My daughter was born in mid Dec. '76. We both got either the flu or toxic shock and spent six days in the hospital. We went home and the blizzard hit. Our water pipes were frozen for an entire month. My baby and I were both still sick and weak; my husband worked like a slave to keep us warm and fed. Our poor four year old son didn't know what to think. It was a really hard time for us. We didn't live in upper NY by the way, we lived in central Kentucky. That was a big ass blizzard that affected numerous states.
Thanks for this!! We lived just into the town of West Seneca. South Buffalo was a 200 yard walk from our door. Downtown Buffalo is about 7 or 8 miles from there. I was 11 and I had just come home from a ten day stay at Children's Hospital (same as in the video) due to a kidney surgery (which was successful, all good at the age of 53). My mom got stranded downtown trying to get home from work. My dad, also trying to make it home from work, got stranded either in the Old First Ward or in the Valley These are two wonderful, old, "famous" Buffalo neighborhoods in between downtown and South Buffalo. My oldest brother was 17, and my other brother 15. Mom called home very worried because I still had stitches in from the surgery and I had substantial physical restrictions and a long heal ahead of me. She ordered and implored my brothers to take good care of me. Of course they did. My oldest brother made pancakes and put peanut butter in the batter! In 1977, this was unheard of, or at least to us it was! My other brother and I LOVED those pancakes!! I was able to change the dressing over my incision and stitches myself. The three of us siblings watched the mini series "Roots" in awe. We were all so moved by it. Our wonderful parents were strict disciplinarians and continually reminded us: "Work hard. Be honest. Love God. Treat others how you'd want to be treated. Judge others on how they behave not on how they look." Truly I have been very lucky! My brothers and I had a blast over those few days and they were so good to me. My dad got home first.....I want to say on Sunday and my mom on Monday.....something like that. The four of us greeted Mom in the driveway. I can picture her clearly right now. A dark green winter coat, belted, with huge, round, flat dark green buttons. It's funny, the things you remember. As she walked up the driveway she burst into tears. The four of us kind of chuckled at her! Sheesh.....I guess we were kind of jerks....lol. When I was 22 we lost my wonderful oldest brother to an automobile accident. He was 28. He was and continues to be both mine and my other brother's hero for many, many reasons.......certainly one of them being those peanut butter pancakes. The Blizzard of '77 is one of my most precious family memories. Thanks for this video!
I drove into that storm at 18 with my mother as my side kick. Station wagon full of household stuff with the moving truck several days behind. We made it to our house and slept on the floors with enough food for a bunch of folk and Mom's beloved plants. A week later, Dad and the movers arrived! Mom was ready with soup and homemade bread from the stuff she packed in the station-wagon! Yep, the plants survived and I have them in my home. Mom was a smart lady and had insisted that most of the home canned goods and basic food stuff go into our vehicle! There was little room for anything else and maybe that's why I believe that you don't have to have a bunch of stuff to live! Both of us did have our sewing machines and just a few pieces of fabric -- still have the skirt I made during the storm! The storm of 77 was horrible and life changing for so many. I do believe that we as a nation have not seen the worse and I do know that Mom taught me right. My pantry is full and the house is warm. Miss my Mom and Dad -- plus that Ford Country Sedan Station Wagon! I learned so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Snow is only 'so high' until it melts and it's 'cold' until it get warm. Love your families!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing this memory that so many of us share by extension. Your Mom was smart and knew the priorities and still had room for her beloved plants. :)
@I Em Hoo I Iz -- Did your Plymouth wagon have the seat all the way in the back? Yep, the one where you could see where everyone else in the car had already gone!!!! We always fought who got to 'ride' in the wagon part. Oh for the days that have passed by.
Born and raised in New York....my last winter there was so cold I wheezed all winter, come summer my sister and I along with 6 kids, my dad and his dog drove to Phoenix Arizona all of in my fathers van pulling a uhaul trailer ..... ah sunshine....anything below 75 degrees is freezing to me now.... I love Arizona, swimming 3/4 of the year....lower cost of living, beautiful mountains all around us, the most beautiful sunsets you have ever seen......
I was a kid in Angola NY at the time, I remember the blizzard well. That's my dad who got trapped in his snowplow (at 12:19)! Luckily he lived to tell the tale.
@Junior Johnson Wow, look at Junior. Maybe people would take you seriously if you could create sentences & use punctuation that most of us learned in 3rd grade. Most Americans should be thankful for New York & hardworking New Yorkers that pay far more into the Federal pool than they get back. You know, like how New Yorkers PAID $116 billion more into the Federal pot than they got out for 2020, but shithole Kentucky TOOK $148 billion more than they put in. Places like New York & California help so many of the poor states that are full of people always complaining about New York & California... because they are idiots, like you.
I was born and lived in Lewiston, NY, (in Niagara County, about 30 miles north of Buffalo). I was 6 years old and in 1st grade when the blizzard hit. My dad was a 3-pack-a-day smoker back then. I remember, he tied me and my 4-year-old brother to a sled and dragged us through that blizzard to the store because he had run out of cigarettes! We laugh about it now and still kid him and call him "Bad Daddy," but I know that we were very lucky. Some people lost their lives and others lost all they had. The worst I got was windburn on the parts of my face that weren't covered, from being lashed by snow and ice. That was the last winter we lived in NY. My dad landed a job in Los Angeles and my family moved to Southern California later that year. During our first few summers in California, my dad proudly wore his "I survived the Blizzard of '77" t-shirt on every family outing we took to the beach. Luckily, everyone in my family survived the Blizzard of '77.
I was 19 years old, working downtown. Usually a 14 minute commute, it took three hours to get home. I was lucky and blessed that day. We left work at 11am, when the blizzard was in full fury. I remember looking back at my building, the Marine Midland Center, the tallest building in Buffalo, and couldn't see it. I left with three other girls; we were all locked to each other, for fear of being swept away! I'll never forget that day.
katie you got lucky i had to ditch my 71 gremlin in a drift ant d stay at my bosses home for a week he had 2 new snowmobiles that we drove around like cars on the road i rember driving over abandoned cars and hearing glass cracking under me from the weight
I know that corner well. Seneca and Main St. In my view, the windiest spot in Buffalo. Maybe even all of Western New York. Amazing you ladies could even walk around that area. In a storm like this one the wind and snow would blow right into your face with such a force, it would prevent you from breathing. You couldn't get air until you turned away from the ferocious wind. Then the more you turned away from your line of sight the more you lost your bearings because of the whirling of the snow. I was 12 years old.
During this Buffalo blizzard I was working at Airco Industrial Gases in NJ. We had an oxygen plant in Buffalo. A hospital advised that their oxygen supply was getting low. One Airco driver selflessly loaded his trailer and slowly drove to the hospital to replenish the oxygen supply.
I was a ten-year-old kid living in Maine when that storm came through in '77. My brother and I dug a cave inside the pile of snow we had shoveled off the roof of our house. It was so big we put chairs inside, and the dome remained on the lawn next to the house until the end of April.
We lived on a farm in the middle of no where about 40 miles south of Buffalo. It was an experience I will never forget. We had to dig a tunnel to the wood stacks from the back door. Melted the snow in the basement and the sump pump took care of it. We were snowed in for a week or more.
11 January '77 started out as a clear day with bright Sun and calm winds in Rochester, NY. I was working at a full service gas station off Culver Road. That day,, we heard a storm was coming, I drove my Jeep which had a 6' snowplow to work that morning. Things were pretty normal, it was very cold with a strong wind from the northwest coming right across Lake Ontario. We expected some "lake effect" snow that evening, perhaps 5 to10" of powder snow by midnight and a little more from the storm coming in from the west. At about 10:30 AM I went into the storage room to get a set of snow tires for a customer and when I came out, the Sun was gone and the snow was blowing so thick I couldn't see the gas pumps from the front door. In the next hour a foot of snow fell and it didn't stop there. Before that evening ended, we had over 33"of snow and the winds had risen to over 40 mph, drifting the snow into 6' drifts. Between plowing several parking lots, and a plethora of driveways, I made over $1,700 (big money for an 18 year old kid in those days). I came home to my new wife and threw the roll of cash all over the living room floor for her to count. Boy, we were happy about that! But it was a bad blizzard for everyone, the city was trucking snow out of town because there was no place to put it. It was about a week before all the streets were clear enough for all to be able to get to work or shop for food. That is when the crazy weather started.
I LOVE snow & have always said I wish we lived in Buffalo! We're in Missouri & we might get 1 good snow a year :( But after this pandemic, being snowed in has lost it's appeal big time!
This storm hammered the east I lived in WV. This was the worst storm I can remember. Schools were closed for six weeks. Drifts in our area was over eight feet tall. Cars and trucks were under so much snow we could not find our car. And we were snowed in for weeks. Thank god we still Canned and put up food. so we had plenty of food. the power was out for weeks but we had a wood stove for heat. And mom would read to us in the evenings. I miss those Story's she read to us. And I miss her voice. (all ways have extra food on hand. And a way to stay worm if your power go's out for a week or two.) God bless and good luck.
This storm is the metric I use for every snowstorm. Nothing in my lifetime has compared to it. It's also interesting to hear it described in these terms, because as kids we ended up with essentially a six day unannounced vacation from school with all the snow you could ever need to play in !
I was 17 and we lived in the Perry Projects. A lot of delivery trucks from just about every store in Buffalo were stranded on South Park. Let's just say some of us made a lot of money, and all of the kids had on the same outfits in different colors on Easter. Mom's wore gaucho suits from Stuarts in different colors, and a navy blue & white cowl neck, belted dress from Morrison's on Mother's Day. 🥴🥴
Was present for this and it was unreal. Snowdrifts past the telephone poles. Three days Marshall law, only emergency vehicles and snowmobiles were allowed on the roads. Needless to say I moved to San Diego after this.
I live in the Detroit metro area, With a friend we went to Buffalo to help dig them out. I have never seen so much snow in my life! We were one block from the lake, The street was plowed to the pavement and people were walking ten ft. above us on the side where a sidewalk should have been. Bright sunny day, all of a sudden couldn,t see my hand in front of my face. Never will forget that time.
I drove dump truck on operation Snow Go... I worked the South Buffalo area, it was incredible watching the big melters that came down from Toronto, and I believe Elia Construction brought in one of the largest rubber tire loaders I ever saw at that time..
My husband worked through it all..he worked on gas wells he' would snow shoes into wells to keep the gas flowing so people would not freeze in their homes
@@theoriginalkeepercreek Yep. I have an uncle who lives in tornado alley, he has often worked ridiculous hours during and after the yearly spring storms, repairing electrical lines to restore power. People aren't in danger of freezing, but you can lose hundreds of dollars worth of food if fridges and freezers are out too long, which few in that area can afford and insurance doesn't cover, some folks have medical devices that depend on electricity that have limited battery backup, etc. He would often be out in pouring rain and lightning, we really do take folks like him and gas and water line workers for granted. They work long hours at very unglamorous jobs to make us safe and comfortable. We should have a national appreciation day for them or something, we'd be up a serious creek without them. Tell your hubby thank you for me!
I believe this is the same blizzard that affected my relatives in Northern Ohio during the 70's. BTW, the natural gas stopped flowing to my cousin's neighborhood so most of the homes in the neighborhood had no heat and they could not cook anything. Ironically, the electricity was on and my cousin's house was one of the few that was heated with electric heaters that ran along the baseboards so several families were staying in the game room of their split-level home.
