Posted on 02/20/2021 9:41:24 AM PST by buckalfa
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Many, if they were alive 40 years ago this week, can remember exactly where they were and what they saw between Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, 1978.
The most devastating winter storm to ever hit Ohio moved in during the early hours of Jan. 26 and battered the state for three days, breaking records and wreaking havoc on the roads, on homes and even in the skies.
“If you lived through it, you might remember the huge snowdrifts,” said Fox 8 Meteorologist Scott Sabol. “We haven’t had wind chills like that since.”
On Jan. 25, it was rainy and foggy, and the temperatures were in the 30s and 40s, according to the National Weather Service. But the storm was intensifying as it moved north from Gulf of Mexico through the south and eventually to Cleveland early in the morning on Jan. 26.
The temperatures fell nearly 30 degrees in two hours.
The snow wasn’t the biggest issue with the blizzard; it was the wind. That was on top of snow that fell earlier in the month.
Wind gusts hit over 100 miles per hour at times.
Because of the wind, huge snow drifts, some between 20 and 40 feet high, covered roads and runways.
“Weeks before…we had 5 to 10 inches of snow from the [storm] on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9,” said Sabol. “We had a week and a half of a break, another foot of snow fell, and that brought the snow cover close to two feet. So we had between 18 and 24 inches of snow on the ground before the blizzard hit. Then the wind picked up, we added 8 inches on top of that, and that’s what caused those snowdrifts of 20 to 40 feet in many locations. Because of snow on the ground, not so much the snow that fell due to the storm that came through Jan. 25 and 26.”
All major highways and freeways, along with most roads, were closed and the Ohio Turnpike shut down for the first time in history. Air transportation was stopped for the duration of the storm.
In all 70 people were killed, including 51 in Ohio.
“That January,” said Sabol, “was one of those if you lived through it, if you were around then, it’s something we haven’t seen since.”
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down”.... .
(one of the lowest winter low pressures on record in OH. too)
Remembering Dick Goddard
I lived in Cincinnati then....it was HORRIBLE!!
***In short? Yes. ***
Absolutely! I was born and raised on the High Plains and isolated farms. We kept enough in the house for at least a two-three week blizzard.
Now in the Ozarks we still do the same. Several years back we had a horrible four inch thick ice storm. Power out for several days, yet we did well as we had lots of kerosene and Coleman lamps. Some had not been lit in thirty years.
A few years back we had a two feet snow storm. Again people were stranded, our power did not go out, but the roads were impassable. On the radio, with ONE station still broadcasting, we heard lots of phone in pleas for help.
People seem to have lost the ability to prepare for hard times.
Goddard and Dorothy (Full-time) Fuldheim were Cleveland television legends.
It was essentially an anniversary blizzard for us WNYers.
Drove up to Brockton from MD to visit my girlfriend after this.
They were dumping snow at the fairgrounds. Even then each intersection had snow at least 8ft high so you had to creep around to make sure the way was clear.
FYI
YouTube
“The Big UK Freeze of (1962 - 1963)”
Make sure you’re warm when ya watch this vintage news special from 1963.
Came across that video when it was -20 here in WI recently.
I’d moved out of the Western Reserve the year previous.
I’m guessing that was the same year I’m remembering in Minnesota. One of the only times I recall actually being snowed in.
I would have been 16. The neighborhood took turns having the party/meals at various homes. The guy across the street had his snowmobile at home and would do booze runs to the store.
I remember it very well. I grew up in my hometown of Mason, Ohio...just north of Cincy. I was 19 at the time. I will never forget that blizzard for as long as I live.
I recall here in mid Michigan in 1976 having an ice storm (worst in my memory) and we were without power for quite some time.
78 was horrible in New England too
I remember it well. Got up for school and my dad was sitting at the kitchen table. He never missed work. He said go back to bed. I asked why he said look outside. I spent a few minutes looking out not seeing anything but white before it hit me. We ended up with drifts 2 stories high. One of them over our car. We spent days once the wind stopped digging it out. fill a sled drag it out back empty and repeat.
Same winter storm hit Indiana too. My senior year in high school. I was out of school for 1 1/2 weeks. After the snow fell, and the temps plummeted, my old Chevy Nova was the only car on the block that would start. I was giving jumps to all the cars whose batteries were dead.
I was in The Blizzard of the Century, in MN in early January 1975.
I was wearing everything I could find including my ski goggles out rescuing fellow students who couldn’t find their way back to the campus.
In the 1 mile distance between campus and town, there were over 50 cars in the ditch
Worst storm I have ever been in.
It gave us kids an early experience with nostalgia when no subsequent winters measured up to 1978.
Just crazy times. They came to get me in a Gamma Goat (6 wheeled motor with a steering wheel, loads of fun.
Lawrence, Mass. I am a survivor too.
I went boot sailing in the middle of our street because the wind was so strong. Had great fun!
I grew up with blizzards in the day when only a bluzzard was called a nor’easter. Today 4 inches of snow and no wind is called a nor’easter.
Blizzards were normal occurance at that time so it was no big deal to us. Hood snow shovels, warm winter clothing, hot cocoa and popcorn were the norm for our house. If the power went down, which it frequently did, it was time for the kids to snuggle together in warm blankets and get silly.
Those were the good ole days!
In my books, nothing comes close to the Buffalo Blizzard of ’77....
There was only 12 or so inches of new snow dumped during the Blizzard itself but in the two months before the Blizzard, both months totally destroyed all previous monthly snow accumulation records.... 60” in December and 68” in January. When the winds of 70 mph hit at the end of January, it whipped up all the snow on the ground and there were drifts so deep, helicopters flying overhead after the winds and the storm died down 5 days later could barely make out the roofs of houses. And the wind was brutally cold... windchill was in the range of -40 to -60 degrees. Schools were closed for two weeks afterwards... that’s how long it took for the city to dig out.
One of my brothers was dating a young lady in NYC at that time and when the storm hit, he managed to limp into a gas station just off of I-90 on the east side of Buffalo....he was finally able to leave the gas station 5 days later.
Our street wasn’t even plowed for about a week but people were starting to run out of food.
So my Dad and the neighbor guys got together shoveled a way out of the neighborhood to a plowed street. Then they took orders of what the elderly neighbors needed, grabbed their kid’s sleds and walked several miles to the grocery store.
To this day my brothers and I have been food hoarders!
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