OT---40 year anniversary of the Blizzard of '77 coming up...

[matter2003]

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?

Edited January 22, 2017 by matter2003

[PASabreFan]

A cool Sabres angle is that only 14 players got to the airport the next day for a flight to Montreal for a game that night (I'm assuming they couldn't fly out the previous day.) The Sabres tied the mighty Habs. And Ted Darling called the game from home, snowbound. He called the Forum and had the audio engineer send the crowd and ice sound to WGR, then he called the game into his phone while watching on TV, with someone at the station mixing it all together. His son Joey assisted by plugging headphones into the TV and telling his dad how much time was left in periods, penalties and so on.

 

Two home games were postponed, on the 30th and February 7.

Edited January 22, 2017 by PASabreFan

[Weave]

Released early from school.  Bus ride home took what felt like forever.

 

Don't remember much about the storm itself other than my Dad and I's heroic attempt to keep up with all the snow in the driveway.  We were out clearing snow 3-4 times a day during the storm.

 

Once it passed and workplaces started opening I remember a carpool rule.  I remember neighbors had mannequins in their car to skirt the rule.  We had snow up to our garage roof.  The street looked more like a tunnel when the snow was cleared.  Ridiculously high drifts to a 10 year old.

 

Epic snow forts, snowball fights, snow tunnels and caves in the yard.  

[Taro T]

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?

Was home when it hit, but my dad was at work & didn't get home for a couple of days. He worked near the airport, so was able to get to a hotel to stay for a couple of days w/ some coworkers.

 

Dug a LOT of snow tunnels/ snow forts. The yard was easily under more than 5' of snow. A neighbor from across the street had a snow thrower on his farm tractor & unburied our driveway.

 

Had some good Samaritan snowmobilers offering us milk & bread a few days in.

 

Had no school for about 10 days, so had to go about a week longer in June to make some of the snow days up.

 

Also got yelled at for trying to climb onto the roof to jump into the drifts.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Taro T

[Brawndo]

I remember my Dad was in Niagara Falls for work, we lived in Tonawanda, but managed to make it to a friends house for a couple days. My Mom did not want to be alone with two kids under the age of five, so she bundled my sister and I up in snow suits and we walked down to the corner of my street where my aunt and uncle lived. I also recall face planting once or twice along the way.

 

Matter great write up by the way

[Jacque Richard]

Elma enough said.

[jsb]

I was laid off from Bethlehem Steel at the time.

Lived in South Buffalo and parked my car a few doors from the house I rented, upstairs. The landlord and family lived downstairs. Because the snow plows cleared the main streets and not the side streets, I found my car approximately 6 weeks later. The snow drift at the house I stayed in was over the outside windows and I couldn't see out the 2nd story. 

People were stranded for sometimes days because of the storm.

Mayor Makowski, lived on Roosevelt St off of Van Rennsaleur which is not far from the old Larkin building on Exchange St. (not sure of spelling of either Street). He closed downtown Buffalo days before and the business community almost hanged him because of loss of revenue and the storm never hit. So on this Friday, he didn't shut the city down and of course the greatest snow storm in Buffalo history hit. 

 

Had a friend now deceased who had a picture of his 2 kids sort of head to head laying down in a beach scene. In between their heads was a Red Light. I can remember walking down I believe Dash Street and had the ability if I wanted to, to jump down on top of parked cars. Not a simple jump but a 5-6 foot jump. 

 

The National Guard was called in and I believe helped with the cleanup. The snow plows called in were huge and blew the snow from the street unto the sidewalks and adjacent houses. Just made a complete mess. Left town right after Halloween and never came back except for the occasional visits.

[North Buffalo]

Got my first paper route the day the thing hit, was twelve, The Buffalo Evening News at the time was suspended for the next two days. Lived in North Buffalo near the zoo and St. Marks. Dug snow tunnels we coulds stand up in and helped my Dad shovel both driveway and the street as we didnt expect the plow anytime soon. Was off from school for two weeks and remember not being allowed to drive on the roads so we walked to the Tops Market. Saw a police car with just the side cleaned off... no depth... like it was painted on the snow bank... also saw that steam engine on rubber wheels thing rolling down Amherst street... Heard they had to send it back to Toronto for repairs.... from too much use... Huge snow hills in Delaware Park they used to dump the snow on, that didnt fully melt till June with a lot of trash left over. Oh also you could walk out my second floor window on to the porch roof and then on to the snow bank.... As a twelve year old it was epic!

Edited January 23, 2017 by North Buffalo

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I didn't live in Buffalo, but had family in Elma (still do).

 

They told us that the snow was up to the roof (my aunt and uncle lived in a ranch style bungalow).

 

I remember thinking that the kids in Buffalo were so lucky to have that much snow to play in ... I was 13 ... and no school.

[Jacque Richard]

I didn't live in Buffalo, but had family in Elma (still do).

 

They told us that the snow was up to the roof (my aunt and uncle lived in a ranch style bungalow).

 

I remember thinking that the kids in Buffalo were so lucky to have that much snow to play in ... I was 13 ... and no school.

It was and crazy

[Gramps]

Going to Buff State and living on Elmwood at the time. IIRC, my roommates and I closed the Buff State pub on Friday and spent the night in one of the dorms. 

[matter2003]

Going to Buff State and living on Elmwood at the time. IIRC, my roommates and I closed the Buff State pub on Friday and spent the night in one of the dorms. 