The radio weather report said flurries for Friday afternoon. I was working as a technician at a Lockport car dealership. Transit Road started to drift over as the snow came down hard. The wind picked up and we were blocked in. Only two people got out that day. Both on snowmobiles brought by relatives. I slept in the back seat of a large sedan awaking to over 40 inches of snow and drifts over 6 foot tall. Transit Road was not plowed. The general manger and I headed out in separate directions to see if we could get through. I was driving a VW beetle that was great in the snow. The general manger was in a 4x4 Jimmy with a plow. He turned back after a couple of miles. We then all headed south, about 10 of use made it to Sheridan where the roads were plowed. I will never forget driving down on road a just see a wall of snow over 8 foot tall on either side. I found out later they had sent out the huge snowblowers from the airport to clear the main roads. Got back to work on Tuesday and spent the whole day moving cars and plowing the lot. I live in Florida now........LOL
I just love when regular citizens team up to help each other, like the snowmobile club helping people, that's amazing to me. I'm from BC, Canada, I know people who are part of a snowmobile club in the Cariboo area and that's totally something the club would do. Most avid snowmobilers are very very prepared for cold weather and are really just looking for any excuse to take the machines out for a ride, if that means helping people that's a bonus.
This occurred 20+ years before I was born, but it's the reason why my parents tell me to keep blankets and an emergency kit in the backseat of the car during the winter. When they told me why and what happened to some people they knew I agreed, even though I'm pretty diligent about keep an eye on weather reports especially during the winter.
+girl1213 - I live in the South and still keep blankets in my car because you never know what could happen. It just so happened that a few years ago Atlanta was hit by an ice storm that happened so quickly that people were stranded in their cars overnight. Businesses let their employees go around noon, but by 1pm the roads were iced over and people couldn't navigate. That's why I keep blankets, paper towels, bottled water, etc. in my car!
@@sherylchapman4168 The gas advice had been added in more recent years especially after the cold wave in 17/18. Never realized how quickly you go through gas during a cold wave until then. Thank god I was paying attention.
I was stuck in this blizzard visiting Buffalo from Texas. We stayed inside and only came out after it was over. I remember being so glad to be able to walk to a grocery store to buy food sloshing through the melting snow. I remember taking a look outside and that was all it took for me to stay inside.
does anyone remember the T-shirts that were sold afterwards? I think they said something like, "I survived the Blizzard of '77". My dad worked for NY state Electric & Gas. I remember he stayed at work for about 4 days. Mom kept the homefires burning, and we felt safe. Got to love the parents those of us had that were born in the 20's and 30's. They knew how to survive, and just 'buck up' as my mother would say. Grateful for sure.
Susan Dhifaoui my husband had to do the same while myself and two young children, fortunately our electricity stayed on, had to sleep in the kitchen full winter coats on and doors shut with the oven on in order to stay warm. We could see our breath in the House!!! It was 60 below wind chill factor. At the time our home had no insulation!! Older home! 💨
Susan Dhifaoui, I know exactly what you mean, it’s 2020 and the covid19 pandemic is in full swing, it’s been ongoing for some time but the present generations, the millennials, can’t handle it and want things done for them, like yesterday, and their social lives and work are more important than their and others lives, it’s amazing how we have had generation after generation of tough and resourceful people, but the current crop are so reliant on technology, processed foods, and the easy life that put a difficult situation in their path and they go to pieces, let’s hope they never have to fight a world war, they would loose. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
I was about 10. My friend was stranded with us. We watched Roots and The Planet of the Apes. Sledding off of our roof. My Dad delivering groceries with our snow mobile. It was fun because of my age.
It was not fun for where I lived in Southwest Ohio where the Ohio River froze solid. We had NO heat and my hands got chapped. I guess it was not bad for every one but it was not in my experience. 1978 was not much better.50 people died in Ohio in 1978.
Thanks for posting this. It was a bad winter here in Maryland, too. We were young marrieds who owned a small apartment building. We had a 3 day blizzard party. We played cards, drank, and cooked. Shoveling out when it was over was awful.
I was 18 at the time, I delivered pizza, their was so much snow, I was using a dog team sled to deliver the pizzas! It was the coldest winter ever, the tips were great that night!
I was in High School at the time. We had a teacher from Buffalo. There was a cartoon that showed an airplane flying over the city, looking for signs of life. The caption said "The search for Buffalo continues". All you saw was snow! Don't forget this was long before CNN, the only weather reports people had were regular local news. They also didn't have Hummers or SUVs just 4 wheel drives. I'm glad the baby survived! We in Philadelphia also had a blizzard, I remember the city shut down! I remember the film of a man walking somewhere and the weatherman wondering where is he going because no food stores were open, no pharmacies, everyone was closed!
My wife and I was originally scheduled to get married on the day the blizzard arrived on January 28, 1977. Ended up getting married on January 31, 1977. If you need to consult and get a recommendation for a marriage date you probably do not want to hear from me. Married 45 years tomorrow so the blizzard wasn't a sign of impending doom.
What made this storm so difficult to deal with was on the Friday morning that it began, we had NO warning that a storm was coming. It hit so quickly and then just hung over the area. The terrible winds and terribly cold temperatures were just punishing. I recall the National Guard Trucks coming into the Lockport Area where I lived to help clear the roads. My family was fortunate, both the heat and electric stayed on. I clearly remember how kind everyone was to stranded people. I will never forget that storm.
I live in SW Michigan and we got hit, too. This was what is called an "Alberta Clipper". Comes down from the NW with a lot of wind across the Great Lakes which enhances the lake effect. We got hit with another one at the same time in '78. The BIG One was in 1967, we had 3 ft. of snow with 30-40 ft. drifts where I live. That was a true blizzard that's still on the books in Chicago as the worst storm in history. Everything where I live came to a screeching halt for a week. Nobody was prepared for anything like that one. Snow was packed into railroad cars and shipped down South because there wasn't anyplace left to put it. People in Georgia and N. Florida had a ball in it. All 3 of those storms hit at the same time in January...My Birthday! I'd really like to see one more like '67 to let people today know what a real blizzard looks like. Yeah I know, stick my wish right up my a-double s.
Me, too. I remember schools were closed for at least a week. Even Grand Valley State University, which almost never closes, was closed for 2.5 days. I remember there was another blizzard that struck the same days in 1978, too.
Yes i live in West Mi and remember 78 all too well. Haven't seen that since. (Knock wood). Heck now we're lucky if it snows. We have some right now but it's only going to melt this weekend when temps go up in the 30's and 40's. I miss the winters we used to have.
My 3rd grade teacher told us about this. She grew up in Minnesota, where she came to hate the cold winters and all the snow. She was not happy when her husband "dragged" her to Buffalo, NY. She wanted to live somewhere warm. This storm was the final straw - they moved to Texas a year later. She doesn't mind the 100 degree summers. "I'm tired of being cold!" The last I heard, she's retired and living in Corpus Christi, where she has plenty of sun. There was snow on Christmas Eve in 2004 and again in December 2017. However, she always says, "That was nothing!" And then talks about Buffalo in 1977.
I was a child in a rural mountain area of Ireland and we also got hit those years too. We were snowed in for nearly three weeks and lost a lot of sheep that got caught out the mountain in huge snow drifts. The army dropped hay bales to them in various places but they could not move and died. Water pipes were frozen solid and we spent most of out working days hauling water from a nearby stream in troughs for the animals. We had plenty to eat though as back then all farms were very self sufficient and we wanted for nothing food wise. It was very exciting though as even though I was young I sensed this was a big event. We had no phone and tv had 2 channels so relied on radio for everything. An old man died in the next parish and they had to hold onto the body for nearly two weeks and had to eventually bring it to the church by tractor thru a neighbours land that they weren’t talking to due to an earlier dispute and very few could make the funeral and burial. They ended up having another mass and funeral for the man so people could come and pay their respects. They say locally that he was the only person around who was buried twice. The road leading down the mountain from our house has hedging around the five foot mark and the tops were barely visible. Snow is rare is Ireland anyway but I have never seen those types of drifts since. The lowlands got going after about a week but we were cut off for three weeks. I remember my parents talking about 1964 and sometime in the 1940s being the same so not common in Ireland at all in the very southern part where I live, they would suffer a bit more in the top of the country but again not USA extremes. Our parents were so resourceful, even though I grew up in that environment I now am a supermarket iPhone man.
In Cleveland the wind was the worst factor. Wind and extreme pressure lows were blowing out storefront windows. People were being blown down streets like paper bags. It was surreal.
I was 10 years old when that BLIZZARD came of Lake Erie at 11:30 AM. We lived about 15 east of the city in the town of Alden. I will never forget the arctic wind. Wind chill of 60 below zero. My grandparents lived in the west side at the time.
armitius66 never will forget 60 below winds!!! You had to ware a scarf over your face because if the air touched your skin you got it burned frozen. My husband had a beard at the time and when he finally was able to get home 4 days later, he had ice frozen all over his face hanging off his beard!
I was 15 at the time. Coming home from a hockey trip from Niagara Falls. Spent 22 hours at a thruway stop in Scottsville. Never will forget that.Not all that fun.
Lived in Oswego N.Y. some ,been through several monsters. In 72 I headed up to visit my girlfriend at her college Oswego State Left a day early because there was a Lake Monster Storm heading right for her school. Should have left 2 days before. All was good till just past Cortland exit on 81 N. Had to follow a plow and a Trooper up 81.. I stopped with both to give aid at a wreck. (Volunteer where I lived.) By the time I reached the city, 3 hours later,10 inch's on the ground and white out time. Followed a city plow to the college. Rode with the Campus Rescue student volunteer squad the next 2 days. Al Roker TV weatherman now was a student and did a live radio feed from the roof of Hart Hall Dorm covering the storm for NBC and their affiliates.I checked on him and got him coffee couple of times. Got to spend about a week with Lorraine.Remembered to bring ample Southern Comfort.
I am from Mayville. Other end of Chautauqua Lake from Jamestown. I think we may have had more snow than Buffalo. We didn't have school for a long time!
I lived in Farmer City, Illinois in 77 and my family of six got stuck in our house for three days. There was a 15 foot snow drift that covered our entire house except the chimney. The wind chill was -40 below. We burned books clothes anything we could to keep the fire going. After three days our neighbor took a bulldozer and drove it up to our door, and we were free. Except my dads truck had 4 inches of solid ice sticking it to the concrete! True story.
I was 11 years old in 1977 and I can remember the blizzard and how we were out of school at least 3 weeks..We never see that kind of snow these day's everything has changed..
I was 18 yrs old when this happened. I lived in Port Colborne, Ontario. We got hit so bad that we were taking people out of their 3rd floor windows. The houses were buried. I spent 3 days helping clear snow from peoples houses and walkways. I will never forget that blizzard.To find cars we would find the ariels and dig down to see if anyone was in the vehicle. We were walking down a road and the snow suddenly dropped about 10 ft. Looked back and it was a school bus a buried right over.
I remember hitch hiking home from an exam at Port High , Mario got the word on the radio, he cancelled all exam classes. I lived near Hampton and Sugarloaf, it did not look bad, I was in front of Steele St School, saw it coming started hitching . Thank God , I was picked up and driven a block away from my home, bless that man , whom ever he was, I walked a block and was total white ,when my mother opened the door. My Dad , was a supervisor at Marsh , he could not come home it was so bad,thankfully we had a cousin that lived close to Marsh, he stayed at our cousin's for 2 days. I remember The Marsh house, was buried along with some of the Christmas decorations.
Got on Niagara Thruway at Seneca St heading downtown getting off at Elm. Radio announced "look out Buffalo here it comes" as i saw a black cloud for miles over the lake. Got to Plaza Suite restaurant atop One M&T Plaza. We had all our food delivered day b4 so we were set. We served hundreds from the bank floor by floor. Some servers who left after lunch got blocks away and got stuck in cars or buses. We worked 11am till 10pm and finally ate and had a few. Slept in dining rooms and looking like hell we did it all again next am on Saturday. Finally made a break 4 freedom. Took 3 with me and took six hours to get them to West Seneca and 1 hour for me to So. Buffalo. We were out of work 4 eight days. Simply awful. No work no pay! Will never 4get it. No storm since compares.
I remember when I used to live in the Buffalo area, we saw Ontario as our neighbors across the bridge, not as part of a foreign country. I think the bad winters in those parts brought many people together. I still love Canada, especially Toronto!
I was 10, remember my dad getting stuck in the town he worked in at his grandmother's house for about 5 days. The town is about 30 miles away. We had a woodstove and I don't remember loosing power, probably because power companies still maintained infrastructure at that time.
