On This Day 1978

Was the great blizzard of 78. I was a junior in high school, and it was the first and only time I experienced "thunder snow".

It was a true blizzard and the most severe weather emergency that directly affected my family and myself.

What is your most memorable weather event ?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...&cvid=0149218cb0344ebbc1beb9dc6cac55c4&ei=104

11 March 2011 earthquake in Japan, though I guess earthquakes are not weather. The main island of Honshu moved eastwards by eight feet.

A whopper.

I was in 10th Special Forces at Fort Devens, MA during the Blizzard of '78. We were heavily involved with supporting the snow removal effort for Boston - as were other Army units deployed from as far away as Fort Bragg. We actually trucked snow the 40-odd miles from Boston and dumped it on our drop zone. We helicoptered medics into remote locations like Cape Cod to provide medical suport. Guys came back with amazing stories like seeing seaweed coming up out of storm drains miles from the coast.

As I recall it, the winter of '78-79 was worse where I lived. Lots of of snow and cold that winter. Of course, I was a college student at the time, and didn't want to spend the money on new snow tires. I remember they brought in huge snowblowers to get the highway open.

Most memorable weather event? Well, it wasn't severe and nobody was in danger, but it's one of my fondest memories.
We lived in central Oregon. Powell Butte to be exact. The view off the front porch was to the west, with an unimpeded sightline to the Cascades. From the back deck you could see east nearly as far.
Now, my mother, my brother and I all had a deep love of thunderstorms. Flash of lightning and a crack of thunder and we're looking for a good place to watch. People thought my brother was crazy when he lived in Kansas because he would go out walking in the nightly summer thunderstorms.
One spring day We had spent the whole day going over packing my gear for outdoor school the next day. Just as we were finishing up, we noticed a strike near the mountains. We went out on the front porch and then began one of the best light and sound extravaganzas I have ever seen and heard. For 4 hours we watched it slowly move east, inching closer. Then it was there, all wind and rain and explosions of thunder and flashes of lightning. Thor is HERE!
We went on the back deck and watched it go away for another 2 hours, until the lightning was just flashes far off in the dark only showing the outlines of distant peaks. It was an amazing display of natures power and beauty. One of my fondest memories, period.

Blizzard of '78

MY to be wife was a senior at Ohio State University and lived in a sorority (ZTA), she awoke about 2 AM and had a vision of a freeway downgrade covered in ice with simis tossed about like matchbox toys. She proceeded to go down the freeway and maneuvered between the jack-knifed trucks. upon reaching the bottom she felt relief and went back to sleep.

We were married that may. At a family feast for Thanksgiving 1979, she was discussing the above vision with her grandmother, aunt and mother. He first cousin came over and started describing the scene to my wife, they agreed on type of trucks in which location. Her cousin said her vision was what his eyes were seeing and he desperately tried to get home. He was driving Southbound on I-71 just North of US 30 at Mansfield, and had gone into a skidding Jack-Knife when his Intenational Cabover straightened out and easily drove down the hillside.

I was snowed in my home outside Westerville. I walked to my brother's house about 1/4 mile away. We tried to get to work but everything towards Columbus was blocked with drifted in cars. As we went down on country road I told him to watch out for the snow drift. He saw the 1 foot drift about 50 yards in front of us, I was talking about the 4+foot drift 30 yards beyond that! He sped up to about 50mph and we buried his 4x4 K-5 Blazer about 40 feet into a 100-yard drift. We ended up walking about 3 miles in the blizzard to get back to his place and the warm fireplace! We got dug out a couple days later. Then it back to work and dig out the apartment complexes. My best friend and I got a break the next Thursday Evening and got a pizza and a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper each. Walked into a video arcade and fed quarters into pinball machines for 3 hours. That Saturday I flew to Tuscon AZ, for R&R with my folks.

Like I said, we got married that May. Since then, every house we have lived in, I made all the systems able to function off the power grid. 8 to 12 cords of firewood, 5 KW gas generator, and a stuffed pantry; 30 days of food the first couple of years, upped it to 90 days' worth after that. (Live in a condo now but still keep a 90-day pantry!)

