So in Kalamazoo a front end loaded had to dig out my parents home. My mother was in labor with me and they couldn't get to Bronson Hospital so they had to take an alternate route to Vicksburg. On Jan 27th a coroner in Vicksburg aided in my delivery.
I worked 15 minutes from home. It took me over 3 hours to get home. Lived in a rural area of NE Ohio. Didn’t see a plow for almost a week. We had gas lights still in the old farmhouse so we had light. Heat from wood burner and water from the old hand pump. Peace and quiet. Loved it!!
In Wayland Union High, we were off for two weeks straight! The snow had stopped, but the high winds continued and blew the back roads shut daily. As a kid in school, it was great!!!
I was 15 and a drunk man knocked on our door wanting in to get warm my dad was stuck at work and it was just my mom and me so we didn't really want to let him in but we did Let him warm up and then my mom said take him to the end of the driveway and point the direction for him to go. Well I knew he wasn't going to make it so I walked him a mile up the road to his apartment. He said how can I ever repay you I said you can buy me some beer in the spring and you know what he did just that. I must say for a 15 year old kid at 11PM at night walking back home to our house I wonder if I would make it home . I lived in Buchanan Michigan right next to the golf course. I never see that much snow agin in my life and I'm 60 years old . What a life.
Lol, my poor father was trapped with us 5 kids at the farm. My mom was in the hospital. He almost lost his mind. However as soon as the storm was over, he put us to work clearing snow.
We listened to a lot of records. The snow was over my head - not that I was all that tall at the time. The best part was Dad stayed home. It was like an early Christmas break. After the snow stopped all the kids in the neighborhood had a great snowball fight. It was awesome.
I was a Florida boy in the Marines in cold weather survival @ Ft Drum upstate NY. Way upstate, I got off that C130 & thought I was on another planet. The realest training ever. Will never forget it.OohRah!!!
I lived in an apartment building in Lansing Michigan on the second floor the snow was half way up my slider Door. We had to did a tunnel out of the building. It took a week before things went back to normal. It was wild. Cars in the parking lot were completely buried. All you could see was snow.❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
I remember waking up late for school thinking I was in huge trouble then when I went downstairs everyone was in the living room and the snow was up to the bottom of the picture window.
I was 9 years old! It was AWESOME! We cooked in our fireplace, had neighborhood parties, built snow tunnels all through our front yard and played board games. School was closed for a week. Our neighbors with snowmobiles made trips to the store. North South roads had 12 foot + snow drifts. They were one lane for several days.
When it got to New England the amount of snow wasn't the problem it was the raging winds that created drifts 15-20ft high. When we finally shoveled out we had a 12ft drift from our driveway right up to the door. That storm was Incredible.
Mother Nature decided that this blizzard was so successful in Michigan that on February 6th 1978, she decided to do a repeat in Eastern New England. Boston and the towns north and south and west not only had to contend with the huge amounts of snow but the towns along the coastline had to contend with ocean flooding. Major highways were shut down for days. And it also is fondly remembered as the Blizzard of 1978. And lucky me, I was stuck in it and it took me the better part of 12 hours to get home
grand solar mininum much? i think it was 278 days of sunspotless days during that year..the sun controls the climate..enough said..its not mother nature..its the sun
Yep, Winter Storm Larry. I remember it well. I was a student at UConn and classes were canceled for two days. My parents were preparing to move to Colorado. My father had just accepted a new job at Gates in Denver. Luckily by the time they set out on Feb. 21, things had gotten better.
I was kid just outside of Boston. Was it the same storm as this one and just across or was it an entirely different storm? For me it was a perfect time to learn how to ski at blue hills.
@@writerconsidered The storm in this video was in Michigan and happened on January 26 1978. The storm you and I were in was on February 6 1978 and covered eastern New England. So they were two different storms. Each seems to be just as bad but in and around the north and south shore, those people had to deal with ocean flooding. I also attempted to learn to ski in the early 1960s at the Blue Hills. After a while, my instructor told me to take my ski's off and go home. I did as told and have never been on snow skis again.
I was 19 and a student at Western Michigan University. School was closed for a week. Millions of gallons of alcohol, tons of weed and a few amphetamines were consumed 😵💫😵💫😊😊
Steve, I lived at the end of West main court. Little dead end right after you crossed the tracks on Academy street. Actually it was behind/over the rr tracks behind Burger King. House is gone now. K College bought most of them. Anyway, yeah it was an amazing storm. When it started we flew down Stadium Drive to the A&P grocery store and loaded up with groceries and beer. Lots of beer and 5 packs of Zig Zags. We never lost power and between the 2 girls that lived in the upstairs apartment and my girlfriend, we had a great time. I remember bundling up and we trudged out to Stadium drive and the only traffic was people on cross country skies and a couple snowmobiles. I think W.M.U. was closed for 6 days in a row. It was surreal outside. So much snow and there was no noise. It was quite af. I worked over off Crosstown Parkway for the City of Kalamazoo at the Helen Coover center and we were closed all week. Do you remember the name of that sub shop up by the campus theater? I can't for the life of me. Anyway, I live in Texas now and hope to never see that kind of snow ever again. take care buddy and cherish those memories.
@Jerry Meeuwse Hi Jerry...I was living in Valley 2 at the time of the storm. It was non stop keggers and bong hits for a week straight🤣🫣! I know the area you're talking about. I lived in a house on Oak St back in the student ghetto my senior year. I believe the name of the sub place you're talking about was Galley Subs. They were the GREATEAST subs of all time. I got the super special...must have had 2lbs of lunchmeat on it🤣🤣. Great times back then for sure. Hope all is well with you. I'm still in Michigan but getting a little tired of the long winters. I see someplace warm in my near future. Take care fellow Bronco!
A week and a half later, the northeast coast got hit with a storm that they also have dubbed the "Blizzard of '78". It's still legendary in Massachusetts.
Agreed. I lived in Brockton, MA at the time. Our house, built in 1935, was creaking in the wind. It took weeks before we could get our road plowed. Regular plows couldn't do it. They needed the v-shaped plow blades and huge front-end loaders.
@@jerrymeeuwse859 My Sister was at WMU that year. She said they were jumping out of second story windows in the dorms and planting themselves armpit deep in new snow.
I was seven-years-old during the Blizzard of 78. I remember thinking that snow piled up six feet on either side of the county road was normal. I don't remember being snowed in for three days, but a County front end loader worked its way up our County Road scooping the snow and dumping it on our fence which crushed. It was already under snow anyway. I remember some other very snowy Winters in the early 80s as well. And the best part? People driving around in big heavy cars with rear wheel drive and no anti-lock brakes. You had to work with the snow and ice rather than just drive on top of it.