My Grandparents lived in Buffalo for over 30 years prior to this storm. When it hit they were stuck in their home for 4 days. They did have running water and electricity but came perilously close to running out of food. Thankfully they were dug out in time and made it out ok. Since both of them were close to 80 years old, they had to move to Missouri because they couldn't make it through another blizzard like this one.
I am from Rochester and I don't remember it being anything like that in Rochester, but that was probably the year that we had so much snow! We shoveled the driveway and there was no place to put the snow! The banks on each side of the driveway got higher and higher! My parents moved to Florida in about 79! I followed in 1989 after French's Mustard moved to New Jersey!
my mother and father lived in east dayton at the time and i called from germany and my dad was teliing me about the blizzard...i did not know how bad it was...my father passed away april 30 2021...i cry almost everyday thinking of him...he was well loved by everyone...truly a good person...i miss him so much...
Wow, does this bring back memories! I was living outside of Watertown, NY. We ended up entering and exiting our house via my brother's 2nd floor bedroom window. Yes, there were people who froze to death in their stranded cars. My Dad required us to carry a survival kit in case we ever got stranded while driving. I never had to use mine, but a friend could have saved herself much pain and money. She got stuck near Copenhagen on the No. 3 road, got out, walked two miles in -4° F with no hat, no boots, no gloves. She lost part if her earlobes to frostbite and was hospitalized with hypothermia. There is a certain hardiness North Country folks have that doesn't exist diwnstate. In NYC where I now live, people freak out over six inches!
I was living in Alexandria Bay, NY during that storm. I am from Florida so I thought I had died and gone to frozen hell. Had to walk backwards because the wind was so strong in my face that I could not breathe.
I worked for a landlord in NYC that year so long ago. Spent the entire winter shovelling snow even going on ROOF TOPS in Brownstone neighborhoods to remove snow which was crushing roof structures that were flat.
I recall this from M. Michigan. The huge "V" snowplows were getting stuck. When they finally cleared the roads enough to travel, the snow along side the roads were above the school bus-it was like going through a tunnel. Oh, and my ad always stressed he same thing: always carry a blanket at a minimum and it's always a good idea to have something to eat, even if its just some hard candies for the energy.
Hank Volpe thank you so much for this tremendous upload of a video. This program about the blizzard really hits home with me because exactly one year later, after your blizzard of ‘77, we experienced the blizzard of ‘78. It was indescribable what we north easterners went through for over a week as a result of that blizzard. 100 dead, 4,500 injured, power outage for over a week, at least 40 inches of snow where I lived....snow fell at a rate of 4 inches an hour at some points during the blizzard, raging bouts of thundersnow, and heavy snowfall for a full 33 hours all at a cost of US$1.95 BILLION in 2017 terms. There’s a video here on UA-cam similar to yours regarding the devastating event. Thanks again for loading that informative, interesting, terrifying and memorable video.
This episode is brought to you by every italian in Buffalo NY. " Dat night on da wessside ah Bufflo, Tony Gabbagootz wus jus sittin down to a nice plate of abbagoo, and a small dish of gabats and some nice fried sweet peppas.... DELICIOUS ....when a frikin wall of snow rolled in as thick as a biscotti from Falconi's on 20th and Grant.....BEST in the city."
I lived in Mentor Ohio which typically got all that Buffalo got if not worse. We got all the wind right off of Lake Erie. I remember that it was so cold that your breath froze when you exhaled. The snow was real bad. I'll never forget that time. Yes, people are hardier in the snow belt, but I moved to California. Couldn't take the gray skies all winter, freezing rain and on and on. Now I live near the Redwoods and thank each day I'm not in the cold.
John Allen I’m starting to feel the same way, in terms of having the desire to move somewhere warmer as I live in the northeast. New England and the winters are sometimes mercilessly brutal (Blizzard of ‘78 closed interstate 95 with 3,500 abandoned vehicles, killed 100, injured 4,500 and left countless numbers of people, including me, without food, water, heat, electricity for over a week. I thought we might not make it.). John, did you have relatives out west or did you just pick up and go out to the unknown alone and with no contacts? Man I admire you a good deal for making the move. I wish I knew someone out there because I’m getting up there in age so the thought of moving to a new area not knowing anyone is daunting.
Me too. I remember having to take the bus in the snow and it was cold and cramped and miserable. When I moved, I went first to Arizona for four years before moving to California. Never regretted it.
I lived in Mentor for six years. And I have family from Buffalo. There is a big difference between Mentor and Buffalo. The parks are a lot nice in the Mentor area but the snow is A LOT more frequent, dependable and deeper in Buffalo. Sorry. If you had lived in Chardon I might have given you a pass...
I remember that horrific storm. Very scary. We lived in the country out in Clarence and were snowed in for 7 days. We actually thought that it might be the end of the world. I think I worked that day until 12:00, we got out early. My dad never made it home from work that day. We didn't know where he was. He was brought home on a snowmobile the next day. Boy, were we glad to see him. In September I moved to Florida.
An uncle on my Dad's side of the family is a lifelong Buffalo resident and he still talks about this to this day any time the subject of winter weather comes up. We have had a couple of Polar Vortex events in the Chicago area the last few years which I commented about over Xmas and my uncle told me basically "Boy, you really have no concept of a harsh winter whatsoever unless you were in Buffalo back in 77". Now granted older people often say things like this, but in this instance I would say he was 100% dead on accurate.
We were snowed in for 3-4 weeks thank God Mom and Dad were prepared via food, canned goods, meat in the freezer, blankets, coats, etc. they had been through winter there for years and knew to be prepared with everything by no later than October each year. The car had fuel, Mom had her canning goods all stocked in the basement, Dad had several cords of wood in the backyard in case the furnace couldn't keep the house warm, the front, back and side doors were all blocked by the snow but Dad had shoveled a "tunnel" that led to the wood. As a small child it was a very frightful time and we wore so many layers of clothing we felt like the Michelin tire boy. We were more prepared than neighbors and everyone hunckered down in their houses as the snow was too high on the house. We only had one neighbor brave the conditions long enough to borrow some groceries.
...Man that was one of the biggest ever snow Blizzards, 77' I was working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard seatrain just so happens it was my first day off of four days swing shift, It was snowing up the yin yang. . . And we had extremely hot summer, and a major power failure July 13 which was only one of the coolest days of 93° with the high of seven days at 97.1° . . . Unbelievable 81was another Blizzard year...
Oh how funny. I had to laugh at the high of 97 deg. for 7 days straight. I'm in Missouri and during bad summers we've gotten up to between 102 & 108 with very high humidity to where it felt like it was a lot hotter with the heat index. I'm not making fun of your comment, it's just funny how people in different states get use to certain temperatures and if there's any massive fluctuation, it is actually extreme to us. We are creatures of habit including weather wise.
I was 8 years old during this blizzard and mostly what I remember about it is the news coverage of it on TV and school being closed. This brings back memories and I haven't seen pictures like this in a long time. Since I was just trapped in the house during the whole thing, I don't have any dramatic stories to tell. But I love remembering all these ones.
I live in Syracuse NY I was 2 when this happened, but I remember being warm and drinking ovaltien and eating english muffins while this all was happening.
I lived outside Watertown, NY and recall this storm very well. We were all home and heated with wood, so were okay. I do recall hearing of a man found frozen in his car on Rt. 11. We entered and exited the house from our deck, normally ten ft. off the ground. At first, you walked straight out! Later, we made a slide and set of snow stairs with a rope attached. I was 23. My younger siblings thought it was great fun, especially because school was canceled! Mom who didn’t get around well, didn’t go out for maybe a month! My brother was in the Navy, stationed in the Philippines. Dad and I managed to get to work via snowmobile.
Oh my, yes, I was there. I grew up outside Philadelphia where 2" of snow shut down the schools. I had snow up to my 2nd floor balcony, just like in the film. I lived on the west side of Buffalo very close to Lake Erie. It was frightening. I remember the mayor asking everyone to check on the neighbors IF you could open your door!. No access to food or medicine. All the houses were tinderboxes so close to each other, I remember another fire next door to a friends - just terrifying. Let's just say that Spring I moved back to Phila. Buffalo now has a booming economy and is just beautiful!
I remember that. Toronto was hit hard by the same blizzard and my friend and I watched a snowmobile driving up Yonge st ! It wasn't until I saw the evening news that I realised we got nothing compared to Buffalo.
I drive for a living.. got stuck on the skyway in the snow a couple winters back during the last decent snow.. thankfully every other car on the road was cautious and drove with hazards (4 ways) on and kept safe following distance. We all made it off that skyway because Buffalo knew how to drive! I was like being in a snow globe.. I'd never been to Buffalo so that was wild. That skyway though.. you're really up there in the atmosphere! lol
Dr. Cudmore was one of the heroes of the Attica Prison Riot. He started treatment of injured inmates and often operated on multiple patients at a time.
My dad told me that he was stranded in his office building downtown with all of his co- workers, I think he said that it was for at least a week. (Otis Elevator Co.) He said that they survived by looting the vending machines. After the storm, all of the stranded cars, including his, had been brought to a golf course, he had to go and find his car, among the thousands of others. I was stranded with my mom and sister in our farmhouse in the Tug Hill valley (NNY) for around two weeks, where we got six feet of snow. We had wood in the woodshed, and some food, my sister remembers the army coming on snowmobiles, bringing C- rations. We had no snowmobile. One day, I heard a plow coming down the road from the direction of Lowville. I had to run out on snowshoes, to direct the driver to come and plow out near where my car was buried, or I would never have gotten out. Everyone who could get to Lowville was put on county vans and given shovels. We spent the next few weeks shoveling off rooftops, digging people out of their houses, etc. By some miracle, the power stayed on at the farm the entire time.
My mother and father went on a business trip in Buffalo just days before the 77 Blizzard struck, my mother and father were trapped in a Hotel for over a week. My mother's brand new 1977 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz was buried and they had to wait to be dug out and the Cadillac to be dug out, I was less than a year old and was here with my grandparents in Albany NY, the thruway was closed from Amsterdam westbound.
@@patriciaromanowski7100 wrong the rail road ran. do you think 3 ft of snow stops a rail road conrail ran plow trains then brought trains in on snowmoble see noel weaver . he posted on ny railroad fan about being called for TV12
i lived in kokomo indiana.. 16 in 77... i remember my dad clearing our drive - only to have plows cover it back up.. we tried to leave once - but our car got stuck - we walked house to house til we got home - wind chill was 75 below.. .. a neighbor would call a neighbor - and they would have warm blankets and hot drinks til we thawed and repeat... our home got buried (single story).. and ppl on snowmobile came to get my parents - they both (parents) ran convenience stores and they needed them to open up and distribute food for the workers and for the emergency ppl and volunteers to take food to the elderly and disabled.. we had no issue with food as momma like to stock up on stuff ... but we got seriously bored and wished for school... took weeks for kokomo to dig out... i don't miss the days.. still in indiana and .... sigh.. wish was somewhere just a tad warmer.. husband from el salvador - he has issues with the cold.. lol
This is hard to imagine now. We're all so used to having cell phones and calling for help if we get stranded. Back in the 70s very few people had car phones. I remember a blizzard in Wisconsin when I was a kid in 1995. My neighbor was a snow plow driver and even he got stuck. We lived in the middle of nowhere and had a few stranded travelers staying in our home. Another neighbor took his snowmobile into town and got everyone supplies.
No this was an era where there were no cell phones but no matter if you go through a major disaster and your powere goes out you can't charge your stupid cell phone. But at least we cared about our neighbors and helped them. The sand barrels on the roads the tire chains.
