The Smith Family

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Blizzard of 1977

I got an email with these pictures of the blizzard of 77 and thought I would share since we have been so buried in snow lately too :)

The snow was so high, you could touch the traffic lights.

A front-end loader is trying to clear Furhmann Boulevard. You can barely see the buried car.

Volunteer firemen are clearing off the roof of a house in Depew, NY. Talk about buried in snow.

Let's see . .. . first, I gotta find my car.Then I gotta dig it out. Then I gotta figure out how I'm gonna get it home.

These trucks are dumping the snow right back into Lake Erie, where it came from.It's the Hydrological Cycle in action.

This is a C-130 bringing in badly needed men and equipment.The TV crew is standing on snow as high as the roofs of cars.

Buffalo wasn't the only place hit by the storm - this was in Watertown, NY.Jefferson County had snowdrifts that were 'only' 18 feet high.

Red Cross volunteers are looking for people trapped in vehicles.Nine people were found frozen to death in their cars,and 29 people died as a result of the storm . . .


'Honey, you're going the wrong way.''And just how am I supposed to turn around???'


The snow is as high as the gutters on the house behind these folks,and the guy in front is about six feet off of the ground.

I'm just taking the dog for a walk - going woof to woof.

Snowbanks on the sides of the road in Hamburg, NY - that's 10 feet of snow you're looking at.

It's a good thing schools were closed,because the school buses were buried.

There's not much snow here - you can still see the stop sign.

Cars were trapped in the tunnel under the Buffalo Airport, by Aero Drive and Amherst Villa Road.There was crazy amounts of snow everywhere.

We finally got the driveway plowed.

Buffalo still holds the record (199 inches during the winter of 1976-1977!) for the snowiest city in the country, and was the first city ever in the USA to be declared a Federal Disaster Area due to snow.Ironically, during the four days of the Blizzard, only 12 inches of new snow fell - the rest of it was blown off of the frozen surface of Lake Erie.Sure, we have to deal with some snow every year, cold weather, and the occasional blizzard,but we rarely see earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, or other natural disasterswhich cause a lot more destruction, loss of property, and loss of lives.We are very lucky to live in Buffalo, NY - the City of Good Neighbors.We also have beautiful summers, and all four seasons, unlike a lot of other places. So, as Mark Twain once said, 'If you don't like the weather in Buffalo, wait five minutes . . . it'll change.'

I love New York!


6 Comments:

  • My family moved from Tonawanda to Toledo, Ohio (the other side of Lake Erie) in December 2000. Toledo goes under Level 3 Snow Emergencies (the highest you can get!) after about 8 inches of snow. Naturally, I get a little nostalgic every winter. :)

    By Anonymous Rosie, At February 6, 2011 at 7:26 AM  

  • I was born prior to the start of the Blizzard (Jan 28 was the start date) but the weather was horrible all month according to my parents - roads were closed as they drove to the hospital the night I was born, Jan 11. And my mom's obgyn couldn't get to the hospital (DeGraff).

    By Blogger Merced, At February 1, 2012 at 5:10 PM  

  • I was stationed at Fort Drum near Water town at the time. Being from out west, yes we had snow and cold, but my Lord nothing like what I had experienced. Now over the many years I have told the story over and over. But after a while I thought that may be I had been exaggerating. So I decided to Google the blizzard... Man oh Man, my stories were and still are just about 98.9% correct. But I don't think my family and finders believe me... But it's all true. ;-)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At February 10, 2013 at 6:19 PM  

  • I'm trying to remember how long school was closed. Seems to me there was a snow day on Thursday because of a Wednesday night storm. Then, back to school on Friday and around noon the BIG STORM hit. School was dismissed around 1 pm that Friday and remained closed for the next 2 full weeks. Anybody remember it like that?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At January 30, 2014 at 10:58 PM  

  • I was a senior in high school in Watertown, New York and it seems to me that we were out of school for more than a month. The roads were closed for about three weeks. It was quite the event. I remember the radio stations went past their 11:00 deadline and were going 24 hours a day.

    By Blogger HolySonofGod, At November 2, 2014 at 7:17 PM  

  • It was let out early on Friday---around noon-----and then closed for 2 full weeks.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At August 18, 2018 at 10:30 AM  

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