The winter of 1976-77: the temperature did not get above freezing

WGN ^ | 1/4/21 | Tom Skilling

[DallasBiff]

Dear Tom,

In the winter of 1976-77 there were 43 consecutive days where the temperature did not get above freezing. Any details?

Thanks, Bob Moser Oak Park

Dear Bob,

Here are the hard, cold facts. In 1976, the temperature dropped below freezing at 1 p.m. on Dec. 27 and remained below freezing for 1,053 consecutive hours before reaching 32 degrees at 10 a.m. on Feb. 9, 1977. That streak translated into 43 days and 21 subfreezing hours. The highest temperatures observed during that prolonged cold spell were a trio of 31-degree highs on Feb. 2-4. There were also 17 days with subzero low temperatures during that period. The coldest day was Jan. 16 with a high of minus 7 and a low of minus 19. The streak finally ended with a flourish of warmth on Feb. 9, with a high of 42 degrees, 47 the next day and a “balmy” 53 on Feb. 11.

[FreedomPoster]

I remember that Winter. I was in Central Kentucky, so not quite as cold, but still very cold. I had an old wool Army blanket and a drop light with a 100W bulb. The drop light went between the engine and the radiator, and the blanket over the engine compartment, maybe doubled over. Warmed the radiator and the battery, made it so I could start the car and go to school.

[deweyfrank]

Here in Delaware, the ocean froze a mile out. The back bays in southern Delaware were totally frozen so thick, you could ice skate across.

[Pontiac]

Now we have Warming Centers.

It used to be that people took care of each other. You would check on your elderly relatives, friends and neighbors.

During the blizzard of 1978 a former neighbor that had moved outside of town but still worked in town could not get home because the blizzard had of course blocked all of the roads. He stayed at our house for several days until the roads were cleared.

It is simply the way things were, no one gave it a second thought.

Now everyone expects the government to do what was once Christian charity.

[AbolishCSEU]

I lived between Rochester and Buffalo at the time. My boss was angry that we had to close because one of the severe blizzards wasn’t that severe.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The REAL winter blizzard was a year later in Ohio and surrounding states. The "Great Blizzard of 1978" was a historic and devastating winter storm that struck Ohio and much of the Midwest from Wednesday January 25 to Friday January 27, 1978. It was one of the most severe blizzards in U.S. history, particularly for Ohio, where it paralyzed many communities. In Ohio, 51 people died.

A low-pressure system, initially tracking from the Gulf of Mexico, merged with an Arctic cold front sweeping down from Canada. (what we call a "Polar Vortex" today, I guess). By January 25, this explosive combination intensified over the Ohio Valley, reaching a record-low barometric pressure of 28.28 inches (958 millibars) near Cleveland—equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane. In Ohio, the storm hit its peak overnight into January 26, unleashing a ferocious mix of heavy snow, gale-force winds, and bone-chilling cold.

The real killer was the wind. Sustained speeds of 50 to 70 mph, with gusts exceeding 100 mph in some areas (notably near Cleveland), whipped the snow into blinding drifts. In Massillon, where I lived at the time, drifts reached 10 to 15 feet high, burying cars, blocking roads, and even covering first-floor windows of homes. Visibility dropped to zero during the storm’s height, creating whiteout conditions that lasted for hours. 12 to 20 inches of snow fell across Northeast Ohio.

Earlier that month, Ohio had already endured a brutal cold snap, with temperatures dipping below -20°F statewide on January 19-20, setting the stage for the blizzard’s impact.

Having lived in the Western states mountains for a few years, I knew mountain blizzards, high winds and lots of deep snow. So I woke up on January 25 and drove to work not thinking much about the blizzard. Some of the secondary road cuts had drifts of snow, but not that bad. My work parking lot was empty which I thought was odd. I went into the building and the guard asked "What are you doing here?" I told him "I'm coming to work." He replied "You can't work today - work is closed. Didn't you hear?" Not being a radio listener or TV watcher, I didn't have a clue. So I went home and enjoyed my day off.

[rktman]

That was back in the old days when there were real winters. 😂😂😂👍

[Georgia Girl 2]

January 19th 1977 it snowed in Miami. I worked late at the University and I had an old mustang with no working heater. I drove home after dark with the snow hitting the windshield and no heat. I was never so glad to get home. 😏

[Revel]

Yeah- that is kind of an important detail. Thanks.

[Augie]

Temperatures in Missouri for the 2-week period, February 6-19, 2021, averaged more than 20 degrees below normal with a statewide average temperature of 10.2°F.

That sucked.

It got down to -15°-ish one night. My old Gen2 5.9 Cummins turbo diesel truck stuck an injector nozzle and hydro-locked the engine about half an hour after I started it up the next morning.

The walk home while wearing office clothes was, shall we say, exhilarating...

[dfwgator]

January 19th 1977 it snowed in Miami.

I moved to Fort Lauderdale that year, and I cracked up when I saw this on the local garbage truck....

[FreedomPoster]

I remember that one. I remember them calling out the Ohio National Guard to deploy tracked M113 armored personnel carriers to rescue people trapped in cars on I-75 and such. I would have been down here in GA, actually working not far from where I am sitting now.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The temperature stayed below -15°F for two weeks straight in St. Louis in the winters of ‘84 and ‘85.

[bigbob]

I got snowed-in in Oak Brook with a dead battery and the car rental outfit said to lock the car with the keys in the glovebox and take public transportation to the airport and they’d dig it out later. Which they did, but that winter was brutal.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I was at Mizzou ‘69-’73 and remember a few winters with -15 to -20 overnight temps. It was, shall we say, “exhilarating” walking to an early class.

[kaktuskid]

Most of the country will be going above normal temp-wise next week.

[Joe 6-pack]

That winter will long be remembered in our family due to the visual documentation.

I was a 7-year-old kid that year. The summer before, our family had gone to the beach in Ocean City, MD. Our folks had the old fashioned 8mm film camera and took a few rolls of us on the beach.

Somehow, one of the rolls wasn't developed and was double exposed when we went out to play that winter...so we ended up with movies of us kids building an igloo in our swimming trunks and wading into the ocean with our snow parkas :-)

[alexander_busek]

For those who don’t know, this is about Chicago ...

I wish people would just put that information in right off the bat.

100% agree!

Was thinking this could have been a talk about "Fairbanks, Alaska."

Regards,

[MayflowerMadam]

I lived in Alaska then; I didn’t notice.

[linMcHlp]

WINTERS
1973 - 1974 was cold - the house creaked all thru January
1975 - 1976 was cold - lots of snow
1976 - 1977 was cold - Ohio River Froze at Cincinnati, people walked on the river between KY and OH
1977 - 1978 was cold - blizzard; High St. Columbus, OH frozen over by 8 inches of ice; OH River froze over again
1978 - 1979 was cold - blizzard in Colorado - Utah - Nevada
1979 - 1980 was cold - lots of snow and ice

[Mark17]

The Blizzard of ‘77 for Buffalo.

I was in the USAF, in Del Rio by golly TX, and it was even cold there too. Yes, the same Del Rio, TX, where all those Haitian invaders, were under the international bridge.