I lived on a farm when I was 7 yrs old and snowed in for 4 days, we helped a dairy farmer outside a village name Union City, MI best time ever with no school
This was awesome! Brought back some great memories. I was in elementary school in NE Ohio. It was crazy We had early dismissal from school and the ride home, couldn’t see a thing but all white. No school for several days needless to say 🏆🏆🏆❤️. Once in a lifetime I’m sure. Great job channel 8 🥇❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
Homeworth OH remembers. It was my 5th birthday just after the big snowstorm and we lived in the boonies, down a long lane. Even our tractor wasn’t able to keep the driveway open because of the winds and drifting. We had drifts large enough that my older brothers had huge tunnels and dugouts made in them. My mom always prepared well for us to be snowed in because it happened every year due to our long lane, but this time I recall we had been snowed in for probably at least a week; maybe longer. I remember getting a tonka truck for my birthday (which a pony and it were the only things I had asked for apparently), and the story my mom told me later was that my dad had called the Alliance police station and they agreed to drive out and give him a ride to town and back to buy me the gift. So he trudged out the driveway and did just that. I was definitely considered a tom girl, and I can remember being so proud of that tonka truck. It was what I wanted so I could play in the sandbox with my older brothers, AND it was super special because how I knew my dad had made such special arrangements to get it. Side note: I finally bought a pony with all my chore money at the age of 11.😂
Oh, I remember that. Lived outside of Baroda Michigan on Shawnee Road. Runs from Berrien Springs to Bridgeman. Couple of good size hills about midway, high banks along some of it. The snow was over the banks. They had to bring the big road equipment just to get one lane cleared.
I’ll never forget . I was 25 living in Brockton Massachusetts. I lived in a second story apartment . The snow was almost up to my windows. The first floor was totally covered. They dug tunnels through the streets. We walked to grocery stores pulling kids on sleighs .
Lived in the UP and I was 17 then. It was a winter wonderland and we loved it. It was one of the few days they called school off. My dad stayed home for the first time that I can remember. It was nice being home with the whole family. The next morning there were 6 ft snow drifts that we had to shovel. 😒
@burt2481 If your from there that's how you write it. But, I did laundry, made lunch and started my garden all while taking care of my 3 grand children. What did you do? Lol 😄
I was 10 years old and certainly remember this blizzard. We had a cable box that had about 15 button channels on it and a Vitrola console record player in the LR if that gives you an idea of the times.
I will never forget it. I was a little girl going 5 miles a hour to my first Earth Wind and Fire Concert. We had no idea what we were in for but we kept going and we made it lol. We were not as far North as Michigan but man we got hammered…
I remember that storm I was about 15 years old living on Long Island New York we had a horrible ice storm everything was frozen solid tree limbs and power lines were snapping like twigs. We were out of power for about 3 days we spent the weekend with my mother’s aunt she had power and a fireplace.
There was a storm so severe in the Chicago area that the IRS did something never done before. They changed the filing date by a few weeks because nothing could go in or go out with any degree of reliability
If you remember Earl Finkle was predicting the blizzard long before anyone else. WOWO radio in Fort Wayne adopted him as their go to weatherman after that, until his retirement.
YES!! Earl Finkle and WOWO. I was 13 and living in FW when the Blizzard hit. We lived in Dominion Place (Brandy Chase now), west on Washington Ctr Rd and we were out of school for almost two weeks. It was also when Ch. 55 WFFT went on air and Kent Holman was stuck at the station and provided great entertainment on the new station.
The Fort, WOWO and Earl Finkle, what a combination! Crazy story; I had to testify in a negligence trial in Chicago starting on January 30th. We lived in Alaska at the time so we decided to make a trip out of it to see my wife's family west of Angola. We flew into Ft. Wayne on Monday before the storm thinking we would spend the week in Indiana and then drive our rental car to Chicago over the weekend. WRONG. Wednesday brought the snow and by Thursday all the county roads were drifted shut and it was a week before we could get to I-69 and north to the Toll Road and then another few days before the Toll Road was open to get to Chicago. Oh, the trial? It was delayed two weeks and the defendant was found guilty. But that is another story. Years later we moved to the area and still listened to WOWO and Earl, remember the "Finkle Sprinkle" used to describe a light rain?
I moved to Arizona in 1977 in and spent my 1rst winter away from Michigan. I remember how bizarre and enjoyable it was living in sunny and 70-80 degree weather during the winter months especially what was going on in Michigan
I will never forget it. I grew up in East Muskegon, about 10 miles east of the Lake, right in the middle of the lake effect snow belt, so we were used to getting pretty good snows. When the storm started, my Dad, brother, and I were out shoveling our parking area roughly the size of a two stall garage. After battling heavy snow and wind for probably an hour, Dad stopped our work, and we went inside. Dad was not the kind of guy who gave up on a job, but this one was clearly too rough. I remember that the wind blew fiercely for all day, I think, the temps dropped way down probably around zero that night. The snow continued through the night, and into the next day if I remember, with huge drifts burying everything outside. Our ice skating rink in our front yard was a casualty, buried under snow so deep we just couldn't dig it out. Muskegon recorded about 52 inches of new snow over about a 3 day period. As a kid in high school at the time, it was great fun having time off school, and going around seeing all drifts as high as the roofs of houses. Just about any way you look at it; huge snow, extreme cold, and extreme wind, it was a storm to remember.
I just came across this , i'm up here in CT and remember this storm. I was 12 and school was closed for a week , i remember people riding their snow mobiles up and down the street. The snow was over the hood of my fathers car and back then nobody had snow blowers , but it was a lot of fun for me and my younger brothers. It completely shut down our state , we hardly ever get storms like this anymore. So far this winter we had a whopping 4" of snow and tomorrow and thursday are gonna be over 60 , which i ain't complaining about.....
I was 13 then and us kids had a blast , we hadn't seen more then a few inches till then and for the next two week I worked with my Grandfather clearing walkways for the housing and apartment complexes he managed during the day and the evenings were filled sled riding an feeding the barrel fire on top of the golf course .
From what I found about this winter that Lebanon's Mountains off of Eastern Mediterranean Sea in February, 2012 got FORTY FEET OF SNOW IN JUST FIVE DAYS because of Atmospheric Rivers traveling easterly across the Mediterranean Sea to Lebanon. They have 6 ski resorts in that country. The chairlift cable which the chairlift is attached to was buried in places. On Google there's pictures and the story. My wife and myself were in Wichita Falls, Texas at that time. I was in the USAF stationed at Sheppard AFB. I was born in Detroit and grew up there and Livonia. I've driven across Wyoming(the state), Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico all in winter weather months. Weather out in those states where snowstorms and blizzards like here in Michigan. But you don't have a situation like if you go off the highway, it's several hundred FEET DOWN.
