Tampa, FL 1/17/77, I remember those winters. A major reason why most of the citrus groves north of The Rat (Orlando) went under and the owners sold to developers.
76/77/78 was a stretch of real cold winters in the midwest, capped by the “blizzard”. I was running a full size Chevy van and even with the grill blocked with cardboard and a blanket behind the driver seat to screen of the back part it was a cold ride when it got to 20 below.
I suggested to my offspring last year that this pattern could repeat, and could be happening. Grateful for cheap nat gas.
I remember the winter of 76/77 in Delaware. The ocean was frozen about a quarter of a mile out from the shore. Lots of patterns in place now to mirror that winter.
I remember that period. Froze my backside off. I wore 3-4 layers of everything — hats, gloves, sweaters, pants, socks, you name it. I thought if I fell down, I’d be like Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic strip. I wouldn’t be able to get back up because I had so many clothes on. :)
But I remember that long about 1980 we had a couple of relatively mild winters. I remember riding down the street with my then boyfriend in the middle of January With the windows open.
Weather goes in cycles. So we had a bad winter last year and this year most likely will be cold too. Before long the cycle will change again and we may get a mild winter or two. It’s not a new phenomenon. It’s always been that way. The climate wusses should just get over it.
I remember those years! 1976 began with a massive cold front and killer wind on Thanksgiving day!
1977 had a bad blizzard come in and that year was the only one I can remember in which the continental USA had 30 days of cloud cover. I caught pneumonia in that one.
1978 again more massive cold storms and fighting frozen pipes. Ran out of firewood, was not hooked up for gas. Wind chill was -30. I thought Spring would never come! Electric bills were a paycheck killer!
Don't know about your neck of the woods, but they jumped the price 20 cents per THM this summer while no one was looking where I'm at.
It was 68 cents last winter, but it will be 88 cents this winter. That's going to leave a mark, if we have similar weather.
77, 78 and 79 I raced on a boy’s cross-country ski team in the upper midwest. We wore the flimsy nylon one-piece suits. It was REALLY important to have an extra sock (use your imagination!)
Our coach even tried to rig up a sock as a “snorkle” to breath through to warm up the air a bit before we enhaled. That sock didn’t work.
The other sock you sure didn’t want to forget!