OT---40 year anniversary of the Blizzard of '77 coming up...

[woods-racer]

Shoveled snow for a week. 

 

The wind blew all the snow to the back of our house, could't get out a back door, but our garage door and driveway where pretty free of snow. But the houses across the street from us had drifted snow as high as the gutters in front of every garage door. All they wanted was a path/tunnel out so they could get the snow blower out.

 

Rent a kid that has no school for a couple bucks an hour and a lot of energy. Mom was my shovelin pimp. She would get the phone calls from the neighbors and line up my day.

 

About a week after the storm, location:

 

Harris Hill elementary school.

 

First few days the teachers would let us out for recess to play ON the drifts. But tunneling operations started immediately by energetic and resourceful kids. Soon there was a labyrinth of tunnels filled with kids. Not all wanted to come out when recess was over. Once teachers learned they had to go through the tunnels to chase us out, out door recess was over. :(

[Doohicksie]

I seem to remember that we went to school that day, then were sent home early (although I could be confusing it with another storm).  Leave it to Maryvale to try to get that state money; it seemed like we were always the last school when they announced closings.  I think that was my freshman year of high school.

 

We were all home safe and sound except for my dad.  We lived near Union & Genesse and he worked off Cayuga Creek Road.  He had a smaller car at that time, but didn't trust it in the snow so he took my mom's '73 Chrysler Newport, the land yacht.  The snow started really coming, so he left the office and started home on Union Road, but never made it to he Broadway viaduct.  By the time he got there it was already obviously snowed in.  He pulled into a pizza place near Como Mall (now Appletree Business Center I think), called my mom to let her know he was stuck, and hunkered down.  The pizza place closed so they all went to the Dunkin Donuts next door (it's no longer there).  The only feasible mode of transportation was snowmobile.  The next day, volunteer firemen were checking on the various businesses.  My dad knew one of them and he offered my dad a ride home.  He finally got home the next evening.

 

I remember there was no school for about 10 days due to the bitter cold and not enough natural gas to heat things, and finals had to be moved (there were two rounds of Regents exams that year). 

 

A few days after the storm hit, we drove down to where my dad left the car.  I remember having to dig out each mound, looking for license plate numbers.  We finally found the Newport and dug it out enough to get in and try to start it.  It was like one of the old Diehard battery commercials.... RRRRrrrrrCLICK.  He tried it again:  RRRRRrrrrrTHUMP- ba THUMP - ba THUMP...  I think only two or three cylinders were firing in that beastly V8.  Eventually the idle smoothed out and he was able to drive home.

[matter2003]

And as of Mother Nature wants to help us celebrate, we have a Lake Snow Warning on the anniversary, hahaha

[Norcal]

I was a 5 yr old, in kindergarten, living outside of Buffalo and they had to keep us late. Ate dinner at the school and got bused home later that night.

 

I lived in the country and snow had drifted up onto and covering my front door all the way up to my roof, the only entry was a small crack cleared out barely big enough to fit through the back door, our attached wood shed.

 

We spent the next several days sledding from the peak of my roof and down into the road until we had to dig out and go back to school.