It hit up to Houghton Lake and all of the cities North were closed in by it. Not just South of Michigan. I wasn't able to get out from Clare Michigan until two weeks later waiting for snow plows and the snow was so deep our snowmobiles could not get through it back then.
A year previous to this, the state of NY had a bad blizzard as well. From January 28th until February 1st the storm raged. I was only 4 at the time, but remember the snowbanks being so high the telephone wires could almost be touched. Counties in and around Buffalo as well as Jefferson and Lewis counties east of Lake Ontario were deemed federal disaster areas by then President Jimmy Carter. If you were smart before the storm started, you stayed home. Otherwise, there were no guarantees you were making it home. I remember my Dad saying the morning of January 28th started beautiful and sunny. Then at about 11:30 or noon time, the sky on the horizon started turning black. He said the storm hit with full force, snow and high winds. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face. He said he has never seen the sky as dark as it was that day.
, I was young, shoveled lots of snow, now I would assist cleanup but mostly just stay in and let the youth do most of the hard work. Sincerely The old Northwoods RN
In KY we got part of this storm. We had a huge amount of snow also. We were out of school for well over a week. Our rural road had to be dug out by the neighbor farmers. They found cars buried in snow drifts in the middle of the road. The one thing I remember the most is how my brother built a full size igloo in our front yard. Those were the days.
We lived in the central U.P. when this storm hit. The national guard opened our roads with big snow blowers. He measured drifts that were 22 feet after they got the roads open..My dad ran a small town store and stayed there until the storm was over to make sure people could get needed supplies. Many people snowshoed miles to the store for supplies..the drifts were too big to get snowmobiles over. Sheer walls of snow.
NO cell phones, internet, social media, video games. No streaming movies...just basic tv and a radio. YET..(me 12 at the time)..us kids had a BLAST!! We loved it!
Here in Southern Ohio, dad's car was first trapped on the street with snow 2 inches from the car door window then 5 days later as it warmed slightly, followed by a 6 day stretch of near or below zero Temps the car became encased in ice. It could not move for 3 or 4 weeks
I was a teenager when the storm hit and we had a blast. I lived in a rural area and we tied snow discs to the back of the snowmobile. Flying up and down the road intentionally crashing into the snow piled on the side of the road. Man, that was a blast!
That Blizzard hit the entire state of Michigan. I remember it clearly and we couldn't even use our snowmobiles as it was so deep to get to a store for weeks.
@@galewinds7696 I was in Michigan and lived through it and the wind blew the snow into 15 foot drifts where I lived in the Northern part of the Lower Peninsula. If in cities the roads may have been cleared faster than in the country or smaller cities but it did lock down the state for much longer than a week.
What I will never forget about this snow storm is that no snow was left in the fields. The wind piled up all that snow in the roadway or up against all buildings, or other things left outside.
Lived in sw ohio, I was 17 and remember it well. Our front storm door froze shut also remember missing a lot of school and having to go several Saturdays to make up for the days missed. Haven't seen anything like it since.
I was born in 1964 an raised in Lakeview District of Battle Creek, MI.....I was 14 yrs old an remember this storm like it was yesterday.....drifts over 15ft tall on Riverside Drive by my Elementary School. I bet that older women ( RN ) who was interviewed knew my family name ......the Stroud's. All my cousins, aunt an uncle still live there ... the Mumford family !! " M go Blue !! " * thumbs up from Lake George, NY ...
I was working in Kalamazoo then and walked the five miles into work. No use trying the car. On the way in there was thunder snow, which is fairly rare and showed the tremendous energy of the storm.
The Blizzard of 1978 literally brought life to a standstill. My parents had a house near the old Phillips School in Muskegon Heights (ironically, it was a Muskegon Public School but it was located in Muskegon Heights), my parents lost power for a couple of days. I still had power on Park Street near the old Craig School in Muskegon and had a week off from teaching at a local college, my snow blower had quite the workout. Another monster storm in January 1982 had my father and I snowshoeing our way to my grandparents house with sled loads of groceries, their home was in a very rural area near Hesperia and they had 110 inches of snow within a week there (that is NOT a typo, the storm focused on Newaygo and Oceana counties IIRC, MLive states that Muskegon only received 22 inches out of that storm). The 110 inch storm of 1982 dumped its snow slow enough where the main roads were plowed but the dirt side roads weren't. I had moved to the Hesperia area by then but had a four wheel drive pickup and a logging skidder with a bucket like a bulldozer would have on the front, fortunately the storm didn't dump THAT much in my yard or the road in front of it so I was able to get out OK -- I think I had about 40 inches in my yard and got myself out to the highway with the skidder and its bucket then went back and switched to my truck to go to the store and to deliver the groceries to my grandparents. 110 inches was too much to even attempt to use my logging skidder to clear a path for my grandparents.
I remember the storm of "67" the worst, as that was the 1st time I-94 was closed. I had just moved to Mattawan in 1965. I was driving home that Fri. from my doctor's appointment & I followed the snow plow up the exit ramp to Mattawan. Could tell lots of stories about the next two weeks! P.S. My doctor told me it would be best if I quit smoking. I took his advice that day. Never smoked since, still here, 90 years old. ☺ 😷🙏 ⚾
Spent time he day with my friend that had a lifted Ford Four wheel drive....never got stuck. He had me ridding in the back while he picked up Drs. And nurses.
Hey it was bad here in Indianapolis and I was stuck out in it for about a week. Was rough, couldn't believe the snow and ice. Money was made by snow pushers and I got some of it before the winter was done. We had snowmobiles everywhere. And of course the national guard.
I remember both th 78 storm and one that happened in 67. There's a lot of back and forth about which one was worse. I think the 67 storm had longer lasting effects. So, I'll give the nod to it.
Another point to be made about this period, ‘77, ‘78, this snow would NOT melt off between snow events as it does now. It would continue to pile up, storm after storm until April or May. So one storm creates 15 feet piles of snow, the next adds 10 feet… seriously think about that. We ran out of places to put the snow. It was incredible. ❄️
I was an eleven-year-old kid and I remember having most of that week off of school. Everything was drifted shut. Myself and my father hiked to the nearest grocery store with a runner sled with a cardboard box strapped to the top. And we hiked to 44th and Kalamazoo to the Lee's grocery store. This story is very accurate. The only traffic we saw were snowmobiles and very few four-wheel drive trucks. I lived on a cul-de-sac and we actually had a plow get stuck in our cul-de-sac.
I was there and pregnant with my second child ,we lived on a dead-end road in Ottawa County out in the country, it was 4 days before they plowed the road .
I lived in Delaware ohio when it hit. 28 foot drifts on west side of barn. Two army trucks stuck in front yard. Grandparents tied clothes lines around us boys just to go to wood pile only 50 yards away. 3 weeks my town was closed.