I was 19 and lived within sight of the Skyway. That first night 5 of us were driving around in an old Station wagon...a vista cruiser. ROFL The floor in the middle was rotted out and there was just heavy cardboard on the floor. We drove around and pushed a few people out of snow banks and gave a few rides to walkers. Went back to the house party we were at (and yes, J Giles was playing )parked the car at the end of the street. It never started after that. The next morning, some how the freezer and snow drifts in their back yard had become stuffed with all kinds of frozen meat from trucks that had gotten stuck and the drivers left them. Turkeys, hams, big roast beefs, pork chops, sausage and (beer) other... We had electric, heat and could cook, and i had just picked up a 1/4 lb earlier so being sort of stuck there was not so bad...
I like stories like that. You probably didn’t know just how bad it was since you had a relatively easy time of it. I was living in England at the time but grew up in Toronto so I know how bad it can get
I started my Buffalo Evening News route at the beginning of January 1977. My route was so large, I needed a wagon. Pulling through the deep snow made my 45 minute route take closer to 2 hours. But it paid off in the end. The News didn't publish on the 28th, ergo, no paper to deliver. A week's subscription to the News back then was $1.05; 15 cents for M-F, 30 cents for Saturday (no Sunday News then). I absent-mindedly charged over half my customers $1.05, instead of the 90 cents it should have been. With the extra tips I got for fighting the snow, I made out like a bandit.
Back then after this winter of 77 and 78 they were honestly believing we were entering into a brand new ICE AGE not Global Heating. This went on even to 1985 but it was not until after 1988 they started yapping about the GREENHOUSE EFFECT because of the hot summer and draught. I remember that summer a picture of a parched brown back yard with 9 days staight of 100 degrees my mom took the picture in July.
I remember them giving that morning warning. If you did not get home within the next 2hrs it was too late you were stuck where you were. My husband got stuck at work for 4days. He tried to get home but did not get very far had to go back to work. I was at home with two children. Fortunately our electricity never went out. However our older home had no insulation and you could see our breath from the cold in our home. We had to sleep and live in our winter coats!
So did my family in Ohio. We had electricity but not enough heat My hands got chapped and we also had to wear winter clothes inside and just stay in bed. Our record low was 25 below with a wind chill of around 70 to 80 below zero. I don't think our breath came out as steam though.
About 4 days later after the snow had stopped and the ban on driving was in place. We bundled up, way up, because it was still sooo cold. Way below zero. And walked to the store 4blocks away. I will never forget the sight of so many people on the streets walking. Looked like something out of the 1800!!!!
I was 5 living on Long Island. I still remember the huge mountains of snow in front of our building and everyone trying to dig out their car. It took forever for my mother to dig out her ‘76 Capri.
Fun fact: Milton Bradley made a Blizzard of '77 board game and we owned it. I didn't even know the game we played was based on the very place I was born and raised I just missed this time I was born in 1979.
How about doing a video of the Blizzard of 78 in Ohio! ? We were trapped for a week but as farmers we has plenty of supplies. The drift from our house to the windbreak was @ 500 ft. The drift ended up to be 25 ft high and didn't fully melt until July. It left a 6 in. depression in the yard. Bellevue, Oh. Twp. Rd. 178. We opened the door of the mudroom and had to shovel a 10 ft. drift into the cistern to get out. The storm was so bad Gramps and the boys planted poles in the ground with a rope guide so the could get to the barn and feed the animals.
I'm with you, Tim, would love to see this same sort of video about Ohio's '78 blizzard! I'm from Columbus and it was a DISASTER around this town, that's for sure! Governor Rhodes declared a state of emergency and the National Guard was called out to assist with the road warriors. Where we lived, in Dublin, the roads were so bad, that we had to have someone from the OSU airport come and plow them because the regular plows couldn't reach us way out there at all. But, the state survived and we all now know to keep food supplies and warm blankets at the ready, just in case....
I was in that. I left my job in Buffalo and went to my 2nd job in Lockport where I lived. Hitched a ride with a red star driver and got home. Spent 4 days , no heat, pot of chili and bag of romance novels and lots of blankets . But at least I spent it at home.
I remember the blizzard of 1977, I was 10 years old and living in Kalamazoo Michigan and we got 3 feet of snow in 12 hours and I remember them talking about buffalo on the evening news.
Philadelphis Textile went up to play Buffalo State in Basketball in the janurary Storm. Textile was the #1 Team in the Nation for small Colleges. Textilw won the Game , But the people of Buffalo were Wonderful and Friendly. I think they were so happy that we make the trip and Shown up. Great Memories
My parents had to stay with my husband, me & our son for nearly 2 weeks so Dad wouldn't miss work in town. Country roads wouldn't be plowed until the worst of the storm was over, town streets weren't too bad. Your Dad is a good soul helping where & when it was needed - not waiting for "officials' to say when.
I survived this storm, buried into a 2-story house in East Aurora, ~20 miles southeast of Buffalo...for 3 weeks. State Guard brought us heating oil: we had to get on the roof, shovel off the feet of snow & spray-paint the house# so the tanker-airlift could find us. The snowdrifts were as high as telephone poles... ALL SNOWMOBILES WERE COMMANDEERED BY POLICE, FIRE, AMBULANCE 1st responders... Medicine & emergency medical travelled through tunnels in the snow. You had to go upstairs & look out a window to tell if it was day or night. I baked dozens of loaves of bread, which we traded with neighbors for eggs, meat, potatoes, more flour: stores were completely empty... No deliveries of anything. It was a snow-desert. The resulting snow mounds the Guard created moving all that snow never melted till the end of June. To this day, I stock what I need for 3 month by Thanksgiving & always keep candles, water, empty soda cans, blankets, dry foods & extra clothes in trunk... & watch weather patterns closely: '77 was a GROUND BLIZZARD... NOT A SINGLE FLAKE OF NEW SNOW FELL... ALL OF IT BLEW INLAND FROM OFF FROZEN LAKE ERIE. The wind created this.
I agree as far as how if you lived through it you want to be prepared if it should ever happen again. I remember in Ohio it started getting cold before 1976 was even over October 30 20 above Halloween 19 above. By November it was 14 above. It just dropping like a rock, even in August it was 52. really unusual and really hard. 78 was hard too. 24 inches of snow fell.
Notice that in on one place, strangers had a line going to save the Falzone's possessions for them and in another place, different folks looted a fire engine. I wonder why there was such a difference.
Oh how I miss snow STORMS like that. We used to get snow blizzards like that in New York City when I was a child. During the late 50s we very often got blizzards like that. The City of New York never stopped functioning. Now when they get a few inches of snow it's a STATE OF EMERGENCY and everything comes to a standstill. We went to school during a Blizzard and during Hurricane Donna. One key factor was that we who lived during the Cold War ERA were prepared for everything possible. Even though the Cold War has ended I still maintain a State of readiness to expect the unexpected. I tell my neighbors that I have a plan for not having a plan.
my mom told me about this blizzard. I was only 5 at that time. she normally walked a few blocks to laundrymat , once a week. as the storm continued, the laundry piled up. she had a neighbor watch us kids, and walked to laundry and convenience store near by. she said it was a long, slow walk. 2 feet of snow, and carrying 2 baskets of laundry. she put clothes in washer, walked a few more blocks to store (milk,bread etc..) carried groceries home. walked back to laundry mat. then carried laundry back home. she said she was exhausted, carrying laundry back and forth, in knee deep snow. too tired to cook dinner, she got a frozen pizza for dinner. she has pictures of us small kids standing in snow almost as tall as us. the next day she walked to store again for old lady downstairs from us. and to the pharmacy a mile away. lady needed her asthma inhaler. mom said it was worst blizzard she ever seen.
I grew up in the suburbs a few miles from the Buffalo Airport. I was 7 years old. I remember we released from school late morning. Walking home from the bus stop were I was dropped off. I remember walking in the early start of the blizzard. As a child, your not aware of the dangers. We enjoyed all the snow and being stranded at home for days. Soon after everyone was wearing sweatshirts. With the statement. " I survived the blizzard of '77. It was surreal listening to this video nearly 50 years later. Proud to be from Buffalo. Although I no longer live there. I am in my way "home on the 21st of October. One week from this message. Hoping to see snow in my hometown. Lol
I remember as I was at Youngstown Sate University then and had a friend from Buffalo, Frank Santalucino (hope I spelled that correctly) who missed School at YSU stuck there, I also remember it took days to get a phone call through to inquire about him. Later in life I met someone who told me she moved from Buffalo to Orlando Florida after that blizzard.
Yes, he wasn't kidding; it was like a sheet of white paper covering your windshield; couldn't see a thing. I left work in downtown Buffalo getting a lift from one of my colleagues. It was by the grace of God we all made it home. She dropped me off on my street corner, my house being a door down from the corner and almost didn't make it. The snow was waist deep and the wind was so strong. Being only 19, l trudged the 30 feet barely finding my house. Looking back, I guess we took quite a chance leaving work at the height of the blizzard.
My daughter was born in mid Dec. '76. We both got either the flu or toxic shock and spent six days in the hospital. We went home and the blizzard hit. Our water pipes were frozen for an entire month. My baby and I were both still sick and weak; my husband worked like a slave to keep us warm and fed. Our poor four year old son didn't know what to think. It was a really hard time for us.
We didn't live in upper NY by the way, we lived in central Kentucky. That was a big ass blizzard that affected numerous states.
Thanks for this!! We lived just into the town of West Seneca. South Buffalo was a 200 yard walk from our door. Downtown Buffalo is about 7 or 8 miles from there. I was 11 and I had just come home from a ten day stay at Children's Hospital (same as in the video) due to a kidney surgery (which was successful, all good at the age of 53). My mom got stranded downtown trying to get home from work. My dad, also trying to make it home from work, got stranded either in the Old First Ward or in the Valley These are two wonderful, old, "famous" Buffalo neighborhoods in between downtown and South Buffalo. My oldest brother was 17, and my other brother 15. Mom called home very worried because I still had stitches in from the surgery and I had substantial physical restrictions and a long heal ahead of me. She ordered and implored my brothers to take good care of me. Of course they did. My oldest brother made pancakes and put peanut butter in the batter! In 1977, this was unheard of, or at least to us it was! My other brother and I LOVED those pancakes!! I was able to change the dressing over my incision and stitches myself. The three of us siblings watched the mini series "Roots" in awe. We were all so moved by it. Our wonderful parents were strict disciplinarians and continually reminded us: "Work hard. Be honest. Love God. Treat others how you'd want to be treated. Judge others on how they behave not on how they look." Truly I have been very lucky! My brothers and I had a blast over those few days and they were so good to me. My dad got home first.....I want to say on Sunday and my mom on Monday.....something like that. The four of us greeted Mom in the driveway. I can picture her clearly right now. A dark green winter coat, belted, with huge, round, flat dark green buttons. It's funny, the things you remember. As she walked up the driveway she burst into tears. The four of us kind of chuckled at her! Sheesh.....I guess we were kind of jerks....lol.
When I was 22 we lost my wonderful oldest brother to an automobile accident. He was 28. He was and continues to be both mine and my other brother's hero for many, many reasons.......certainly one of them being those peanut butter pancakes. The Blizzard of '77 is one of my most precious family memories. Thanks for this video!
This is what makes America a great place to live. No where else.
I only remember the summer of 1977. I don't remember the winter at all!
Your story brought tears to my eyes. May your brother RIP 🇨🇦
This is so great to read! Appreciate it a lot. Thank you.
I drove into that storm at 18 with my mother as my side kick. Station wagon full of household stuff with the moving truck several days behind. We made it to our house and slept on the floors with enough food for a bunch of folk and Mom's beloved plants. A week later, Dad and the movers arrived! Mom was ready with soup and homemade bread from the stuff she packed in the station-wagon! Yep, the plants survived and I have them in my home.
Mom was a smart lady and had insisted that most of the home canned goods and basic food stuff go into our vehicle! There was little room for anything else and maybe that's why I believe that you don't have to have a bunch of stuff to live! Both of us did have our sewing machines and just a few pieces of fabric -- still have the skirt I made during the storm!
The storm of 77 was horrible and life changing for so many. I do believe that we as a nation have not seen the worse and I do know that Mom taught me right. My pantry is full and the house is warm.