 

I'm willing to bet there was a whole lot of banging going on those nights there, hahaha

[ExWNYer]

I was a 13 year old 7th grader, living in Grand Island. We had a two story house and the snow drifts were up to the windows on the second floor. I remember having to come thru the garage to get out and tunnel thru to the front door. There was no way to open it as the snow was packed up against the storm door. Once a path was cleared, I remember thinking that it looked like we were coming out of an igloo. Pretty wild stuff. My best friend lived across the street on a cul de sac and the snow plows pushed as much of the snow to the middle of it as they could. We used that huge mound as a snow fort/mountain fortress for snowball fights and I swear I remember it still melting down in May. It was awesome for a kid (not so much for those who had to work or drive in it). Huddling around the radio for weeks with my brother & sister waiting for Danny Neaverth to announce the snow closings on WKBW was one of my fondest memories of that time.

[Randall Flagg]

How did this compare to the recent November storm? Seems like less total snowfall but the killer winds made up for that?

[North Buffalo]

How did this compare to the recent November storm? Seems like less total snowfall but the killer winds made up for that?

Hard too, because that storm was eight feet of wet snow... and this one, '77, was more wide spread... lasted 5 days and dumped 12-21 feet on people.  But a large amount of that total was blown in from the loose stuff on the lake.  So the actual amount that it snowed was a lot less, but as the article described 60 plus inches falling on the the lake in December and another 60 plus in early January plus the actual amount from that storm made the amount dumped on the area much worse and wide spread.... Plus the winds were nuts and it was very cold...  People lost power in it... Across the street had non, folks moved in with xcross street neighbors.  We had a family with us.

Edited January 23, 2017 by North Buffalo

[matter2003]

How did this compare to the recent November storm? Seems like less total snowfall but the killer winds made up for that?

 

No real comparison, IMHO.  Yeah that was a lot of snow, but '77 was catastrophic

[TheAud]

I was almost 10 years old and playing on the hill behind our back yard. My younger sister and I were sledding after school. The hill seemed huge in my memories but when I see it today it's really quite tame. At some point I noticed we could no longer see the house. Then, we couldn't see 20 feet in front of us. Even at age 10 I knew it was time to grab the sister and head indoors. 

 

My birthday party was scheduled for the next day or the day after. That was postponed and I think it actually happened two weeks later. My Dad worked a couple miles from our home so he was able to make it back and brought a co-worker with him who lived farther away and couldn't make it back. He stayed with us for 2 days I think.

 

We lived on a dead end street off a main road. They didn't even attempt to plow us after the first couple hours until days later. At that point they needed earth moving equipment to come in as there was no way normal plows on trucks were going to open up the street anytime soon.

 

Snow covered the lower part of my bedroom window, drifting up from the ground. My room was on the 2nd floor of our raised ranch house.

 

Playing with my friends in that snow was truly awesome and even intimidating at times the quantity was so massive.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Sakman

[SwampD]

How did this compare to the recent November storm? Seems like less total snowfall but the killer winds made up for that?

Another big difference was that in '77, it wasn't new, fluffy snow. It was snow that was blown in off of the frozen lake and packed into drifts. Plows couldn't just plow through it because it was too dense. They had to get earth movers and shovel it off the streets.

[matter2003]

Another big difference was that in '77, it wasn't new, fluffy snow. It was snow that was blown in off of the frozen lake and packed into drifts. Plows couldn't just plow through it because it was too dense. They had to get earth movers and shovel it off the streets.

 

Yup, plows were actually breaking it because the winds had packed it so tight it was almost like concrete

[MattPie]

Yup, plows were actually breaking it because the winds had packed it so tight it was almost like concrete

 

I read somewhere that when Inuit's build igloos, they look for that same kind of snow since it does act like blocks when you cut it up.

 

I was 6 months or so, so I don't remember anything of course. My dad was working at General Mills and walked to my grandmothers house on Babcock St. My mom was at home in Cheektowoga and IIRC my two uncles ended up staying there. They ventured out at some point when they ran out of beer, probably those green cases of Genny Cream Ale.

 

One of my friends in HS remembered seeing cows on the roof of their barn. And there was apparently a 20+ foot vertical wall of snow as Hunter's Creek Road came up to the top of the hill in Wales.

[Eleven]

Anyone remember the board game?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-BLIZZARD-of-1977-Board-GAME-BUFFALO-NY-COMPLETE-Minty-Condition-NEVER-USED-/131705699252

[LTS]

Anyone remember the board game?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-BLIZZARD-of-1977-Board-GAME-BUFFALO-NY-COMPLETE-Minty-Condition-NEVER-USED-/131705699252

 

Yep.  I had it as a kid.

 

I was turning 4 a few days after it hit.  I remember playing in the snowfall in the apartment complex we lived in.

 

I remember being pulled on a sled by my dad through the woods behind our apartment complex across the the grocery store when it was finally able to open.

 

I remember large tunnels people had carved out (precisely because the snow was so hard).

 

Don't remember much more than that.

[Georgia Blizzard]

My Dad always talks about "The Blizzard", he and his father and my uncle were stranded on Grand Island and slept on tables at a VFW hall for 2 days before being rescued by a friend who had a 4 wheel drive vehicle that could make it's way back to Niagara Falls.  My grandmother always shares pictures of my Dad at the top of a snow drift that reached the second story of their home.  AMAZING !!

 

I agree, a once in 200+ year or more event

[pi2000]

As a little kid I remember wanting to go play in the snow in the yard, but every door I opened to get outside was just a wall of white snow up to the top of the door frame.     I thought it was awesome!

[Mustache of God]

Anyone remember the board game?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-BLIZZARD-of-1977-Board-GAME-BUFFALO-NY-COMPLETE-Minty-Condition-NEVER-USED-/131705699252

 

We had this in my house growing up and this was the first thing I thought of seeing this thread. I wasn't born until the mid-80's so that's my two cents.