I was 14 years old, shoveling 18 inches of snow off the roof of our house in Grand Rapids . I didn't even have to jump off the roof to get down; just had to take a simple step.
Levittown, Pa.,Woodrow Wilson H.S., class of 78, the school board was thinking about not allowing us to graduate because we were out for so long. i let the fall of 79 and i will never be in the northeast again.
In this storm a Monroe County plow truck driver got out of the cab of his truck for some reason that nobody ever figured out and became separated from the rig and could not find the truck in the storm and died of exposure.
I worked at the Kalamazoo State Hospital at the time and lived closed enough that I could bundle up and walk the mile and a half to work for the afternoon shift. None of the other afternoon shift staff made it work for our building so the day staff stayed and I spent the night there, as well. It's interesting, we didn't have a tv at the time. So my only memory of this storm was from my own experiences - not from watching coverage of it. I'm not sure I knew how impactful it was on a larger scale. It was fun revisiting it in this video.
I grew up in Ionia Mich was 16 years old and it was a mess more snow than you could shake a stick at. We had to get football game going. Good memories!!!!!
Survived the blizzard of 78 in Indpls. We had to dig a tunnel, to get out our door. City basically shut down for a week. People always remember the Blizzard of 78".
I remember it even though I was only 12. Got to build awesome snow forts in 8 to 10 foot deep drifts. We had to dump milk down the drain. Only had room enough for 3 days worth. Milk truck couldn't get there for 5. Thank goodness we had a generator on a tractor. We could still do everything and stay warm and comfortable.
I was four years old. My dad opened our front door to a wall of snow one morning. My parents laughed. Our water pipes were frozen. At night the snow returned and I lay in bed listening to the wind moaning through the eaves outside. My bedroom window was frozen in ice.
Winter 78 and 79 we had huge snow in central illinois. The snow on the state highway was stacked 10’ high and only one lane open in many places for month or more. Snow was loaded in dump trucks and dumped by the Illinois river. The ground was frozen and when spring thaw came there was record flood on the Illinois river. I could walk on the snow right on to the roof of my house!
It was not just W. Michigan. It was ALL of MI, OH, IL… and other states. This report said drifts up to 15 feet… We saw a drift against a B-52 hanger that had to be 25’. The nuclear loaded B-52’s at Wurtsmith A.F.B. had snow drifted underneath the wings and of course were unable to taxi if needed and thus useless to their mission. I, and numerous other men, were standing outside in this blizzard guarding these “Alert Aircraft” whose mission was to taxi out of the Alert area and take off in case of a nuclear strike. When the powers that be finally determined that the aircraft were incapable of their mission they pulled us off guard duty. We were all very cold despite our Arctic clothing and were exhausted. They couldn’t even keep the runways clear with a dozen large snowplows continuously working the on main runway. The whole base was shut down. We lived in a three story “barracks” and the snow was drifted up over the windows of the second story. Cars were buried for weeks in the parking lots. It was an experience one never forgets.
I remember living out of town on M55 near Star corner's after digging out of my house I was able to go out to the power pole in the yard and sitting on top of it. We were snowed in for 7 days.
that storm hit us hard over in central Illinois. I was in college there and the day after they did not cancel classes, streets weren't plowed. sidewalks weren't cleared. I had 4 classes that day' I walked the two miles to classes thru hip deep snow, only one professr showed up. we were all pretty mad
Add Springfield Illinois to the list! 30 foot drift on our apt building. All the cars in parking lot covered do deep you couldn’t tell where you were parked. I found my vw beetle and drove right out. What a memory! I miss that old car
That storm made it all the way to us on the southern coast of Maine. Being right on the beach The storm surge filled our basement with sand right to the ceiling. I was 13, it took till the summer to shovel all that sand out and get at my surfboards!
I remember it,or our Iowa version in early 79. I was driving a 68 caprice that would get around pretty good in snow but I got stuck twice that night,once just outside our small town and one in town. I don't remember how I got out the first time but the 2nd time the maintainer came along and was happy to give me a pull out,probably just to get my car out of the way so he could do his job! Ah well,I was young then,have done my share of good deeds since then.
So in Kalamazoo a front end loaded had to dig out my parents home. My mother was in labor with me and they couldn't get to Bronson Hospital so they had to take an alternate route to Vicksburg. On Jan 27th a coroner in Vicksburg aided in my delivery.
I was in the ARMY then and we sent heavy equipment from Ft. Stewart, GA up to yall to help out. Glad to be of service.
We remember you guys landing at Toledo Express airport!
I worked 15 minutes from home. It took me over 3 hours to get home. Lived in a rural area of NE Ohio. Didn’t see a plow for almost a week. We had gas lights still in the old farmhouse so we had light. Heat from wood burner and water from the old hand pump. Peace and quiet. Loved it!!
My family is from Youngstown, born & raised. We always had snowy winters but sheesh!
Me to and I'm from Ohio .
@@hippiepeace8614 I’m still in Ohio too
@@flyguy5941 I was born in Lisbon Ohio 👍
In Wayland Union High, we were off for two weeks straight! The snow had stopped, but the high winds continued and blew the back roads shut daily. As a kid in school, it was great!!!
I was 21 and I made it to work in the Afternoon, just to turn around and go back home. Redford Twn. I go out to the only person on Telegraph Rd.
Also, in 1967.
I work out in the snow early in the morning before the sun came-up, had fun! Left for TX. in 1981.
I was 15 and a drunk man knocked on our door wanting in to get warm my dad was stuck at work and it was just my mom and me so we didn't really want to let him in but we did Let him warm up and then my mom said take him to the end of the driveway and point the direction for him to go. Well I knew he wasn't going to make it so I walked him a mile up the road to his apartment. He said how can I ever repay you I said you can buy me some beer in the spring and you know what he did just that. I must say for a 15 year old kid at 11PM at night walking back home to our house I wonder if I would make it home . I lived in Buchanan Michigan right next to the golf course. I never see that much snow agin in my life and I'm 60 years old . What a life.
Great story!
Did you get the beer?
Lol, my poor father was trapped with us 5 kids at the farm. My mom was in the hospital. He almost lost his mind. However as soon as the storm was over, he put us to work clearing snow.
We listened to a lot of records. The snow was over my head - not that I was all that tall at the time. The best part was Dad stayed home. It was like an early Christmas break. After the snow stopped all the kids in the neighborhood had a great snowball fight. It was awesome.
Early Christmas in January?
@@hoppes9658 Not early, late. Sorry. My folks still had the tree up for some reason.
@@rtyria Our tree would be up mid Jan. too. That summer was perfect heat and rain though.
I was a Florida boy in the Marines in cold weather survival @ Ft Drum upstate NY. Way upstate, I got off that C130 & thought I was on another planet. The realest training ever. Will never forget it.OohRah!!!
I lived in an apartment building in Lansing Michigan on the second floor the snow was half way up my slider Door. We had to did a tunnel out of the building. It took a week before things went back to normal. It was wild. Cars in the parking lot were completely buried. All you could see was snow.❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
Thanks for the great video👍 73 yrs in Minnesota,we can relate to a "kick.... Blizzard every yr/2🥶❄️🌬️
I remember waking up late for school thinking I was in huge trouble then when I went downstairs everyone was in the living room and the snow was up to the bottom of the picture window.
I was 9 years old! It was AWESOME! We cooked in our fireplace, had neighborhood parties, built snow tunnels all through our front yard and played board games. School was closed for a week. Our neighbors with snowmobiles made trips to the store. North South roads had 12 foot + snow drifts. They were one lane for several days.
When it got to New England the amount of snow wasn't the problem it was the raging winds that created drifts 15-20ft high. When we finally shoveled out we had a 12ft drift from our driveway right up to the door. That storm was Incredible.
Mother Nature decided that this blizzard was so successful in Michigan that on February 6th 1978, she decided to do a repeat in Eastern New England. Boston and the towns north and south and west not only had to contend with the huge amounts of snow but the towns along the coastline had to contend with ocean flooding. Major highways were shut down for days. And it also is fondly remembered as the Blizzard of 1978. And lucky me, I was stuck in it and it took me the better part of 12 hours to get home
grand solar mininum much? i think it was 278 days of sunspotless days during that year..the sun controls the climate..enough said..its not mother nature..its the sun
Yep, Winter Storm Larry. I remember it well. I was a student at UConn and classes were canceled for two days. My parents were preparing to move to Colorado. My father had just accepted a new job at Gates in Denver. Luckily by the time they set out on Feb. 21, things had gotten better.
I was kid just outside of Boston. Was it the same storm as this one and just across or was it an entirely different storm?
For me it was a perfect time to learn how to ski at blue hills.
@@writerconsidered The storm in this video was in Michigan and happened on January 26 1978. The storm you and I were in was on February 6 1978 and covered eastern New England. So they were two different storms. Each seems to be just as bad but in and around the north and south shore, those people had to deal with ocean flooding. I also attempted to learn to ski in the early 1960s at the Blue Hills. After a while, my instructor told me to take my ski's off and go home. I did as told and have never been on snow skis again.
Yep, i was living in Brockton in 78 and we were absolutely buried
In the south we stayed iced in for two weeks. Love that wood stove.
I was 19 and a student at Western Michigan University. School was closed for a week. Millions of gallons of alcohol, tons of weed and a few amphetamines were consumed 😵💫😵💫😊😊
Steve, I lived at the end of West main court. Little dead end right after you crossed the tracks on Academy street. Actually it was behind/over the rr tracks behind Burger King.
House is gone now. K College bought most of them. Anyway, yeah it was an amazing storm. When it started we flew down Stadium Drive to the A&P grocery store and loaded up with groceries and beer.
Lots of beer and 5 packs of Zig Zags. We never lost power and between the 2 girls that lived in the upstairs apartment and my girlfriend, we had a great time. I remember bundling up and we trudged out to Stadium drive and the only traffic was people on cross country skies and a couple snowmobiles. I think W.M.U. was closed for 6 days in a row. It was surreal outside. So much snow and there was no noise. It was quite af. I worked over off Crosstown Parkway for the City of Kalamazoo at the Helen Coover center and we were closed all week. Do you remember the name of that sub shop up by the campus theater? I can't for the life of me. Anyway, I live in Texas now and hope to never see that kind of snow ever again. take care buddy and cherish those memories.
@Jerry Meeuwse Hi Jerry...I was living in Valley 2 at the time of the storm. It was non stop keggers and bong hits for a week straight🤣🫣! I know the area you're talking about. I lived in a house on Oak St back in the student ghetto my senior year. I believe the name of the sub place you're talking about was Galley Subs. They were the GREATEAST subs of all time. I got the super special...must have had 2lbs of lunchmeat on it🤣🤣. Great times back then for sure. Hope all is well with you. I'm still in Michigan but getting a little tired of the long winters. I see someplace warm in my near future. Take care fellow Bronco!
I was 12 and living in Anchorage,Alaska in 1978. We had 3 feet of snow on the ground before Halloween 1977 and proceeded to get buried that winter.
A week and a half later, the northeast coast got hit with a storm that they also have dubbed the "Blizzard of '78". It's still legendary in Massachusetts.
I seem to remember blizzards every winter back in Massachusetts during the '70's. No one in particular stands out.
I was 11 living in MA and I remember that storm and all that snow to sled on!
Agreed. I lived in Brockton, MA at the time. Our house, built in 1935, was creaking in the wind. It took weeks before we could get our road plowed. Regular plows couldn't do it. They needed the v-shaped plow blades and huge front-end loaders.
@@GreatDataVideos I also lived in Brockton then. Epic storm. Did a lot of shoveling that week. BHS '75!
@@thedocisin3204 If I remember correctly, we had a storm a couple of days before that, and between the two, there was no place to put the snow. BHS 76
I'm so old that I remember a similar storm in January of '67.
SAME HERE PAUL. KALAMAZOO WAS CLOSED THEN ALSO
@@jerrymeeuwse859 My Sister was at WMU that year. She said they were jumping out of second story windows in the dorms and planting themselves armpit deep in new snow.
I remember that one and was 9 and have photo's too of my Dad's 1964 Ford pickup in the driveway half covered.
I was seven-years-old during the Blizzard of 78. I remember thinking that snow piled up six feet on either side of the county road was normal. I don't remember being snowed in for three days, but a County front end loader worked its way up our County Road scooping the snow and dumping it on our fence which crushed. It was already under snow anyway. I remember some other very snowy Winters in the early 80s as well. And the best part? People driving around in big heavy cars with rear wheel drive and no anti-lock brakes. You had to work with the snow and ice rather than just drive on top of it.
I lived on a farm when I was 7 yrs old and snowed in for 4 days, we helped a dairy farmer outside a village name Union City, MI best time ever with no school
This was awesome! Brought back some great memories. I was in elementary school in NE Ohio. It was crazy We had early dismissal from school and the ride home, couldn’t see a thing but all white. No school for several days needless to say 🏆🏆🏆❤️. Once in a lifetime I’m sure. Great job channel 8 🥇❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
Youngstown in the house!!
Homeworth OH remembers.
It was my 5th birthday just after the big snowstorm and we lived in the boonies, down a long lane. Even our tractor wasn’t able to keep the driveway open because of the winds and drifting. We had drifts large enough that my older brothers had huge tunnels and dugouts made in them.
