came over & said we should take a look at the big cottonwood on the side of the house.

The top half was laying on the ground and the bottom looked like a a foot-wide burned matchstick. By some miracle it hadn’t fallen on the house.

Lightening strike, of course. But no thunderstorm and no other lightning or thunder before or after.

 

[BC38]

Two come to mind
First was a tornado in 1967 when I was 5 years old. We rode it out in a root cellar built into the side of a small dirt mound beside my aunt's house. The twister passed by as it followed a gravel road about 100 feet away. It rolled the barbed wire fence into a ball about 8 feet in diameter. Pulled the split oak posts right out of the ground.
The second was a lightning storm in 1987, when my wife and I were tent camping at the Horseshoe Cove campground on the east bank of Lake Roosevelt. It was a really SPECTACULAR light show with really loud peals of thunder. It didn't really bother me all that much, because I grew up in the mid-west where those kinds of storms were pretty common. But my wife was so freaked out she didn't get a wink of sleep that night.

 

[jtcarm]

I was in Boston on assignment during the 1978 snow event.

One guy on the radio said if you wanted to really get a taste of what the Patriots went through in the Revolutionary War do the following:
Put on a light weight jacket, wool shirt, levi's, and tennis shoes or regular boots (no modern snow gear) then take a blanket and your tent to camp at the Valley Forge Historical Monument for a couple of weeks.

The guy said the '78 weather storm was similar to what they experienced in 1777 during the winter encampment.

Those who wanted to re-enact crossing the Delaware to attack Trenton would have gone barefoot.

Washington’s men left a trail of blood in the snow from their exposed feet.

I imagine the dead Hessians were buried without footwear.

A lot of the prisoners were likely shoeless as well.

 

[jtcarm]

One other memorable event was crouching in bird poop under a freeway overpass as a tornado passed about 1/4 mile away.

Not that harrowing, but I’ve since concluded that the “experts” who say not to get under an overpass are trying to discourage others so there’ll be more room for themselves when the time comes.

 

[SweetMK]

I lived in Blacksburg VA during the Blizzard of 1978,,
I and my wife were students at Virginia Tech,,

Anyways ,, the way the wiring of the road was where we lived,, WE had electricity, the remainder of the street did not,,
The remainder of the street was PROFESSORS, AND THEIR FAMILIES!!


It was Superbowl Sunday,, we made a giant pot of chili,, and invited everyone to the apartment we were renting,,

We must have had over 50 people cycle through our apartment.
Here we were, poor students,, treating the professors,,

No one offered us a nickel, or even offered to help,,
Luckily, my wife was great at stretching food for little $$$

I always think about that day when someone does something for me,,

 

[PALADIN85020]

"Remember the day it snowed in Phoenix?"

Well, I do.

I forget the year, but it was something like ten years ago. I was so excited I took this pic of the snow on the hood of my wife's car!

John