Ivan

Can't tell you the year, but it was the start of deer season sometime in the 1980's. I was up at camp in Hillman MI and it started snowing on opening day. By day two, we had almost 3' of snow on the ground. The drifting snow completely buried the drivers side of my Crown Vic.

My hunting buddy shot two bucks on opening day and I took one. We weren't able to head home until day four, when the logger who worked the property cleared the two track with the blade on his skidder. We had plenty of food, beverages, propane and firewood in camp, so a good time was had by all (except for the deer).

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My second most memorable storm was in early April in the late 90's. We were steelhead fishing on the Manistee River. It started snowing on the first day and it had piled up by our second and final day. I had a 4-wheel drive Expedition at the time. There was 18" of snow on the expressway and it took us 9 hours to complete the 200 mile drive. There were semi's, cars and trucks littering the ditches and medians. I split the reflector posts, took it slow and made it home intact.

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.

I was in college in central KY and living in a drafty rental trailer. My roommate, his girlfriend and I (different rooms at opposite ends of the trailer) woke up the second morning with a 12in snow drift in the livingroom from snow that blew in under & around the front door! With classes cancelled, roads closed and our doors frozen closed there was no escape. I got real bored while my roommate got real busy!

I was living in central MD when there was a blizzard in 1978. I turned on the radio and heard an announcement that my office was closed. The next day I woke up, turned on the radio but didn't hear anything about my office being closed, so I figured I had to go to work. The only concession I made to the weather was wearing flannel shirt instead of a dress shirt with a tie.

By this time the streets had been relatively cleared off, and I drove into town to the office. Out of the dozens who worked there, the only people who showed up were me (who grew up around the Great Lakes), a lady who grew up near the mountains of western Maryland, and a guy who grew up in Massachusetts.

I remember this one, same year but a month later.

The Massive Storm of 1978 Was The Largest Blizzard In Connecticut

llowry61 said:

Was the great blizzard of 78. I was a junior in high school, and it was the first and only time I experienced "thunder snow".

It was a true blizzard and the most severe weather emergency that directly affected my family and myself.

What is your most memorable weather event ?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...&cvid=0149218cb0344ebbc1beb9dc6cac55c4&ei=104

Click to expand...

I remember that one. Started out warmer than usual and raining. Started turning to snow about 10:00 PM. We were on 2nd shift at the plant in Springfield, OH and deciding whether to work overtime or go home. We elected to stay since we weren't sure we would be working next day if it actually got really bad. We made it home but one co-worker who lived further away only made it halfway home when it was a total whiteout and he ended in the ditch in a farming area. After waiting a while he figured he could either stay in the truck and get buried or try to find someplace so he followed the fence line hand over han when he ran out of fence. While considering his options there was a momentary let up and he saw the lights at a farm house about 50 yards away. He spent the next three days with a lady and her children while her husband was stuck back in Springfield. He never let us forgat that we talked him into working the overtime.

My family was from SW Virginia but moved to Ohio and I grew up in Licking County.

We lived way out on a very small country road. I remember the blizzards of 77 and 78.

In 1977 we were snowed in for 10 days or more and had to be dug out with a huge front loader. The snow was piled up as high as the power lines.

The blizzard of 1978 was pretty rough too. We were snowed in for about five or six days, but with a tractor and a bunch of west virginia high-lifts, (shovels) we were able to dig our way out. The problem was the snow would drift back in just about every day.

You couldn't travel without a FWD vehicle so for two weeks or more we would check on the neighbors and get them to town for food etc. Fortunately I don't recall any medical emergencies and we were without power for just a short time.

In the aftermath of the 78 blizzard a found a lot of frozen birds, especially doves, and that was the last of bobwhite quail in my hunting grounds.

Before these blizzards we would see covies of 25 to 30 birds in our front yard. Everything else bounced back pretty well, but not the quail.