My mom always prepared well for us to be snowed in because it happened every year due to our long lane, but this time I recall we had been snowed in for probably at least a week; maybe longer.
I remember getting a tonka truck for my birthday (which a pony and it were the only things I had asked for apparently), and the story my mom told me later was that my dad had called the Alliance police station and they agreed to drive out and give him a ride to town and back to buy me the gift. So he trudged out the driveway and did just that.
I was definitely considered a tom girl, and I can remember being so proud of that tonka truck. It was what I wanted so I could play in the sandbox with my older brothers, AND it was super special because how I knew my dad had made such special arrangements to get it.
Side note:
I finally bought a pony with all my chore money at the age of 11.😂
Oh, I remember that. Lived outside of Baroda Michigan on Shawnee Road. Runs from Berrien Springs to Bridgeman. Couple of good size hills about midway, high banks along some of it. The snow was over the banks. They had to bring the big road equipment just to get one lane cleared.
I was there!!..I've lived in New England my entire life..my son was 5 yrs old and that is a storm we will never forget!! Was unbelievable!!
I’ll never forget . I was 25 living in Brockton Massachusetts. I lived in a second story apartment . The snow was almost up to my windows. The first floor was totally covered. They dug tunnels through the streets. We walked to grocery stores pulling kids on sleighs .
Lived in the UP and I was 17 then. It was a winter wonderland and we loved it. It was one of the few days they called school off. My dad stayed home for the first time that I can remember. It was nice being home with the whole family. The next morning there were 6 ft snow drifts that we had to shovel. 😒
UP?
@@Capecodham The Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. Anyone from that area refers to themselves as Yoopers.
@@lifeofjoy4950 What did you do with the time you saved not typing pper eninsula?
@burt2481 If your from there that's how you write it. But, I did laundry, made lunch and started my garden all while taking care of my 3 grand children. What did you do? Lol 😄
@@lifeofjoy4950 The deal is not every viewer is from Michigan, you are writing to the world. I teach 22 4th graders which trumps your three kids.
I was 10 years old and certainly remember this blizzard. We had a cable box that had about 15 button channels on it and a Vitrola console record player in the LR if that gives you an idea of the times.
I will never forget it. I was a little girl going 5 miles a hour to my first Earth Wind and Fire Concert. We had no idea what we were in for but we kept going and we made it lol. We were not as far North as Michigan but man we got hammered…
I remember that storm I was about 15 years old living on Long Island New York we had a horrible ice storm everything was frozen solid tree limbs and power lines were snapping like twigs. We were out of power for about 3 days we spent the weekend with my mother’s aunt she had power and a fireplace.
Sure wish we would see another one. Maybe 2-3 back to back. That would be awesome.
There was a storm so severe in the Chicago area that the IRS did something never done before. They changed the filing date by a few weeks because nothing could go in or go out with any degree of reliability
If you remember Earl Finkle was predicting the blizzard long before anyone else. WOWO radio in Fort Wayne adopted him as their go to weatherman after that, until his retirement.
YES!! Earl Finkle and WOWO. I was 13 and living in FW when the Blizzard hit. We lived in Dominion Place (Brandy Chase now), west on Washington Ctr Rd and we were out of school for almost two weeks. It was also when Ch. 55 WFFT went on air and Kent Holman was stuck at the station and provided great entertainment on the new station.
The Fort, WOWO and Earl Finkle, what a combination! Crazy story; I had to testify in a negligence trial in Chicago starting on January 30th. We lived in Alaska at the time so we decided to make a trip out of it to see my wife's family west of Angola. We flew into Ft. Wayne on Monday before the storm thinking we would spend the week in Indiana and then drive our rental car to Chicago over the weekend. WRONG. Wednesday brought the snow and by Thursday all the county roads were drifted shut and it was a week before we could get to I-69 and north to the Toll Road and then another few days before the Toll Road was open to get to Chicago. Oh, the trial? It was delayed two weeks and the defendant was found guilty. But that is another story. Years later we moved to the area and still listened to WOWO and Earl, remember the "Finkle Sprinkle" used to describe a light rain?
i was 7 had a blast!!!!!
I moved to Arizona in 1977 in and spent my 1rst winter away from Michigan. I remember how bizarre and enjoyable it was living in sunny and 70-80 degree weather during the winter months especially what was going on in Michigan
I will never forget it. I grew up in East Muskegon, about 10 miles east of the Lake, right in the middle of the lake effect snow belt, so we were used to getting pretty good snows. When the storm started, my Dad, brother, and I were out shoveling our parking area roughly the size of a two stall garage. After battling heavy snow and wind for probably an hour, Dad stopped our work, and we went inside. Dad was not the kind of guy who gave up on a job, but this one was clearly too rough. I remember that the wind blew fiercely for all day, I think, the temps dropped way down probably around zero that night. The snow continued through the night, and into the next day if I remember, with huge drifts burying everything outside. Our ice skating rink in our front yard was a casualty, buried under snow so deep we just couldn't dig it out. Muskegon recorded about 52 inches of new snow over about a 3 day period. As a kid in high school at the time, it was great fun having time off school, and going around seeing all drifts as high as the roofs of houses. Just about any way you look at it; huge snow, extreme cold, and extreme wind, it was a storm to remember.
I just came across this , i'm up here in CT and remember this storm. I was 12 and school was closed for a week , i remember people riding their snow mobiles up and down the street. The snow was over the hood of my fathers car and back then nobody had snow blowers , but it was a lot of fun for me and my younger brothers. It completely shut down our state , we hardly ever get storms like this anymore. So far this winter we had a whopping 4" of snow and tomorrow and thursday are gonna be over 60 , which i ain't complaining about.....
@Dale Lerette Our you in Mass?
@Dale Lerette Gotcha👍 So you must have got hammered there also!
@Dale Lerette Are we having the same conversation? I think you were talking to someone else , because i have no clue what you're talking about?
@Dale Lerette Nope!
When it got to New England, Connecticut to be exact, my sister gave birth to my nephew in that blizzard! February 7, 1978 👶🏼❄️☃️
I was 13 then and us kids had a blast , we hadn't seen more then a few inches till then and for the next two week I worked with my Grandfather clearing walkways for the housing and apartment complexes he managed during the day and the evenings were filled sled riding an feeding the barrel fire on top of the golf course .
From what I found about this winter that Lebanon's Mountains off of Eastern Mediterranean Sea in February, 2012 got FORTY FEET OF SNOW IN JUST FIVE DAYS because of Atmospheric Rivers traveling easterly across the Mediterranean Sea to Lebanon. They have 6 ski resorts in that country. The chairlift cable which the chairlift is attached to was buried in places. On Google there's pictures and the story.
