What a day that was in my childhood!
Back when winters were REALLY winters.....
with tons of snow, and Lake Erie would freeze ten feet deep....
And I am reminded by my little sister today
that it was on these days exactly 39 years ago
that the infamous storm hit us:
that the infamous storm hit us:
THE BLIZZARD OF '78.
[credit: Google images]
We had so much snow and the 65-miles-per-hour
winds coming off the lake
was so howling and so loud and strong.
The snow drifts were 20 feet high in some places,
covering doors and windows on most homes!
covering doors and windows on most homes!
[credit: Google images]
We were able to get out once a kind neighbor
shoveled snow away from our door;
shoveled snow away from our door;
the neighbor men and boys went around to the houses
checking on folks - especially the elderly.
Many homes are empty in that summer vacation area in the winter,
though. So many go to warmer places for those cold months!
[credit: Google images]
Many homes are empty in that summer vacation area in the winter,
though. So many go to warmer places for those cold months!
All services stopped - electricity and certainly telephones.
Everything but our survival ceased.
We lost electricity for days and my father, mother,
little sister and brother and I just huddled in
our den (smallest room in our large home) to try and keep warm.
I remember we played a lot of games during this black-out.
I remember my father and mother very worried about my older siblings who had already left home and were in college.
These were the days before "make up" lost school days -
and if my memory serves me right we
lost well over a month of school.
Which was fun to us kids, of course.
I remember once the storm was over we got all bundled up
and slide off the roof onto the snow just like these kids are doing.
[credit: Google images]
I remember my little brother and a neighbor friend made the best igloo and it didn't melt for months!
It was so solid (they wet it down with water to turn it into ice) and it so cold outside they could even have a little fire going inside it! I think my brother made it because he was going crazy stuck in the house with his two sisters! I remember not really being invited in to play in that igloo, but that's ok. After all, I was a teen by then and didn't play much, heh heh.
The National Guard had to come to the rescue
to some of the more remote rural areas
who didn't have snow removal services.
70 lives were claimed due to this storm, 51 of them Ohioans.
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That's not all that perished. Much wildlife died.
I remember seeing so many frozen birds, it was awful.
The Berwick's wren, which was on the decline, was virtually eradicated by the storm, said Jim McCormac, avian education specialist in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.
The Carolina wren and the northern mockingbird have bounced back since nearly being wiped out, he said.
The bobwhite quail, which is most comfortable in an open field and some brush, has faced a tougher recovery. Its numbers have failed to reach pre-blizzard levels. Ohio is trying to help by resettling quail from Kansas on reclaimed strip mine land.
Below explains the winter storm of 1978:
By Wednesday evening, the storm moving out of Mississippi had began to rapidly strengthen and began to phase with the Midwest low pressure system as it moved into Eastern Tennessee pulling together deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and an arctic air mass that was ejecting out of Canada.
The result was phenomenal intensification as the barometric pressure dropped to an astonishing 958 mb when the storm moved north over Cleveland Ohio. (A record for low pressure at the time for the Central US.)
This type of rapid deepening is known as "bombogenesis" and is usually reserved for strong hurricanes. The storm is also referred to as the "Cleveland Super-bomb".
Here's a look at one of the few satellite images available of the storm captured on the morning of Thursday January 26, 1978.
This unforgettable storm was really something to experience!
It's very difficult to explain to the younger folks,
since we're in a warmer climate these days,
just exactly how major this storm really was.
I encourage everyone to look up this amazing storm.
There are so many videos and a zillion pics to see
about it from all over the North East and snow belt!
about it from all over the North East and snow belt!
I' d love to hear from you all,
and if you were impacted by this storm, too.
and if you were impacted by this storm, too.
As always, thank you for visiting!
♥
~Michele
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