Miss my Mom and Dad -- plus that Ford Country Sedan Station Wagon! I learned so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Snow is only 'so high' until it melts and it's 'cold' until it get warm. Love your families!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing this memory that so many of us share by extension. Your Mom was smart and knew the priorities and still had room for her beloved plants. :)
Karen East. I was 17 90mi south of buffalo. In sherman ny.
Very Well Said. God Has Blessed U.S. We forget that at our peril !
You're a wonderful story teller
@I Em Hoo I Iz -- Did your Plymouth wagon have the seat all the way in the back? Yep, the one where you could see where everyone else in the car had already gone!!!! We always fought who got to 'ride' in the wagon part. Oh for the days that have passed by.
Born and raised in New York....my last winter there was so cold I wheezed all winter, come summer my sister and I along with 6 kids, my dad and his dog drove to Phoenix Arizona all of in my fathers van pulling a uhaul trailer ..... ah sunshine....anything below 75 degrees is freezing to me now.... I love Arizona, swimming 3/4 of the year....lower cost of living, beautiful mountains all around us, the most beautiful sunsets you have ever seen......
I was a kid in Angola NY at the time, I remember the blizzard well. That's my dad who got trapped in his snowplow (at 12:19)! Luckily he lived to tell the tale.
Your Dad and those men were doing the work of hero’s, they don’t make them like that anymore
And the bars remained open. I've been to 42 States in this union and the people of Western New York are as tough as nails.
William Dunston my mother was born and raised in Buffalo, yes she was strong!
When it gets the worst people are at their best
Lived in Hilton NY (20 miles nw of Rochester) for 6 years and you sir are correct.
@Junior Johnson Wow, look at Junior. Maybe people would take you seriously if you could create sentences & use punctuation that most of us learned in 3rd grade. Most Americans should be thankful for New York & hardworking New Yorkers that pay far more into the Federal pool than they get back. You know, like how New Yorkers PAID $116 billion more into the Federal pot than they got out for 2020, but shithole Kentucky TOOK $148 billion more than they put in. Places like New York & California help so many of the poor states that are full of people always complaining about New York & California... because they are idiots, like you.
Cam - Well said!
I was born and lived in Lewiston, NY, (in Niagara County, about 30 miles north of Buffalo). I was 6 years old and in 1st grade when the blizzard hit. My dad was a 3-pack-a-day smoker back then. I remember, he tied me and my 4-year-old brother to a sled and dragged us through that blizzard to the store because he had run out of cigarettes! We laugh about it now and still kid him and call him "Bad Daddy," but I know that we were very lucky. Some people lost their lives and others lost all they had. The worst I got was windburn on the parts of my face that weren't covered, from being lashed by snow and ice. That was the last winter we lived in NY. My dad landed a job in Los Angeles and my family moved to Southern California later that year. During our first few summers in California, my dad proudly wore his "I survived the Blizzard of '77" t-shirt on every family outing we took to the beach. Luckily, everyone in my family survived the Blizzard of '77.
That is the best comment I've read so far.
Which store?....TOPS supermarket, the A&P, Jay's drugstore? LOL- I was raised in Lewiston...great story!
I was 19 years old, working downtown. Usually a 14 minute commute, it took three hours to get home. I was lucky and blessed that day. We left work at 11am, when the blizzard was in full fury. I remember looking back at my building, the Marine Midland Center, the tallest building in Buffalo, and couldn't see it. I left with three other girls; we were all locked to each other, for fear of being swept away! I'll never forget that day.
katie you got lucky i had to ditch my 71 gremlin in a drift ant d stay at my bosses home for a week he had 2 new snowmobiles that we drove around like cars on the road i rember driving over abandoned cars and hearing glass cracking under me from the weight
Miss Katie Scarlett .....is it possible to be lucky and blessed at the same time?
I know that corner well. Seneca and Main St. In my view, the windiest spot in Buffalo. Maybe even all of Western New York. Amazing you ladies could even walk around that area. In a storm like this one the wind and snow would blow right into your face with such a force, it would prevent you from breathing. You couldn't get air until you turned away from the ferocious wind. Then the more you turned away from your line of sight the more you lost your bearings because of the whirling of the snow. I was 12 years old.
yep...i got stuck in north Buffalo, had to hide out in a firestation and then finally walked home(luckily i live only a mile away)
I survived,I drove on the sidewalk to get home,it took me 6 hours to get home !
During this Buffalo blizzard I was working at Airco Industrial Gases in NJ. We had an oxygen plant in Buffalo. A hospital advised that their oxygen supply was getting low. One Airco driver selflessly loaded his trailer and slowly drove to the hospital to replenish the oxygen supply.
God bless him
Hero
I was a ten-year-old kid living in Maine when that storm came through in '77. My brother and I dug a cave inside the pile of snow we had shoveled off the roof of our house. It was so big we put chairs inside, and the dome remained on the lawn next to the house until the end of April.
That was 78.
We lived on a farm in the middle of no where about 40 miles south of Buffalo. It was an experience I will never forget. We had to dig a tunnel to the wood stacks from the back door. Melted the snow in the basement and the sump pump took care of it. We were snowed in for a week or more.
MAN WHAT A WEEK ! IM HAPPY YOU AND YOUR FAM WERE READY TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELFS
11 January '77 started out as a clear day with bright Sun and calm winds in Rochester, NY. I was working at a full service gas station off Culver Road. That day,, we heard a storm was coming, I drove my Jeep which had a 6' snowplow to work that morning. Things were pretty normal, it was very cold with a strong wind from the northwest coming right across Lake Ontario. We expected some "lake effect" snow that evening, perhaps 5 to10" of powder snow by midnight and a little more from the storm coming in from the west. At about 10:30 AM I went into the storage room to get a set of snow tires for a customer and when I came out, the Sun was gone and the snow was blowing so thick I couldn't see the gas pumps from the front door. In the next hour a foot of snow fell and it didn't stop there. Before that evening ended, we had over 33"of snow and the winds had risen to over 40 mph, drifting the snow into 6' drifts. Between plowing several parking lots, and a plethora of driveways, I made over $1,700 (big money for an 18 year old kid in those days). I came home to my new wife and threw the roll of cash all over the living room floor for her to count. Boy, we were happy about that! But it was a bad blizzard for everyone, the city was trucking snow out of town because there was no place to put it. It was about a week before all the streets were clear enough for all to be able to get to work or shop for food. That is when the crazy weather started.
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I LOVE snow & have always said I wish we lived in Buffalo! We're in Missouri & we might get 1 good snow a year :( But after this pandemic, being snowed in has lost it's appeal big time!
Wow, nice story
Great story and immense money for the time!
the Blizzard started on 28 January 1977
This storm hammered the east I lived in WV. This was the worst storm I can remember. Schools were closed for six weeks. Drifts in our area was over eight feet tall. Cars and trucks were under so much snow we could not find our car. And we were snowed in for weeks. Thank god we still Canned and put up food. so we had plenty of food. the power was out for weeks but we had a wood stove for heat. And mom would read to us in the evenings. I miss those Story's she read to us. And I miss her voice. (all ways have extra food on hand. And a way to stay worm if your power go's out for a week or two.) God bless and good luck.
This storm is the metric I use for every snowstorm. Nothing in my lifetime has compared to it.
It's also interesting to hear it described in these terms, because as kids we ended up with essentially a six day unannounced vacation from school with all the snow you could ever need to play in !
I was 17 and we lived in the Perry Projects. A lot of delivery trucks from just about every store in Buffalo were stranded on South Park. Let's just say some of us made a lot of money, and all of the kids had on the same outfits in different colors on Easter. Mom's wore gaucho suits from Stuarts in different colors, and a navy blue & white cowl neck, belted dress from Morrison's on Mother's Day. 🥴🥴
Was present for this and it was unreal. Snowdrifts past the telephone poles. Three days Marshall law, only emergency vehicles and snowmobiles were allowed on the roads. Needless to say I moved to San Diego after this.
No offense meant- martial.
I live in the Detroit metro area, With a friend we went to Buffalo to help dig them out. I have never seen so much snow in my life! We were one block from the lake, The street was plowed to the pavement and people were walking ten ft. above us on the side where a sidewalk should have been. Bright sunny day, all of a sudden couldn,t see my hand in front of my face. Never will forget that time.
I experienced the Buffalo Blizzard of '77. It made a prepper out of me.
I drove dump truck on operation Snow Go... I worked the South Buffalo area, it was incredible watching the big melters that came down from Toronto, and I believe Elia Construction brought in one of the largest rubber tire loaders I ever saw at that time..
My husband worked through it all..he worked on gas wells he' would snow shoes into wells to keep the gas flowing so people would not freeze in their homes
I believe there were many "un-sung" heroes that we will never hear about. Thanks to your husband for his part in it.
@@theoriginalkeepercreek Yep. I have an uncle who lives in tornado alley, he has often worked ridiculous hours during and after the yearly spring storms, repairing electrical lines to restore power. People aren't in danger of freezing, but you can lose hundreds of dollars worth of food if fridges and freezers are out too long, which few in that area can afford and insurance doesn't cover, some folks have medical devices that depend on electricity that have limited battery backup, etc. He would often be out in pouring rain and lightning, we really do take folks like him and gas and water line workers for granted. They work long hours at very unglamorous jobs to make us safe and comfortable. We should have a national appreciation day for them or something, we'd be up a serious creek without them. Tell your hubby thank you for me!
I believe this is the same blizzard that affected my relatives in Northern Ohio during the 70's. BTW, the natural gas stopped flowing to my cousin's neighborhood so most of the homes in the neighborhood had no heat and they could not cook anything. Ironically, the electricity was on and my cousin's house was one of the few that was heated with electric heaters that ran along the baseboards so several families were staying in the game room of their split-level home.
Please tell him, I said thank you for all of his hard work and dedication. God Bless Him and You.
The radio weather report said flurries for Friday afternoon. I was working as a technician at a Lockport car dealership. Transit Road started to drift over as the snow came down hard. The wind picked up and we were blocked in. Only two people got out that day. Both on snowmobiles brought by relatives. I slept in the back seat of a large sedan awaking to over 40 inches of snow and drifts over 6 foot tall. Transit Road was not plowed. The general manger and I headed out in separate directions to see if we could get through. I was driving a VW beetle that was great in the snow. The general manger was in a 4x4 Jimmy with a plow. He turned back after a couple of miles. We then all headed south, about 10 of use made it to Sheridan where the roads were plowed. I will never forget driving down on road a just see a wall of snow over 8 foot tall on either side. I found out later they had sent out the huge snowblowers from the airport to clear the main roads. Got back to work on Tuesday and spent the whole day moving cars and plowing the lot. I live in Florida now........LOL
Transit Rd... I lived on Sheridan in Williamsville... in 1994. I missed the storm of 93'
I'll bet you do. Couldn't take it, huh? 🥶🥶🥶🥶
Flurries? Lol! LOL!
In the spring of 1977 Bob Hope joked :"New York City just sent out a search party to look for Buffalo."
I like Buffalo!!
@@crunchies4me I'd prefer it to NYC if it was one or the other.
Bob Hope may have joked about it but it was the truth
@@butchknouse8316 we dont want u in Buff to begin with
@@JPonTime What did I say?
Us Canadians know about blizzards as well. We feel for our American friends.
I just love when regular citizens team up to help each other, like the snowmobile club helping people, that's amazing to me. I'm from BC, Canada, I know people who are part of a snowmobile club in the Cariboo area and that's totally something the club would do. Most avid snowmobilers are very very prepared for cold weather and are really just looking for any excuse to take the machines out for a ride, if that means helping people that's a bonus.
MsDesignDiva I remember them helping rescue people buried in vehicals
This occurred 20+ years before I was born, but it's the reason why my parents tell me to keep blankets and an emergency kit in the backseat of the car during the winter. When they told me why and what happened to some people they knew I agreed, even though I'm pretty diligent about keep an eye on weather reports especially during the winter.
+girl1213 - I live in the South and still keep blankets in my car because you never know what could happen. It just so happened that a few years ago Atlanta was hit by an ice storm that happened so quickly that people were stranded in their cars overnight. Businesses let their employees go around noon, but by 1pm the roads were iced over and people couldn't navigate. That's why I keep blankets, paper towels, bottled water, etc. in my car!
@@MLMLW I tried keeping water in my car during winter,but it always turned to ice. 🤣🤣🤣
@@bricknmotor - Lol! Yeah, that tends to happen in freezing weather.
Also, do not let your gas tank get lower than 1/2 in the winter. And bring granola or protein bars.
@@sherylchapman4168 The gas advice had been added in more recent years especially after the cold wave in 17/18. Never realized how quickly you go through gas during a cold wave until then. Thank god I was paying attention.
I was stuck in this blizzard visiting Buffalo from Texas. We stayed inside and only came out after it was over. I remember being so glad to be able to walk to a grocery store to buy food sloshing through the melting snow. I remember taking a look outside and that was all it took for me to stay inside.
does anyone remember the T-shirts that were sold afterwards? I think they said something like, "I survived the Blizzard of '77". My dad worked for NY state Electric & Gas. I remember he stayed at work for about 4 days. Mom kept the homefires burning, and we felt safe. Got to love the parents those of us had that were born in the 20's and 30's. They knew how to survive, and just 'buck up' as my mother would say. Grateful for sure.
Susan Dhifaoui I do
Susan Dhifaoui my husband had to do the same while myself and two young children, fortunately our electricity stayed on, had to sleep in the kitchen full winter coats on and doors shut with the oven on in order to stay warm. We could see our breath in the House!!! It was 60 below wind chill factor. At the time our home had no insulation!! Older home! 💨
Susan Dhifaoui, I know exactly what you mean, it’s 2020 and the covid19 pandemic is in full swing, it’s been ongoing for some time but the present generations, the millennials, can’t handle it and want things done for them, like yesterday, and their social lives and work are more important than their and others lives, it’s amazing how we have had generation after generation of tough and resourceful people, but the current crop are so reliant on technology, processed foods, and the easy life that put a difficult situation in their path and they go to pieces, let’s hope they never have to fight a world war, they would loose. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
I was about 10. My friend was stranded with us. We watched Roots and The Planet of the Apes. Sledding off of our roof. My Dad delivering groceries with our snow mobile. It was fun because of my age.
Nah it was fun bc u didnt have to open the stove for heat even ona regular degular ass night😂
It was not fun for where I lived in Southwest Ohio where the Ohio River froze solid. We had NO heat and my hands got chapped. I guess it was not bad for every one but it was not in my experience. 1978 was not much better.50 people died in Ohio in 1978.
Thanks for posting this. It was a bad winter here in Maryland, too. We were young marrieds who owned a small apartment building. We had a 3 day blizzard party. We played cards, drank, and cooked. Shoveling out when it was over was awful.
I was 18 at the time, I delivered pizza, their was so much snow, I was using a dog team sled to deliver the pizzas! It was the coldest winter ever, the tips were great that night!
I was in High School at the time. We had a teacher from Buffalo. There was a cartoon that showed an airplane flying over the city, looking for signs of life. The caption said "The search for Buffalo continues". All you saw was snow! Don't forget this was long before CNN, the only weather reports people had were regular local news. They also didn't have Hummers or SUVs just 4 wheel drives. I'm glad the baby survived! We in Philadelphia also had a blizzard, I remember the city shut down! I remember the film of a man walking somewhere and the weatherman wondering where is he going because no food stores were open, no pharmacies, everyone was closed!
My wife and I was originally scheduled to get married on the day the blizzard arrived on January 28, 1977. Ended up getting married on January 31, 1977. If you need to consult and get a recommendation for a marriage date you probably do not want to hear from me. Married 45 years tomorrow so the blizzard wasn't a sign of impending doom.
Congratulations. 🇬🇧 👍 🎊
What made this storm so difficult to deal with was on the Friday morning that it began, we had NO warning that a storm was coming. It hit so quickly and then just hung over the area. The terrible winds and terribly cold temperatures were just punishing.
I recall the National Guard Trucks coming into the Lockport Area where I lived to help clear the roads. My family was fortunate, both the heat and electric stayed on. I clearly remember how kind everyone was to stranded people. I will never forget that storm.
Yeah the wind chills were way below zero f...for such a long time
2022 just blew this one out of the record books!
I live in SW Michigan and we got hit, too. This was what is called an "Alberta Clipper". Comes down from the NW with a lot of wind across the Great Lakes which enhances the lake effect. We got hit with another one at the same time in '78. The BIG One was in 1967, we had 3 ft. of snow with 30-40 ft. drifts where I live. That was a true blizzard that's still on the books in Chicago as the worst storm in history. Everything where I live came to a screeching halt for a week. Nobody was prepared for anything like that one. Snow was packed into railroad cars and shipped down South because there wasn't anyplace left to put it. People in Georgia and N. Florida had a ball in it. All 3 of those storms hit at the same time in January...My Birthday! I'd really like to see one more like '67 to let people today know what a real blizzard looks like. Yeah I know, stick my wish right up my a-double s.
Me, too. I remember schools were closed for at least a week. Even Grand Valley State University, which almost never closes, was closed for 2.5 days. I remember there was another blizzard that struck the same days in 1978, too.
Yes i live in West Mi and remember 78 all too well. Haven't seen that since. (Knock wood). Heck now we're lucky if it snows. We have some right now but it's only going to melt this weekend when temps go up in the 30's and 40's. I miss the winters we used to have.
I really remember the storm of '78. My niece was born and they had to stay at the hospital for many extra days because there was no movement!
My 3rd grade teacher told us about this. She grew up in Minnesota, where she came to hate the cold winters and all the snow. She was not happy when her husband "dragged" her to Buffalo, NY. She wanted to live somewhere warm. This storm was the final straw - they moved to Texas a year later. She doesn't mind the 100 degree summers. "I'm tired of being cold!" The last I heard, she's retired and living in Corpus Christi, where she has plenty of sun. There was snow on Christmas Eve in 2004 and again in December 2017. However, she always says, "That was nothing!" And then talks about Buffalo in 1977.
I was a child in a rural mountain area of Ireland and we also got hit those years too. We were snowed in for nearly three weeks and lost a lot of sheep that got caught out the mountain in huge snow drifts.
The army dropped hay bales to them in various places but they could not move and died.
Water pipes were frozen solid and we spent most of out working days hauling water from a nearby stream in troughs for the animals.
We had plenty to eat though as back then all farms were very self sufficient and we wanted for nothing food wise.
It was very exciting though as even though I was young I sensed this was a big event.
We had no phone and tv had 2 channels so relied on radio for everything.
An old man died in the next parish and they had to hold onto the body for nearly two weeks and had to eventually bring it to the church by tractor thru a neighbours land that they weren’t talking to due to an earlier dispute and very few could make the funeral and burial. They ended up having another mass and funeral for the man so people could come and pay their respects. They say locally that he was the only person around who was buried twice.
The road leading down the mountain from our house has hedging around the five foot mark and the tops were barely visible.
Snow is rare is Ireland anyway but I have never seen those types of drifts since. The lowlands got going after about a week but we were cut off for three weeks.
I remember my parents talking about 1964 and sometime in the 1940s being the same so not common in Ireland at all in the very southern part where I live, they would suffer a bit more in the top of the country but again not USA extremes.
Our parents were so resourceful, even though I grew up in that environment I now am a supermarket iPhone man.
In Cleveland the wind was the worst factor. Wind and extreme pressure lows were blowing out storefront windows. People were being blown down streets like paper bags. It was surreal.
I was 10 years old when that BLIZZARD came of Lake Erie at 11:30 AM. We lived about 15 east of the city in the town of Alden. I will never forget the arctic wind. Wind chill of 60 below zero. My grandparents lived in the west side at the time.
armitius66 never will forget 60 below winds!!! You had to ware a scarf over your face because if the air touched your skin you got it burned frozen. My husband had a beard at the time and when he finally was able to get home 4 days later, he had ice frozen all over his face hanging off his beard!
I was 15 at the time. Coming home from a hockey trip from Niagara Falls. Spent 22 hours at a thruway stop in Scottsville. Never will forget that.Not all that fun.
If you have never lived in this entire Lake Erie area - Jamestown - Buffalo you have no idea how bad the snow can get. the storms, the ice...
Ruth Nagarya I do I am from Chili, NY outside Rochester
Lived in Oswego N.Y. some ,been through several monsters. In 72 I headed up to visit my girlfriend at her college Oswego State Left a day early because there was a Lake Monster Storm heading right for her school. Should have left 2 days before. All was good till just past Cortland exit on 81 N. Had to follow a plow and a Trooper up 81.. I stopped with both to give aid at a wreck. (Volunteer where I lived.) By the time I reached the city, 3 hours later,10 inch's on the ground and white out time. Followed a city plow to the college. Rode with the Campus Rescue student volunteer squad the next 2 days. Al Roker TV weatherman now was a student and did a live radio feed from the roof of Hart Hall Dorm covering the storm for NBC and their affiliates.I checked on him and got him coffee couple of times. Got to spend about a week with Lorraine.Remembered to bring ample Southern Comfort.
I am from Mayville. Other end of Chautauqua Lake from Jamestown. I think we may have had more snow than Buffalo. We didn't have school for a long time!
I lived in Farmer City, Illinois in 77 and my family of six got stuck in our house for three days. There was a 15 foot snow drift that covered our entire house except the chimney. The wind chill was -40 below. We burned books clothes anything we could to keep the fire going. After three days our neighbor took a bulldozer and drove it up to our door, and we were free. Except my dads truck had 4 inches of solid ice sticking it to the concrete! True story.
I remember this. I was 19yrs old at the time, we lived in Toronto. We moved home to Barbados a few yrs later. No snow storms around here. Lollllll
I was 11 years old in 1977 and I can remember the blizzard and how we were out of school at least 3 weeks..We never see that kind of snow these day's everything has changed..
I was 18 yrs old when this happened. I lived in Port Colborne, Ontario. We got hit so bad that we were taking people out of their 3rd floor windows. The houses were buried. I spent 3 days helping clear snow from peoples houses and walkways. I will never forget that blizzard.To find cars we would find the ariels and dig down to see if anyone was in the vehicle. We were walking down a road and the snow suddenly dropped about 10 ft. Looked back and it was a school bus a buried right over.
I remember hitch hiking home from an exam at Port High , Mario got the word on the radio, he cancelled all exam classes. I lived near Hampton and Sugarloaf, it did not look bad, I was in front of Steele St School, saw it coming started hitching . Thank God , I was picked up and driven a block away from my home, bless that man , whom ever he was, I walked a block and was total white ,when my mother opened the door. My Dad , was a supervisor at Marsh , he could not come home it was so bad,thankfully we had a cousin that lived close to Marsh, he stayed at our cousin's for 2 days. I remember The Marsh house, was buried along with some of the Christmas decorations.
Got on Niagara Thruway at Seneca St heading downtown getting off at Elm. Radio announced "look out Buffalo here it comes" as i saw a black cloud for miles over the lake. Got to Plaza Suite restaurant atop One M&T Plaza. We had all our food delivered day b4 so we were set. We served hundreds from the bank floor by floor. Some servers who left after lunch got blocks away and got stuck in cars or buses. We worked 11am till 10pm and finally ate and had a few. Slept in dining rooms and looking like hell we did it all again next am on Saturday. Finally made a break 4 freedom. Took 3 with me and took six hours to get them to West Seneca and 1 hour for me to So. Buffalo. We were out of work 4 eight days. Simply awful. No work no pay! Will never 4get it. No storm since compares.
Thankfully Toronto was spared from the worst of the storm and we were able to send in our snowplows to help parts of Southern Ontario and Buffalo.
I remember when I used to live in the Buffalo area, we saw Ontario as our neighbors across the bridge, not as part of a foreign country. I think the bad winters in those parts brought many people together. I still love Canada, especially Toronto!