I remember those years. We were all farming back then and were snowed in for a couple of days. Meaning, we couldn't get to town but could get around our place (JD 4020 with a 8 ft blade on the 3 point hitch). I can still remember watching the snow plows make their way down the highway. We were 3-4 miles out of town and I think it was the third day when they made to us. It was funny, to me, watching them make a little more headway every day with the flashing yellow lights from my 2nd story bedroom...

Typhoon Kate 1970 off the coast of Vietnam at the wheel of a 150' flatbottomed landing craft. I have only rarely seen videos of the sea in the condition the engineer and I faced that day, the rest of the crew were in quarters with hatches battened down. It was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time, our top speed under full power was something like 8-10 knots depending how clean our hull was, we saw speeds approaching 12 knots while surfing down the back slope of the wave we just cleared with full power to make it up the next wave and not broach or flounder on the crest. Everything was going pretty smooth until our engines started failing because our hull had cracked and sea water was contaminating the fuel, to say it was hairy is the least. The seas were so severe that a Navy destroyer tried to get close enough to shoot us a line but it was all she could do to stay afloat, I'll never forget the sight of the destroyer come into view after knifing through a wave, point of bow and eventually the whole ship. We finally had a Korean LST get close enough that on the third try got a line across our bow and towed us to safety. The boat was so badly damaged they scrapped her. They should have busted our E-6 skipper for even thinking about trying to make our destination with the weather reports that were coming in, I think it was a suicide mission for him, his time was coming and he knew it, he was willing to sacrifice the safety of twelve people, against the odds of success.

llowry61 said:

Was the great blizzard of 78. I was a junior in high school, and it was the first and only time I experienced "thunder snow".

It was a true blizzard and the most severe weather emergency that directly affected my family and myself.

What is your most memorable weather event ?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...&cvid=0149218cb0344ebbc1beb9dc6cac55c4&ei=104

Click to expand...

I remember being glad I was in Southern California.

Winter of 78 and 79 I drove about 10 miles to work and there was so much snow in the ditches that it was several feet taller than my car.

Blizzard of 49, it happened on New Year’s Day. I was 6 years old.

Our house on the ranch was at the bottom of a hill. I could walk from the hill to the chimney of the house when the wind quit blowing.

We lost hundreds of head of cattle and sheep.

The army plowed us out with D8 cats on Valentines Day but it blew shut overnight.
Nothing moved on the place except with horses.

My dad commandeered my sled, nailed a box on it and pulled it with groceries for sheep herders behind a saddle horse.

I drove a team of horses pulling up hay rack sled while my dad and a hired man scattered hay for the cattle.

What griped me the most was after the wind let up, my dad rode a horse 2 miles to the one room school me and another ranch kid attended.
He gathered up the teacher stranded there and she rode behind him to our place.
I had school lessons during all that time and the other kid didn’t.

We got first mail delivery on April Fools day.

My cousins and I had a snow ball fight with snow from a snow drift in the yard on the 4th of July.


Search “Blizzard of 49” for some interesting pictures.

I don't think anyone can top Iggy's story! In the Ohio 78 Blizzard, up by Mansfield, a semi was snow bound on SR3. on day 4 his brother found him. The top 4" of his rabbit ear CB antennas were sticking out above the snow drift (around 20-21' tall!)

Scarry time for many people!

Ivan

Our NY blizzard was about the same time. The day before my car had been broken into in the plant parking lot, so early the morning of the storm I dropped my car off at the glass repair shop. They drove me to work. The plan was that my boss would drop me off on his way home to pick up the car. The storm had been gathering all morning.

About 11:00 am my boss heard me on the phone. The message was from the shop that my car was ready. He said we are leaving now and not coming back. I was to pick up my wife later that afternoon from her job. She called me that her coworker was taking to her house, only a mile away. I picked her up and we were both hone snug as a bug in a rug.

Our driveway was blacktop and the direction of the wind passed the detached garage and out back door made the wind completely blow out my driveway. Our road had 4 feet of snow but I never had to lift a shovel. The house next door had a 20' drift up the front.

I had a case of beer, ample food and a gallon of milk. The furnace was plugging along We were stranded for 3 days, but we had no worries.

My first son was born 9 months later. I don't care what people say, but tht storm was the best week ever.