My wife and myself were in Wichita Falls, Texas at that time. I was in the USAF stationed at Sheppard AFB. I was born in Detroit and grew up there and Livonia. I've driven across Wyoming(the state), Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico all in winter weather months. Weather out in those states where snowstorms and blizzards like here in Michigan. But you don't have a situation like if you go off the highway, it's several hundred FEET DOWN.
It hit up to Houghton Lake and all of the cities North were closed in by it. Not just South of Michigan. I wasn't able to get out from Clare Michigan until two weeks later waiting for snow plows and the snow was so deep our snowmobiles could not get through it back then.
A year previous to this, the state of NY had a bad blizzard as well. From January 28th until February 1st the storm raged. I was only 4 at the time, but remember the snowbanks being so high the telephone wires could almost be touched. Counties in and around Buffalo as well as Jefferson and Lewis counties east of Lake Ontario were deemed federal disaster areas by then President Jimmy Carter. If you were smart before the storm started, you stayed home. Otherwise, there were no guarantees you were making it home. I remember my Dad saying the morning of January 28th started beautiful and sunny. Then at about 11:30 or noon time, the sky on the horizon started turning black. He said the storm hit with full force, snow and high winds. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face. He said he has never seen the sky as dark as it was that day.
I was born in February
Because of the Blizzard of 1978 I moved 1100 miles south
, I was young, shoveled lots of snow, now I would assist cleanup but mostly just stay in and let the youth do most of the hard work.
Sincerely
The old Northwoods RN
In KY we got part of this storm. We had a huge amount of snow also. We were out of school for well over a week. Our rural road had to be dug out by the neighbor farmers. They found cars buried in snow drifts in the middle of the road. The one thing I remember the most is how my brother built a full size igloo in our front yard. Those were the days.
We lived in the central U.P. when this storm hit. The national guard opened our roads with big snow blowers. He measured drifts that were 22 feet after they got the roads open..My dad ran a small town store and stayed there until the storm was over to make sure people could get needed supplies. Many people snowshoed miles to the store for supplies..the drifts were too big to get snowmobiles over. Sheer walls of snow.
NO cell phones, internet, social media, video games. No streaming movies...just basic tv and a radio. YET..(me 12 at the time)..us kids had a BLAST!! We loved it!
Here in Southern Ohio, dad's car was first trapped on the street with snow 2 inches from the car door window then 5 days later as it warmed slightly, followed by a 6 day stretch of near or below zero Temps the car became encased in ice. It could not move for 3 or 4 weeks
I was a teenager when the storm hit and we had a blast. I lived in a rural area and we tied snow discs to the back of the snowmobile. Flying up and down the road intentionally crashing into the snow piled on the side of the road. Man, that was a blast!
That Blizzard hit the entire state of Michigan. I remember it clearly and we couldn't even use our snowmobiles as it was so deep to get to a store for weeks.
That storm hit the entire Midwest We had it pretty bad here in Indiana
Ohio too.
@@galewinds7696 I was in Michigan and lived through it and the wind blew the snow into 15 foot drifts where I lived in the Northern part of the Lower Peninsula. If in cities the roads may have been cleared faster than in the country or smaller cities but it did lock down the state for much longer than a week.
I was in this in Dayton Ohio. It was epic.
What I will never forget about this snow storm is that no snow was left in the fields. The wind piled up all that snow in the roadway or up against all buildings, or other things left outside.
Lived in sw ohio, I was 17 and remember it well. Our front storm door froze shut also remember missing a lot of school and having to go several Saturdays to make up for the days missed. Haven't seen anything like it since.
That winter deep snow hit many States. My dad died December 22, 1978 in KCMO by his funeral December 24th we had snow on streets for days.
Then on February6th. We on Long Island had our blizzard of 78. Two feet of snow. Snow stayed on the ground for a month. I was happy when spring came.
I lived in Connecticut along the shore. They shut down 1-95 for 3 days. We had snowmobiles so we got around ok. Never lost power. Good times.
We had the same storm here in NW Indiana right off the lake.
My dad (now retired) was a fireman and I can remember him using our snowmobile to go from Saline to Ann Arbor to get to work.
I was born in 1964 an raised in Lakeview District of Battle Creek, MI.....I was 14 yrs old an remember this storm like it was yesterday.....drifts over 15ft tall on Riverside Drive by my Elementary School. I bet that older women ( RN ) who was interviewed knew my family name ......the Stroud's. All my cousins, aunt an uncle still live there ... the Mumford family !! " M go Blue !! "
* thumbs up from Lake George, NY ...
I was working in Kalamazoo then and walked the five miles into work. No use trying the car. On the way in there was thunder snow, which is fairly rare and showed the tremendous energy of the storm.
I was a young during this remarkable time. My siblings and I had a blast 😁 my parents, not so much
I am a Michigander who has lived many places than here. Boring places. I still absolutely love a good storm!
The Blizzard of 1978 literally brought life to a standstill. My parents had a house near the old Phillips School in Muskegon Heights (ironically, it was a Muskegon Public School but it was located in Muskegon Heights), my parents lost power for a couple of days. I still had power on Park Street near the old Craig School in Muskegon and had a week off from teaching at a local college, my snow blower had quite the workout. Another monster storm in January 1982 had my father and I snowshoeing our way to my grandparents house with sled loads of groceries, their home was in a very rural area near Hesperia and they had 110 inches of snow within a week there (that is NOT a typo, the storm focused on Newaygo and Oceana counties IIRC, MLive states that Muskegon only received 22 inches out of that storm). The 110 inch storm of 1982 dumped its snow slow enough where the main roads were plowed but the dirt side roads weren't. I had moved to the Hesperia area by then but had a four wheel drive pickup and a logging skidder with a bucket like a bulldozer would have on the front, fortunately the storm didn't dump THAT much in my yard or the road in front of it so I was able to get out OK -- I think I had about 40 inches in my yard and got myself out to the highway with the skidder and its bucket then went back and switched to my truck to go to the store and to deliver the groceries to my grandparents. 110 inches was too much to even attempt to use my logging skidder to clear a path for my grandparents.
I remember the storm of "67" the worst, as that was the 1st time I-94 was closed. I had just moved to Mattawan in 1965.
I was driving home that Fri. from my doctor's appointment & I followed the snow plow up the exit ramp to Mattawan. Could tell lots of stories about the next two weeks!
P.S. My doctor told me it would be best if I quit smoking. I took his advice that day.
Never smoked since, still here, 90 years old. ☺ 😷🙏 ⚾
I remember and won’t ever forget
Spent time he day with my friend that had a lifted Ford Four wheel drive....never got stuck. He had me ridding in the back while he picked up Drs. And nurses.
Hey it was bad here in Indianapolis and I was stuck out in it for about a week. Was rough, couldn't believe the snow and ice. Money was made by snow pushers and I got some of it before the winter was done. We had snowmobiles everywhere. And of course the national guard.