I lived in Indiana and I was 16 I will never forget the blizzard the sound of the wind was a sound that I won't forget it was errie
I was 10, remember my dad getting stuck in the town he worked in at his grandmother's house for about 5 days. The town is about 30 miles away. We had a woodstove and I don't remember loosing power, probably because power companies still maintained infrastructure at that time.
The History Channel doing a documentary based on actual history? Oh the nostalgia.
My Grandparents lived in Buffalo for over 30 years prior to this storm. When it hit they were stuck in their home for 4 days. They did have running water and electricity but came perilously close to running out of food. Thankfully they were dug out in time and made it out ok.
Since both of them were close to 80 years old, they had to move to Missouri because they couldn't make it through another blizzard like this one.
I am from Rochester and I don't remember it being anything like that in Rochester, but that was probably the year that we had so much snow! We shoveled the driveway and there was no place to put the snow! The banks on each side of the driveway got higher and higher! My parents moved to Florida in about 79! I followed in 1989 after French's Mustard moved to New Jersey!
my mother and father lived in east dayton at the time and i called from germany and my dad was teliing me about the blizzard...i did not know how bad it was...my father passed away april 30 2021...i cry almost everyday thinking of him...he was well loved by everyone...truly a good person...i miss him so much...
When you your mother or father pass its very hard it take many year to learn to deal with their passing . 🇬🇧 👍 ❤️
Wow, does this bring back memories! I was living outside of Watertown, NY. We ended up entering and exiting our house via my brother's 2nd floor bedroom window. Yes, there were people who froze to death in their stranded cars. My Dad required us to carry a survival kit in case we ever got stranded while driving. I never had to use mine, but a friend could have saved herself much pain and money. She got stuck near Copenhagen on the No. 3 road, got out, walked two miles in -4° F with no hat, no boots, no gloves. She lost part if her earlobes to frostbite and was hospitalized with hypothermia.
There is a certain hardiness North Country folks have that doesn't exist diwnstate. In NYC where I now live, people freak out over six inches!
I was living in Alexandria Bay, NY during that storm. I am from Florida so I thought I had died and gone to frozen hell. Had to walk backwards because the wind was so strong in my face that I could not breathe.
Marie look into the Armistice day Blizzard and you will learn something if you were not from that time period. Mn. 1940
I worked for a landlord in NYC that year so long ago. Spent the entire winter shovelling snow even going on ROOF TOPS in Brownstone neighborhoods to remove snow which was crushing roof structures that were flat.
Marie Katherine I will always remember that winter here in Wisconsin. It hit us before it made its way towards NY.
The entire event was unbelievable.
I recall this from M. Michigan. The huge "V" snowplows were getting stuck. When they finally cleared the roads enough to travel, the snow along side the roads were above the school bus-it was like going through a tunnel.
Oh, and my ad always stressed he same thing: always carry a blanket at a minimum and it's always a good idea to have something to eat, even if its just some hard candies for the energy.
I'm from Minnesota, so I know all about it. If you can take shelter out of the wind, with warm clothing, its all good.
Yup! You guys get the heavy winds *and* the very low temperatures. At least Lake Erie moderated the Buffalo temperature a little bit.
Hank Volpe thank you so much for this tremendous upload of a video. This program about the blizzard really hits home with me because exactly one year later, after your blizzard of ‘77, we experienced the blizzard of ‘78. It was indescribable what we north easterners went through for over a week as a result of that blizzard. 100 dead, 4,500 injured, power outage for over a week, at least 40 inches of snow where I lived....snow fell at a rate of 4 inches an hour at some points during the blizzard, raging bouts of thundersnow, and heavy snowfall for a full 33 hours all at a cost of US$1.95 BILLION in 2017 terms. There’s a video here on UA-cam similar to yours regarding the devastating event. Thanks again for loading that informative, interesting, terrifying and memorable video.
Yeah, I remember that one. We got over 20 inches of snow just west of Philly.
This episode is brought to you by every italian in Buffalo NY. " Dat night on da wessside ah Bufflo, Tony Gabbagootz wus jus sittin down to a nice plate of abbagoo, and a small dish of gabats and some nice fried sweet peppas.... DELICIOUS ....when a frikin wall of snow rolled in as thick as a biscotti from Falconi's on 20th and Grant.....BEST in the city."
I was there in 1977! Missed at less a week of school, but I survived!
I lived in Mentor Ohio which typically got all that Buffalo got if not worse. We got all the wind right off of Lake Erie. I remember that it was so cold that your breath froze when you exhaled. The snow was real bad. I'll never forget that time. Yes, people are hardier in the snow belt, but I moved to California. Couldn't take the gray skies all winter, freezing rain and on and on. Now I live near the Redwoods and thank each day I'm not in the cold.
John Allen I’m starting to feel the same way, in terms of having the desire to move somewhere warmer as I live in the northeast. New England and the winters are sometimes mercilessly brutal (Blizzard of ‘78 closed interstate 95 with 3,500 abandoned vehicles, killed 100, injured 4,500 and left countless numbers of people, including me, without food, water, heat, electricity for over a week. I thought we might not make it.). John, did you have relatives out west or did you just pick up and go out to the unknown alone and with no contacts? Man I admire you a good deal for making the move. I wish I knew someone out there because I’m getting up there in age so the thought of moving to a new area not knowing anyone is daunting.
And you can thank the land of fruits and nuts for paying all of those insane taxes and innumerable fees, too.
Me too. I remember having to take the bus in the snow and it was cold and cramped and miserable. When I moved, I went first to Arizona for four years before moving to California. Never regretted it.
I lived in Mentor for six years. And I have family from Buffalo. There is a big difference between Mentor and Buffalo. The parks are a lot nice in the Mentor area but the snow is A LOT more frequent, dependable and deeper in Buffalo. Sorry. If you had lived in Chardon I might have given you a pass...
John do you have any extra room or a place anywhere on your property , where I can put up a small cabin , when I retire in 48 months??
I remember that horrific storm. Very scary. We lived in the country out in Clarence and were snowed in for 7 days. We actually thought that it might be the end of the world. I think I worked that day until 12:00, we got out early. My dad never made it home from work that day. We didn't know where he was. He was brought home on a snowmobile the next day. Boy, were we glad to see him.
In September I moved to Florida.
An uncle on my Dad's side of the family is a lifelong Buffalo resident and he still talks about this to this day any time the subject of winter weather comes up. We have had a couple of Polar Vortex events in the Chicago area the last few years which I commented about over Xmas and my uncle told me basically "Boy, you really have no concept of a harsh winter whatsoever unless you were in Buffalo back in 77". Now granted older people often say things like this, but in this instance I would say he was 100% dead on accurate.
We were snowed in for 3-4 weeks thank God Mom and Dad were prepared via food, canned goods, meat in the freezer, blankets, coats, etc. they had been through winter there for years and knew to be prepared with everything by no later than October each year. The car had fuel, Mom had her canning goods all stocked in the basement, Dad had several cords of wood in the backyard in case the furnace couldn't keep the house warm, the front, back and side doors were all blocked by the snow but Dad had shoveled a "tunnel" that led to the wood. As a small child it was a very frightful time and we wore so many layers of clothing we felt like the Michelin tire boy. We were more prepared than neighbors and everyone hunckered down in their houses as the snow was too high on the house. We only had one neighbor brave the conditions long enough to borrow some groceries.
...Man that was one of the biggest ever snow Blizzards, 77' I was working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard seatrain just so happens it was my first day off of four days swing shift, It was snowing up the yin yang. . . And we had extremely hot summer, and a major power failure July 13 which was only one of the coolest days of 93° with the high of seven days at 97.1° . . . Unbelievable 81was another Blizzard year...
Oh how funny. I had to laugh at the high of 97 deg. for 7 days straight. I'm in Missouri and during bad summers we've gotten up to between 102 & 108 with very high humidity to where it felt like it was a lot hotter with the heat index. I'm not making fun of your comment, it's just funny how people in different states get use to certain temperatures and if there's any massive fluctuation, it is actually extreme to us. We are creatures of habit including weather wise.
I was 8 years old during this blizzard and mostly what I remember about it is the news coverage of it on TV and school being closed. This brings back memories and I haven't seen pictures like this in a long time. Since I was just trapped in the house during the whole thing, I don't have any dramatic stories to tell. But I love remembering all these ones.
I live in Syracuse NY I was 2 when this happened, but I remember being warm and drinking ovaltien and eating english muffins while this all was happening.
I lived outside Watertown, NY and recall this storm very well. We were all home and heated with wood, so were okay. I do recall hearing of a man found frozen in his car on Rt. 11. We entered and exited the house from our deck, normally ten ft. off the ground. At first, you walked straight out! Later, we made a slide and set of snow stairs with a rope attached. I was 23. My younger siblings thought it was great fun, especially because school was canceled! Mom who didn’t get around well, didn’t go out for maybe a month! My brother was in the Navy, stationed in the Philippines. Dad and I managed to get to work via snowmobile.
I lived in Erie, Pa. When this storm hit. The drifts were 8 feet high. They brought in dump trucks to carry snow and dump it into Lake Erie.
Oh my, yes, I was there. I grew up outside Philadelphia where 2" of snow shut down the schools. I had snow up to my 2nd floor balcony, just like in the film. I lived on the west side of Buffalo very close to Lake Erie. It was frightening. I remember the mayor asking everyone to check on the neighbors IF you could open your door!. No access to food or medicine. All the houses were tinderboxes so close to each other, I remember another fire next door to a friends - just terrifying. Let's just say that Spring I moved back to Phila. Buffalo now has a booming economy and is just beautiful!
I remember that. Toronto was hit hard by the same blizzard and my friend and I watched a snowmobile driving up Yonge st ! It wasn't until I saw the evening news that I realised we got nothing compared to Buffalo.
Love these Buffalo accents. Makes me feel at home.
I drive for a living.. got stuck on the skyway in the snow a couple winters back during the last decent snow.. thankfully every other car on the road was cautious and drove with hazards (4 ways) on and kept safe following distance. We all made it off that skyway because Buffalo knew how to drive! I was like being in a snow globe.. I'd never been to Buffalo so that was wild. That skyway though.. you're really up there in the atmosphere! lol
Dr. Cudmore was one of the heroes of the Attica Prison Riot. He started treatment of injured inmates and often operated on multiple patients at a time.
My dad told me that he was stranded in his office building downtown with all of his co- workers, I think he said that it was for at least a week. (Otis Elevator Co.) He said that they survived by looting the vending machines. After the storm, all of the stranded cars, including his, had been brought to a golf course, he had to go and find his car, among the thousands of others. I was stranded with my mom and sister in our farmhouse in the Tug Hill valley (NNY) for around two weeks, where we got six feet of snow. We had wood in the woodshed, and some food, my sister remembers the army coming on snowmobiles, bringing C- rations. We had no snowmobile. One day, I heard a plow coming down the road from the direction of Lowville. I had to run out on snowshoes, to direct the driver to come and plow out near where my car was buried, or I would never have gotten out. Everyone who could get to Lowville was put on county vans and given shovels. We spent the next few weeks shoveling off rooftops, digging people out of their houses, etc. By some miracle, the power stayed on at the farm the entire time.
My mother and father went on a business trip in Buffalo just days before the 77 Blizzard struck, my mother and father were trapped in a Hotel for over a week. My mother's brand new 1977 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz was buried and they had to wait to be dug out and the Cadillac to be dug out, I was less than a year old and was here with my grandparents in Albany NY, the thruway was closed from Amsterdam westbound.
but not the rail road
dknowles60 not true
Sounds about right!
