Search the Community

The snowbirds can report in, too, to make the northerners feel bad (or really awesome) about their weather. Incredibly, right now, it's -10.8 where I sit, balls trying desperately to nestle up to my appendix.

The Buffalo News posted a big spread about the Blizzard of '77 as its anniversary is coming up next Saturday, 1/28.... Although it isn't usually talked about in "Epic" Blizzards of the US, it puts those storms to shame both in intensity and duration. While there was not that much new snowfall, only a foot in total, the combination of events that all came together over a period of almost a month and a half makes it an event that will likely not be experienced again in our lifetime, our children's lifetime and more than likely our grandchild's lifetime. A small recap for those who aren't familiar with it: BACKGROUND: The elements of a perfect store: Massive snowfall amounts already on the ground---Before December 1976, Buffalo's all-time record for monthly snowfall was 54.2 inches. That record was crushed two months in a row with 60.7 inches in December 1976, followed by 68.7 inches in January. Snow Depth prior to the storm beginning: 33 inches The lengthy cold period---starting December 26th, Buffalo went 45 straight days with continual below frezing temperatures, with the average temperature in December clocking in at 22.0 degrees and January at 13.8, both far below average. An entirely frozen lake---the Eastern end of Lake Erie froze very early that year on December 14th, about a month before normal The absence of the normal thaw-freeze allowed all that snow to remain in loose snow packs instead of turning into the hardened "snow-crete" City of Buffalo snowplows were already feeling the effects prior to the storm with 33 out of the 79 plows in for repairs from battling the near constant snowfall and numerous abandoned cars on the streets they had been dealing with for the previous month+ PRE-STORM EVENTS: Without all the technological advancements we have today like Cell phones, pagers, etc many people went to work expecting just a rough winter day. However by mid-morning Friday January 28th, the meteorological models showed a turn for the worse and they ended up issuing a blizzard warning somewhere between 9 and 11AM, not nearly enough of an advance notice as the brunt of storm hit around 11:30AM with hundreds of thousands of people at work still. THE STORM: Beginning at 11:30AM Friday morning, Buffalo's visibility remained at 0 for an almost incomprehensible 13 straight hours. By mid-afternoon Friday winds reached 46 mph with gusts to 69 mph Temperatures dropped from a high of 26 at around Noon to 0 in four hours Windchills overnight reached -36.2 at the airport and stayed below 0 for more than 48 straight hours(windchills across the area reached -60 degrees in places) snow drifts of 15 feet in teh City of Buffalo by Friday night 29 people died in the storm, and likely many more from activities related to clearing the snow The storm passes early Saturday morning but then reverses course and hits the area again with Blizzard conditions by Mid-Afternoon Saturday wind gusts of over 50 mph occurred each day until February 1st when the storm officially ended POST STORM: Some places remained closed for up to 2 weeks, not reopening until February 14th Over 900 National Guard troops were dispatched to the area to help with snow removal amounting to 39,000 man hours or 20 "man-years" 353 US Army Corp of Engineer personnel deployed to the area 216 contractors hired by the US Army Corp of Engineers to clear 3,186 miles worth of road in 9 counties 3,500 estimated vehicales abandoned during the storm Over 1,000 pieces of snow equipment were mobilized for use to help with cleanup 3 Reindeer excaped from the Buffalo Zoo 25 foot snow drifts were common with numerous places reaching 35-40 feet, completely burying two story houses and allowing little kids to walk in the middle of intersections and touch the traffic lights For anyone in the Western New York area who was involved in this, and even some like myself who were too young to remember it but have seen and read a lot about it, this is the storm against which every other storm in this area is measured. The number of factors that all came together over a 45 day period to create this monster of a storm likely will not be experienced again for a long, long time. Some say its a once in 200 year storm, others a once in 500 year storm and a few saying a once in 1,000 year storm. Whatever the case, it truly was a massive storm that nobody who lived through it will ever forget. Here are some links to info on it: Wikipedia: This has some very detailed information that isn't found in other places with a lot of backstory, day-to-day information during the storm and its aftermath Wikipedia--Blizzard of '77 Buffalo News Section from today's paper: Buffalo News---Blizzard of '77 Anniversary Section Pics from the Blizzard of 77: Pics So for those who lived through it---Where were you when the Blizard of '77 hit and what happened during those 5 days?