ChevyVanMiller Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 January 28th was the start of the worst storm in the region's history? Where were you on that fateful day?
boyst Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 I was still that little seed swimming around in the sack, but I would love to live through a blizzard...
Zona Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 Albion. We lived in a trailer. We got snowed in, and missed almost 2 weeks of school. It was awesome. The storm was very impressive, and a little scary.
coloradobillsfan Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 (edited) up on a snowdrift with my big brother Edited January 29, 2013 by coloradobillsfan
Beerball Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 Senior in HS. Played hours and hours of Risk with friends.
boyst Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 If you were snowed in, I imagine you did not have power? Were furnaces oil then? If electric were you SOL? But, more importantly, being snowed in... what happens when you could not even open the door? That had to have happened?
Beerball Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 If you were snowed in, I imagine you did not have power? Were furnaces oil then? If electric were you SOL? But, more importantly, being snowed in... what happens when you could not even open the door? That had to have happened? Shovels were invented more than 36 years ago. Serious answer, I believe that all of our exterior doors opened into the house. You found the door that had the lowest drift and used that one. I do not believe that we lost power but I could be wrong about that.
ChevyVanMiller Posted January 29, 2013 Author Posted January 29, 2013 up on a snowdrift with my big brother Great pic, thanks for sharing. I was 12 when the Blizzard hit and what i remember most was that CB radios were all the rage. Our neighbor had a 4-WD Blazer and volunteered to make emergency runs. We kept in touch with him on the CB. I also remember being really proud of my community (NF) as there were so many stories of people helping each other.
ExiledInIllinois Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 (edited) If you were snowed in, I imagine you did not have power? Were furnaces oil then? If electric were you SOL? But, more importantly, being snowed in... what happens when you could not even open the door? That had to have happened? The problem was... The lake froze early that year and a lot of snow was sitting on it... Not much new snow fell during the storm... Maybe a foot? The wind and the drifts were what was doing the trouble... So where the drifts piled up was dependent on how the wind was working it. In other words: Go out a side door... ;-) :-P Anyway, I was in grade three... I don't remember much of The Blizzard (like losing power, which we did not) except that my father was returning home from an appointment @ the VA when some lady got stuck in front of him @ the viaduct on Union and Broadway in Cheektowaga. My father was almost home in his new '77 Caprice Classic wagon when he couldn't get through... Had to spend a bunch of days @ the Forks firehall ... Boy was he pissed about that lady not making it through that viaduct and jamming sh*t up traffic wise. I think Alex Haley's Roots was on he was missing it... Remember... Most cars were rear wheel drive tanks, that did absolutely crap in the snow! If you were blocked and had to sit, you were doomed to the drifts... Edited January 29, 2013 by ExiledInIllinois
mrags Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 If you were snowed in, I imagine you did not have power? Were furnaces oil then? If electric were you SOL? But, more importantly, being snowed in... what happens when you could not even open the door? That had to have happened? my parents lived in the apts near the Blvd Mall and I hear stories of leaving the apt through the balcony on the 2nd floor until a tunnel was dig to the door.
Helpmenow Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 Sitting in the town of Elma, where they always get a ton of the white stuff.
Buftex Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 I remember my brother and I shoveling driveways for the old ladies in the neighborhood, until we could barely walk any more... I used to love raking in the extra bucks (supplement the 3 paper routes I had)....at night, after thawing out, we had marathon sessions of table top rod hockey (let the jokes fly)...it was the old school game with the flat, 1-D players...it came with the Canadians and Maple Leafs. My brother was always good at painting models and things like that, so he was able to transform the Maple Leafs into the '75 Sabres... we would play the whole Sabres schedule... winner of any given game got to pick which team they were for the next game...my brother was a much better athlete than me, but I was much better at rod hockey.... we kept stats for all the Sabres players...IIRC, Gilbert Perreault finished with about 150 goals! Good old days... We lived in Tonawanda...we got it bad, but probably not as bad as some of the outlying areas. I used to love snow days...what was awesome that year was that we had only been back in school from Christmas break a short time, and then had another week off! Fond memories of the "Blizzard of '77"!
EDinRTP Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 Actually went to work in Amherst but turned around and made it back to Niagara Falls in an AMC Gremlin with broken windshield wipers. Took back roads...if I had been on NF Blvd., I would have been stranded.
ExiledInIllinois Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 Actually went to work in Amherst but turned around and made it back to Niagara Falls in an AMC Gremlin with broken windshield wipers. Took back roads...if I had been on NF Blvd., I would have been stranded. Were AMC Gremlins rear wheel? I betcha being small and tight, they handled the snow well. Actually, the early 1980's AMC Eagles (4x4) were pretty beast in the snow!
DC Tom Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 But, more importantly, being snowed in... what happens when you could not even open the door? That had to have happened? A lot of people climbed out their second-story windows. And to expand on EII's post...in addition to drifting, the blown snow, being "old" and thus more pellet-like, would hit a structure and, as ice will do, melt and refreeze instantly. The resulting snow pack in some places was so hard that they had to bring in mining equipment to dig people out of their houses. There was also a residential fire downtown during the storm...the nearest fire company was close by (a couple blocks, at most), but took 20 minutes to get there. Then they had trouble finding a fire hydrant that hadn't frozen. Then their hoses froze. Not to mention trying to direct a stream of water in 50+mph winds. They nearly lost a whole block of houses. And it took a week to get the fire trucks back to the station, as they were encased in about a foot of ice. Hell of a storm. Most winter storms kill indirectly (idiots who think their Porsche is a good winter car, roofs cave in from heavy snow, etc.) This is the only winter storm I know of that killed people directly - people went outside, and froze. Actually, the early 1980's AMC Eagles (4x4) were pretty beast in the snow! I had one of those. If you knew what you were doing, you could make that thing dance on ice - from a dead stop, I could turn it 180 degrees in place with judicious use of the parking brake. "Beast" is right - that thing was like a rhinoceros.
ExiledInIllinois Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 I had one of those. If you knew what you were doing, you could make that thing dance on ice - from a dead stop, I could turn it 180 degrees in place with judicious use of the parking brake. "Beast" is right - that thing was like a rhinoceros. Subaru eat your heart out! My friend's father had one... It would be pretty cool to find one now... Retro styling, the strips and little rear spoiler, the high ground clearance... I think they had "on demand" "instatrack" or something 4x4... No getting out and locking the hubs! You drive that down the road today, it would surely turn heads! LoL Check out this little lady killer: http://amceaglenest.com/images/137783150ByfMat_ph.jpg Make the girlies go oooo! LoL...
Pete Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 I was in first grade at Gardenville in West Seneca. We actually went to school that day. The snow came so fast- we got snowed in. They opened up the cafeteria for dinner. And I slept on my classroom floor with my nap rug. I was awoken in the middle of the night by a teacher- and some stranger loaded their car up with me and a few kids and drove us home in the blizzard. I got dropped off at the end of my road, and had a couple block walk home. I remember it dumping snow, and being blown side to side from the winds. I stayed outside as long as I could trying to savor the storm. But I was tired and headed home after awhile. I will always remember that late night walk in those conditions!
BuffaloBud Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 Bowmansville Vol Fire Dept responding to calls / checking for stranded motorists / directing traffic. Slept on the hose bed of one of the trucks. We had about 500 people in our banquet room. Walked home after 3 days. Remember being able to touch the bottom edge of the green part of a signal light at the intersection of Harris Hill and Pleasant View on the way home. Later found a car completely buried in a drift just off the intersection. The snow blew and packed just like sand in a desert.
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