@@patriciaromanowski7100 wrong the rail road ran. do you think 3 ft of snow stops a rail road conrail ran plow trains then brought trains in on snowmoble see noel weaver . he posted on ny railroad fan about being called for TV12
@@patriciaromanowski7100 wrong. conrail keep on runing. see noel weaver on runing tv 12 in the great snow storm
i lived in kokomo indiana.. 16 in 77... i remember my dad clearing our drive - only to have plows cover it back up.. we tried to leave once - but our car got stuck - we walked house to house til we got home - wind chill was 75 below.. .. a neighbor would call a neighbor - and they would have warm blankets and hot drinks til we thawed and repeat... our home got buried (single story).. and ppl on snowmobile came to get my parents - they both (parents) ran convenience stores and they needed them to open up and distribute food for the workers and for the emergency ppl and volunteers to take food to the elderly and disabled.. we had no issue with food as momma like to stock up on stuff ... but we got seriously bored and wished for school... took weeks for kokomo to dig out... i don't miss the days.. still in indiana and .... sigh.. wish was somewhere just a tad warmer.. husband from el salvador - he has issues with the cold.. lol
In Wayne, New Jersey, around 1969, we had snow up to my stomach! I was only five years old, but I still remember that.
I know tom Schultz, go deer hunting with him every year to this day. We still talk about this storm around the camp fire. Great man, great family.
This is hard to imagine now. We're all so used to having cell phones and calling for help if we get stranded. Back in the 70s very few people had car phones. I remember a blizzard in Wisconsin when I was a kid in 1995. My neighbor was a snow plow driver and even he got stuck. We lived in the middle of nowhere and had a few stranded travelers staying in our home. Another neighbor took his snowmobile into town and got everyone supplies.
I remember pay phone's were everywhere
Only extremely wealthy people had cell phones or car phones as they were called. Also, a few Motorola workers who built their own ...
No this was an era where there were no cell phones but no matter if you go through a major disaster and your powere goes out you can't charge your stupid cell phone. But at least we cared about our neighbors and helped them. The sand barrels on the roads the tire chains.
I was 19 and lived within sight of the Skyway. That first night 5 of us were driving around in an old Station wagon...a vista cruiser. ROFL The floor in the middle was rotted out and there was just heavy cardboard on the floor. We drove around and pushed a few people out of snow banks and gave a few rides to walkers. Went back to the house party we were at (and yes, J Giles was playing )parked the car at the end of the street. It never started after that. The next morning, some how the freezer and snow drifts in their back yard had become stuffed with all kinds of frozen meat from trucks that had gotten stuck and the drivers left them. Turkeys, hams, big roast beefs, pork chops, sausage and (beer) other... We had electric, heat and could cook, and i had just picked up a 1/4 lb earlier so being sort of stuck there was not so bad...
I like stories like that. You probably didn’t know just how bad it was since you had a relatively easy time of it. I was living in England at the time but grew up in Toronto so I know how bad it can get
I started my Buffalo Evening News route at the beginning of January 1977. My route was so large, I needed a wagon. Pulling through the deep snow made my 45 minute route take closer to 2 hours. But it paid off in the end. The News didn't publish on the 28th, ergo, no paper to deliver. A week's subscription to the News back then was $1.05; 15 cents for M-F, 30 cents for Saturday (no Sunday News then). I absent-mindedly charged over half my customers $1.05, instead of the 90 cents it should have been. With the extra tips I got for fighting the snow, I made out like a bandit.
Back then after this winter of 77 and 78 they were honestly believing we were entering into a brand new ICE AGE not Global Heating. This went on even to 1985 but it was not until after 1988 they started yapping about the GREENHOUSE EFFECT because of the hot summer and draught. I remember that summer a picture of a parched brown back yard with 9 days staight of 100 degrees my mom took the picture in July.
I remember them giving that morning warning. If you did not get home within the next 2hrs it was too late you were stuck where you were. My husband got stuck at work for 4days. He tried to get home but did not get very far had to go back to work. I was at home with two children. Fortunately our electricity never went out. However our older home had no insulation and you could see our breath from the cold in our home. We had to sleep and live in our winter coats!
So did my family in Ohio. We had electricity but not enough heat My hands got chapped and we also had to wear winter clothes inside and just stay in bed. Our record low was 25 below with a wind chill of around 70 to 80 below zero. I don't think our breath came out as steam though.
I was going on 8 years old. Now, I'm 52 and I still remember it.
About 4 days later after the snow had stopped and the ban on driving was in place. We bundled up, way up, because it was still sooo cold. Way below zero. And walked to the store 4blocks away. I will never forget the sight of so many people on the streets walking. Looked like something out of the 1800!!!!
I was 5 living on Long Island. I still remember the huge mountains of snow in front of our building and everyone trying to dig out their car. It took forever for my mother to dig out her ‘76 Capri.
Fun fact: Milton Bradley made a Blizzard of '77 board game and we owned it. I didn't even know the game we played was based on the very place I was born and raised I just missed this time I was born in 1979.
How about doing a video of the Blizzard of 78 in Ohio! ? We were trapped for a week but as farmers we has plenty of supplies. The drift from our house to the windbreak was @ 500 ft. The drift ended up to be 25 ft high and didn't fully melt until July. It left a 6 in. depression in the yard. Bellevue, Oh. Twp. Rd. 178. We opened the door of the mudroom and had to shovel a 10 ft. drift into the cistern to get out. The storm was so bad Gramps and the boys planted poles in the ground with a rope guide so the could get to the barn and feed the animals.
Tim England I was in that one in Massachusetts
I'm with you, Tim, would love to see this same sort of video about Ohio's '78 blizzard! I'm from Columbus and it was a DISASTER around this town, that's for sure! Governor Rhodes declared a state of emergency and the National Guard was called out to assist with the road warriors. Where we lived, in Dublin, the roads were so bad, that we had to have someone from the OSU airport come and plow them because the regular plows couldn't reach us way out there at all. But, the state survived and we all now know to keep food supplies and warm blankets at the ready, just in case....
Ya ya.....always someone trying to be worse than others.....give me a break🙄
suev33 3 you seem very pleasant
I was in that. I left my job in Buffalo and went to my 2nd job in Lockport where I lived. Hitched a ride with a red star driver and got home. Spent 4 days , no heat, pot of chili and bag of romance novels and lots of blankets . But at least I spent it at home.
I remember the blizzard of 1977, I was 10 years old and living in Kalamazoo Michigan and we got 3 feet of snow in 12 hours and I remember them talking about buffalo on the evening news.
Philadelphis Textile went up to play Buffalo State in Basketball in the janurary Storm. Textile was the #1 Team in the Nation for small Colleges. Textilw won the Game , But the people of Buffalo were Wonderful and Friendly. I think they were so happy that we make the trip and Shown up. Great Memories
Bars open until 4:00 am! The Park Meadow, Checkers, Pink Flamingo, Brick Bar.....good beer, great people!! Good times all the way around.
I remember the blizzard of '78. My father was out in his pickup to help plow ppl out all night
My parents had to stay with my husband, me & our son for nearly 2 weeks so Dad wouldn't miss work in town. Country roads wouldn't be plowed until the worst of the storm was over, town streets weren't too bad. Your Dad is a good soul helping where & when it was needed - not waiting for "officials' to say when.
except this was 77
I lived this blizzard... worked as an met with the national guard.. Buffalo has the best no parking rules.. I could walk past klienhans to Allentown
People really did work together back then! They should all be proud of themselves! I’m sure you all were very scared. It’s devastating!!!
I have memories at 3 years old. We were stuck in our house, a snow drift covered the front door to the roof.
I survived this storm, buried into a 2-story house in East Aurora, ~20 miles southeast of Buffalo...for 3 weeks. State Guard brought us heating oil: we had to get on the roof, shovel off the feet of snow & spray-paint the house# so the tanker-airlift could find us. The snowdrifts were as high as telephone poles... ALL SNOWMOBILES WERE COMMANDEERED BY POLICE, FIRE, AMBULANCE 1st responders... Medicine & emergency medical travelled through tunnels in the snow. You had to go upstairs & look out a window to tell if it was day or night. I baked dozens of loaves of bread, which we traded with neighbors for eggs, meat, potatoes, more flour: stores were completely empty... No deliveries of anything. It was a snow-desert. The resulting snow mounds the Guard created moving all that snow never melted till the end of June. To this day, I stock what I need for 3 month by Thanksgiving & always keep candles, water, empty soda cans, blankets, dry foods & extra clothes in trunk... & watch weather patterns closely: '77 was a GROUND BLIZZARD... NOT A SINGLE FLAKE OF NEW SNOW FELL... ALL OF IT BLEW INLAND FROM OFF FROZEN LAKE ERIE. The wind created this.
I agree as far as how if you lived through it you want to be prepared if it should ever happen again. I remember in Ohio it started getting cold before 1976 was even over October 30 20 above Halloween 19 above. By November it was 14 above. It just dropping like a rock, even in August it was 52. really unusual and really hard. 78 was hard too. 24 inches of snow fell.
Hope whoever stripped the fire truck got what they deserved somewhere down the road. Looters are the worst kind of scum.
I agree; all a riot is, a reason to steal. In this case a natural disaster.
I agree 100%
Notice that in on one place, strangers had a line going to save the Falzone's possessions for them and in another place, different folks looted a fire engine. I wonder why there was such a difference.
Being in this blizzard, i remember looking at a next door house, two stories high (20+ feet high). Saw snow drifts going to the roof.
Right. Folks going through enough then you have these low life's doing the work of Satan. I hope they got exactly what was do to them.
Oh how I miss snow STORMS like that. We used to get snow blizzards like that in New York City when I was a child. During the late 50s we very often got blizzards like that. The City of New York never stopped functioning. Now when they get a few inches of snow it's a STATE OF EMERGENCY and everything comes to a standstill. We went to school during a Blizzard and during Hurricane Donna. One key factor was that we who lived during the Cold War ERA were prepared for everything possible.
Even though the Cold War has ended I still maintain a State of readiness to expect the unexpected. I tell my neighbors that I have a plan for not having a plan.
my mom told me about this blizzard. I was only 5 at that time. she normally walked a few blocks to laundrymat , once a week. as the storm continued, the laundry piled up. she had a neighbor watch us kids, and walked to laundry and convenience store near by. she said it was a long, slow walk. 2 feet of snow, and carrying 2 baskets of laundry. she put clothes in washer, walked a few more blocks to store (milk,bread etc..) carried groceries home. walked back to laundry mat. then carried laundry back home. she said she was exhausted, carrying laundry back and forth, in knee deep snow. too tired to cook dinner, she got a frozen pizza for dinner. she has pictures of us small kids standing in snow almost as tall as us. the next day she walked to store again for old lady downstairs from us. and to the pharmacy a mile away. lady needed her asthma inhaler. mom said it was worst blizzard she ever seen.
What an amazing memory to a horrible blizzard !!!
Your mother is a hero. 😊🇨🇦
@@ashleighjaimaosborne3966 I do agree with you too
I grew up in the suburbs a few miles from the Buffalo Airport. I was 7 years old. I remember we released from school late morning. Walking home from the bus stop were I was dropped off. I remember walking in the early start of the blizzard. As a child, your not aware of the dangers. We enjoyed all the snow and being stranded at home for days. Soon after everyone was wearing sweatshirts. With the statement. " I survived the blizzard of '77. It was surreal listening to this video nearly 50 years later. Proud to be from Buffalo. Although I no longer live there. I am in my way "home on the 21st of October. One week from this message. Hoping to see snow in my hometown. Lol
I remember as I was at Youngstown Sate University then and had a friend from Buffalo, Frank Santalucino (hope I spelled that correctly) who missed School at YSU stuck there, I also remember it took days to get a phone call through to inquire about him. Later in life I met someone who told me she moved from Buffalo to Orlando Florida after that blizzard.
Yes, he wasn't kidding; it was like a sheet of white paper covering your windshield; couldn't see a thing. I left work in downtown Buffalo getting a lift from one of my colleagues. It was by the grace of God we all made it home. She dropped me off on my street corner, my house being a door down from the corner and almost didn't make it. The snow was waist deep and the wind was so strong. Being only 19, l trudged the 30 feet barely finding my house. Looking back, I guess we took quite a chance leaving work at the height of the blizzard.