Blizzard of 1978

[BravoXray]

I worked at the family construction company back then, and we had a contract for snow removal at Miles Laboratories in Elkhart. We had to keep the plant cleared out so trucks bringing in supplies for the citric acid plant could get in and out. None of us could get out to get to the shop to get equipment, except for one guy that took our big Hough H90C loader home to clean out his drive, He was able to plow his way to a few of our houses so we could get to the shop and over to Miles Labs. We finally got there around 3:00PM and had to run the loader down some of the streets so a couple of trucks could get in. The plant was within a couple of hours of shutting down when the arrived. We were told later that if the citric acid plant shut down, it would cost nearly a million dollars to get it started up again. Don't know if that's true, but that's what a company rep told us. We worked there for three days straight getting everything cleared out, and ended up having to haul snow down to the river and dump it when we ran out of space to pile it on Miles' property.
At my house, which has a walk-out basement in the back, snow was drifted up to the eaves, completely filling the back porch. In front, it was drifted so high we couldn't see out of the front picture window for a couple weeks, and if I hadn't been plowed out by the guy that took the loader home, it would have take a lot of shoveling to get my truck or car out.

 

[oosik]

At that time we were firmly planted in SE Alaska. Seldom got news about ANYTHING happening in the lower 48( the outside ). The only blizzard I remember - the winter of 1948-1949 in NE WA state. Cold down to -20F and winds that blew snow into drifts half as high as the telephone poles. I was just a kid but I can still remember how worried my folks were. No power and we had only our big old fireplace to heat the entire house. Everybody and everything survived. But I remember it as a very "exciting" time.

 

[TCowner]

These were incredible storms. One has to wonder how the local television weather teams would respond if one of these monster snowstorms was heading in our direction. Right now, if the forecast suggests a 2-3 inch snow, its the lead story for the 6 o'clock news. If there is hint of snowfall amounts of 6" then it is reported as "dangerous" winter storm. All schools are closed ahead of the storm, drivers are coached to have their emergency supply kit in their cars and we are told to hunker down and to do what we can to survive. And this takes place in Minnesota, not Texas. And its not that unusual for the National Weather Service to completely miss the forecast and we get an inch of accumulation and half of the state of Minnesota is home looking out the window preparing for the Armageddon.

I can't imagine in 2021 if a 24" snow storm with 50 mph winds was heading to Minnesota how the local forecasters would respond. But it would be entertaining.

 

[polo1665]

I was 13 years old and living on the west coast of Michigan (snow belt area). It was great times if you were a kid. I can remember tunneling through the snowbanks and drifts. The snow along the roads was so high that I can remember cars putting those bicycle flags on their back bumpers so you could see them backing out of the driveway. Pretty sure we only missed one day of school that year though, and it may have been the only snow day that we had through my entire school career in West Michigan. The plows did a great job of clearing roads, and we lived in a fairly small community.

 

[KennyG]

This made me go back and look up a couple of the pictures.

 

[dodge man]

I also grew up in the far west burbs of Chicago, I would have been 16 years old. I was shoveling snow for our church that winter. I have a picture of myself and mom standing in a drift that was over my head, probably about 7 feet high. I’m a little over 6 feet tall but my mom was about 5 foot nothing. It wasn’t just the one storm either, but we had several other snowfalls that winter. You couldn’t see to pull out from intersections and driveways.

 

[MoKelly]

I can't imagine in 2021 if a 24" snow storm with 50 mph winds was heading to Minnesota how the local forecasters would respond. But it would be entertaining.

In St. Louis I can imagine what would happen —- it would be like the COVID shutdown on steroids.

- Grocery stores would be flooded with people and empty shelves

- No TP

- Long lines at gas stations

- Home Improvement stores empty of shovels, ice melt, snow blowers and generators

- 24/7 news to “stay home” stay “off the streets” so plows can do their thing.

Only upside would be - No COVID talk for a while and no panic buying of guns and ammo!

MoKelly

 

[oosik]

And now, here I am - one and a half inches of snow and then it rains. I take a short drive in the Taco Wagon and get "flash weather warnings" on the digital display screen. Wind warning and snow - "30mph winds and one inch of snow" - in the adjoining county. Folks think they have it tough now.

The whole world would shut down if we had a REAL blizzard. Weather announcers on TV would be using megaphones to express themselves.

 

[PILOON]

Might have been same storm that hit Montreal area.

I had a snow sled and went for essentials and had decided to ride the crests of the snow drifts.
I'd hear a twang from time to time and suddenly realized it was vehicle antennas that I was clipping.

A local reporter was ordered to take photos for the daily paper and he requested a sled ride to the commuter train station as that was the only way he'd get to press.
I complied and they posted my sled with me loaded with 'essential supplies'.
Besides milk and bread I was posed with a case of 24's on my shoulder on the front page.

They cleared our street with a Cat D7, it was that bad.
Snow sleds were running down main street of Montreal and it took 3 days to get traffic back to a semblance of normal.

Highway clearing was very slow as each snow drift had to be probed to determine if it was snow or a buried car.

 

[MossRoad]

One of the things I remember most was this family out shoveling snow. They were kinda a pesky family. Stay off our lawn-types. Snow was up to the eaves on their house, and sloped out to the street, where it was still over 3' deep. You could see where they opened the garage door and climbed out over the drift. The dad is up on the pile so his knees are about roof height to the house. His kid, about 14 yers old, is further down the sloping snow. The kid has this massive old square steel snow shovel, and he's jamming it up and down straight into the snow, and you hear BANG! BANG! BANG! each time he slams it down. After about 5-6 of these loud BANGS! he says to his father, "I think I found the car." and he slams the shovel up and down a few more times BANG! BANG! BANG! and the dad starts screaming at him "STOP! STOP!" and the kid keeps slamming it with the shovel. "It's right here!" Boy was he proud of that. BANG! BANG! right on the roof of the car with that steel shovel.

My friends and I were laughing so hard. That guy was screaming STOP! :laughing:

Don't remember what ever happened after that. The dad kinda gave us the stink eye, so we got outta there. :laughing: