The Great Blizzard of 1978

[Guns N Rotors]

Anyone remember the blizzard of '78?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1978

It was 30 years ago today. I was 11 years old, my Dad and 3 of his buddies
were going golfing in Florida. They left that morning for the Pittsburgh Airport
when the storm hit. My Dad told my uncle to drop the 4 of them at door and
get back home. As soon as they checked their baggage, the airport shut down.
They spent the next two days sleeping on the floor. We still have pictures of the
plane parked at the gate with 12" of snow on the wings.

I can remember the power going out. My Mom put me in charge of the fireplace.
I remember the wind howling like a banshee. Good times!!!

[BigBlockSam]

cool story . thats a hell of a picture.

[Musicman]

Yup... I drove home from work in that storm... I had a 69 Newport Custom that would plow through anything. In fact I took it out in the woods that evening and drove down some of the old dirt roads ( cars didn't go out there, so there were no other cars stuck in the snow to avoid) ... Pretty stupid when you think about though... What if I got stuck out there???  Ha, not in my trusty Newport he says...

It was a big mess though... it took them weeks to get the abandoned cars off the roads. I have a bunch of stories from that one... I could fill a book with stories just from the ride home from work alone... it was quite the adventure.

I'll say this though... at the peak of the storm, the snow was coming down so fast and so heavy that if you were on what you assumed was a highway (it could have been a field and you wouldn't know it)... you couldn't see another vehicle aproaching you until it got within about 10 feet of you, and that's with the headlights on... kinda scary... you could hear it coming from somewhere, but you couldn't see it.

[Highbanked Hauler]

 I am 50 miles west of Boston Ma. and Remember it well,we got about 20 inches of snow the week before and then this storm came in as a Noreaster and kicked Boston hard. I'd guess 30 inches at the coast line. Any construction outfit with a front end loader had work for a couple of weeks out of that one As i remember they were towing cars to mall parking lots .I was 29 for that one

[70charginglizard]

Can't wait to see something like that happen again these days.

The kids and all their electric toy's would have no idea what to do with themselves...lol

[NHCharger]

I'm 50 miles north of Boston. I don't recall thinking that it was too big of a deal. Then again I wasn't one of the idiots trying to drive home with summer tires on my car.

[Manfred318]

Cool pic. That was a $&!+ load of snow We get 2 inches around here and people go nuts

[Charger1973]

We had a hell of a snow a few years back, ok maybe its been closer to 10 years ago but the drifts were massive.  Those pics really remind me of the way it looked here.  The gravel roads had a path plowed down the middle wide enough for one car.  It was really strange to drive because there were just walls of snow on either side of the car.  I dont think we had as much snow as back then, but it drifted really bad.  It drifted almost to the roof of our house and was over the roof of several of the buildings.  I remember walking up the drift onto the roof of the shop.  Pretty crazy. 

[68chrgrwife]

Wan't born yet, but was close.......I was born two months later!!    my poor mom had to deal with that at 7 months preggers...pooor lady......

[BMOTOXSTAR]

Wow,
  Sure do. I was 4 years old and we have a bunch of pic's from that, I will try to dig them up. I grew up and still ive close to Lake Erie.

[69bronzeT5]

That is A LOT of snow. Last year we got a HUGE snowfall. Coming back over the mountain highway back to my house in my dad's Honda Civic. Snow was falling big time, they closed the highway while we were on it. 4X4's were in the ditch and pulling over off to the side but we kept going and made it home.

[JimShine]

Tonight on the news they did a little piece remembering the event. They showed old archive footage and there was a 1971 E body trying to drive down main street covered in snow!

[hemihead]

I was 15 and lived and still live just north of the Burgh . Man that was wild . God I hate snow . Made a fortune shoveling driveways . 

[nh_mopar_fan]

I was in high school. No school for over a week.

[Tilar]

I remember it very well. My mother called my wife and I at 5AM to tell us that the electricity was out.    Anyway, We put a blanket up in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room and turned on the oven to keep warm. By that evening, we had removed everything from our refrigerator that would spoil and put it in our living room. The temperature at one point was near 20 below.

Dad worked for the department of transportation plowing snow. He ran a 1945 FWD snowblower. Here it is and a few pics he took during it all.

This guy was stuck in his truck for something like 6 days till they finally saw the truck and dug it out.

These are just some random old cars pics that were in the local paper.

[BMOTOXSTAR]

 

[69bronzeT5]

This guy was stuck in his truck for something like 6 days till they finally saw the truck and dug it out.
[/center]

That is CRAZY!!!!

[Shakey]

I'm more familiar with the Blizzard of '77.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Blizzard_of_1977

[PocketThunder]

I remember when Laura Ingles was trapped in the Schoolhouse blizzard on an episodle of Little House on the Prairie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Blizzard

[Tilar]

I'm more familiar with the Blizzard of '77.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Blizzard_of_1977

I don't remember any blizzard of '77. If Buffalo got it, they probably needed it 

[Highbanked Hauler]

I'm more familiar with the Blizzard of '77.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Blizzard_of_1977

Is that the year you got about 8 feet of lake effect snow??

[Shakey]

I'm more familiar with the Blizzard of '77.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Blizzard_of_1977

  Is that the year you got about 8 feet of lake effect snow??

I was a youngun then, only about 4' tall, and remember being off school for a few days.  I also recall the borad game that followed.

[Shakey]