I remember both th 78 storm and one that happened in 67. There's a lot of back and forth about which one was worse. I think the 67 storm had longer lasting effects. So, I'll give the nod to it.
Another point to be made about this period, ‘77, ‘78, this snow would NOT melt off between snow events as it does now. It would continue to pile up, storm after storm until April or May. So one storm creates 15 feet piles of snow, the next adds 10 feet… seriously think about that. We ran out of places to put the snow. It was incredible. ❄️
I was an eleven-year-old kid and I remember having most of that week off of school. Everything was drifted shut. Myself and my father hiked to the nearest grocery store with a runner sled with a cardboard box strapped to the top. And we hiked to 44th and Kalamazoo to the Lee's grocery store. This story is very accurate. The only traffic we saw were snowmobiles and very few four-wheel drive trucks. I lived on a cul-de-sac and we actually had a plow get stuck in our cul-de-sac.
I was there and pregnant with my second child ,we lived on a dead-end road in Ottawa County out in the country, it was 4 days before they plowed the road
.
I lived in Delaware ohio when it hit. 28 foot drifts on west side of barn. Two army trucks stuck in front yard. Grandparents tied clothes lines around us boys just to go to wood pile only 50 yards away. 3 weeks my town was closed.
I was 14 years old, shoveling 18 inches of snow off the roof of our house in Grand Rapids . I didn't even have to jump off the roof to get down; just had to take a simple step.
It was snowing hard in Sanford, Michigan (near Midland, MI) & I stayed home from school when I was 12 & 1/2 years old on January 26, 1978!!
I am from Maine and survived the Blizzard of 82.
Not just west Michigan….lost 3 trees, power outages for a week, sleeping near fireplace etc…and that’s near Detroit area
I grew up in Massachusetts, but lived in Georgia at the time of the "Blizzard of 78"
Levittown, Pa.,Woodrow Wilson H.S., class of 78, the school board was thinking about not allowing us to graduate because we were out for so long. i let the fall of 79 and i will never be in the northeast again.
'77 and '78 Winters were bad in Cincinnati too.
I was 10 years old I Remember it will we was out of school for a long time and we had fun Playing in the snow
In this storm a Monroe County plow truck driver got out of the cab of his truck for some reason that nobody ever figured out and became separated from the rig and could not find the truck in the storm and died of exposure.
I worked at the Kalamazoo State Hospital at the time and lived closed enough that I could bundle up and walk the mile and a half to work for the afternoon shift. None of the other afternoon shift staff made it work for our building so the day staff stayed and I spent the night there, as well. It's interesting, we didn't have a tv at the time. So my only memory of this storm was from my own experiences - not from watching coverage of it. I'm not sure I knew how impactful it was on a larger scale. It was fun revisiting it in this video.
I grew up in Ionia Mich was 16 years old and it was a mess more snow than you could shake a stick at. We had to get football game going. Good memories!!!!!
Survived the blizzard of 78 in Indpls. We had to dig a tunnel, to get out our door. City basically shut down for a week.
People always remember the Blizzard of 78".
I lived in Lawrence In. It was a great time as a teenager
I was born in MI 9 months after this. I wonder if there is connection?
Seems there was one connection 🤔
I remember it even though I was only 12. Got to build awesome snow forts in 8 to 10 foot deep drifts.
We had to dump milk down the drain. Only had room enough for 3 days worth. Milk truck couldn't get there for 5. Thank goodness we had a generator on a tractor. We could still do everything and stay warm and comfortable.
I remember it well in Ohio
I was four years old. My dad opened our front door to a wall of snow one morning. My parents laughed. Our water pipes were frozen. At night the snow returned and I lay in bed listening to the wind moaning through the eaves outside. My bedroom window was frozen in ice.
I was 16 yrs old in '78 and walked 2 miles for needed food... Had 3 and 4 foot drifts I had to walk through, in the city.
Lived in northern Merrimack valley Massachusetts I worked in a food warehouse never lost power and made it to work everyday
Winter 78 and 79 we had huge snow in central illinois. The snow on the state highway was stacked 10’ high and only one lane open in many places for month or more. Snow was loaded in dump trucks and dumped by the Illinois river. The ground was frozen and when spring thaw came there was record flood on the Illinois river.
I could walk on the snow right on to the roof of my house!
It was not just W. Michigan. It was ALL of MI, OH, IL… and other states. This report said drifts up to 15 feet… We saw a drift against a B-52 hanger that had to be 25’. The nuclear loaded B-52’s at Wurtsmith A.F.B. had snow drifted underneath the wings and of course were unable to taxi if needed and thus useless to their mission. I, and numerous other men, were standing outside in this blizzard guarding these “Alert Aircraft” whose mission was to taxi out of the Alert area and take off in case of a nuclear strike. When the powers that be finally determined that the aircraft were incapable of their mission they pulled us off guard duty. We were all very cold despite our Arctic clothing and were exhausted. They couldn’t even keep the runways clear with a dozen large snowplows continuously working the on main runway. The whole base was shut down. We lived in a three story “barracks” and the snow was drifted up over the windows of the second story. Cars were buried for weeks in the parking lots. It was an experience one never forgets.
I was 21 came home from LA when it hit it was definitely different. But I walked everywhere but was lucky to live in a town close to my job and stores
I remember living out of town on M55 near Star corner's after digging out of my house I was able to go out to the power pole in the yard and sitting on top of it. We were snowed in for 7 days.
that storm hit us hard over in central Illinois. I was in college there and the day after they did not cancel classes, streets weren't plowed. sidewalks weren't cleared. I had 4 classes that day' I walked the two miles to classes thru hip deep snow, only one professr showed up. we were all pretty mad
Our local weatherman said 2-4 inches...He did not get fired and remained beloved. Back in those days...people were allowed to make mistakes.
I was 9 years old and played in it..!
Add Springfield Illinois to the list! 30 foot drift on our apt building. All the cars in parking lot covered do deep you couldn’t tell where you were parked. I found my vw beetle and drove right out. What a memory! I miss that old car
That storm made it all the way to us on the southern coast of Maine. Being right on the beach The storm surge filled our basement with sand right to the ceiling. I was 13, it took till the summer to shovel all that sand out and get at my surfboards!
I still had to walk to school. When I showed up the doors were locked. When I got home I had to shovel snow for 3 days.
I remember it,or our Iowa version in early 79. I was driving a 68 caprice that would get around pretty good in snow but I got stuck twice that night,once just outside our small town and one in town. I don't remember how I got out the first time but the 2nd time the maintainer came along and was happy to give me a pull out,probably just to get my car out of the way so he could do his job! Ah well,I was young then,have done my share of good deeds since then.