I was there - the pictures don't do it justice. I will never forget walking over cars burried in snowdrifts, and the visibility so bad you couldn't see your hand in front of your face - REALLY!
The folks who were great during this time were the many snowmobile owners. They pitched in and were doing all kinds of things for folks. Many delivered groceries to the elderly and picked up prescriptions. They even assisted stranded motorists. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for those folks and all that they did.
I remember seeing a snowmobile going down Bailey Ave. near Walden. My sisters and I had gone to a nearby store for groceries, which we had to haul home on a small sled!
I was in the field at Ft Drum doing, oddly enough, winter warfare training. The temp one night fell to -54 F so the exercise was ended. My unit then was tasked to conduct health and welfare visits to outlying farms and homes, rendering assistance as needed. On skis, because that was the only way to get around after the few plowed roads. So much for climate change.
Middle daughter born Jan 30. Fire company sent plow, fire truck (???), pick up truck ( ???) and an ambulance. (yes!!) neighbors watched me leave from their front windows. Thanks. Lotsa memories.
My Dad has a chapter in the book. He was one of many that Erno Rossi interviewed. I was a young therapist at the VA at the time and watched that black wall come in from my clinic window. Got home six days later only because as a healthcare worker I had driving privileges once the streets became somewhat passable. My cousin volunteered with his snowmobile delivering food and medicine.
I was there, too. I worked at a hospital and we HAD to come in. So, one person somehow got a car out and we all loaded in. You can't close a hospital. The houses were covered, many people were stranded all over the place. I made banana breads and brought them to nearby churches (I walked through all that snow, but they needed food). It was pretty amazing. Buffalo always gets lots of snow, but this fell so quickly and so much, that they couldn't keep up with it. It's called "Lake Effect" snow. Eventually, they had no other places to put the snow, so the National Guard was called in and they carried snow in railroad cars to down south for it to melt. It was pretty amazing. Once in a lifetime event.
I was a bank teller and stranded in the bank on Main & Court Street from Friday morning till Sunday afternoon! We all watched "ROOTS" My dad worked at Trico and made it to my apartment on Lafayette Ave. The remainder of my family was stranded in Holland NY. A copy of "THE WHITE DEATH" and the Buffalo Newspaper have relocated with me to Chesapeake VA.
I remember a cartoon my gramma sent me from her Florida newspaper. In it was a blank white space except for a little gray area showing the shadow of a plane. Caption: Meanwhile in western New York, the search for Buffalo continues.
I lived in Niagara Falls and went to college at ECC when this happened. What memories! Thanks for posting. Especially enjoyed the WKBW news. I've recently moved from WNY/Finger Lakes area to Tennessee. Schools were closed here 2 weeks ago because we had 1" (that's one inch...not one foot) of snow...wimps! I told my neighbor the other day that we are enjoying the mild Tennessee winter. He said "Mild?, this is the worst winter we've had in a long time!". It has snowed here 2 times this winter, one inch each time. If that is bad for this area, it was worth moving here just for that reason
This was my first winter back in Buffalo after being away in the Marine Corps for 4 years. When we thawed out in the spring I loaded the wife and kids in the old VW Buss and headed west to Vegas. That was home until last year. Moved to S. Carolina.
I was 7 years old. We got stopped at the PA state line because roads were closing. My Dad had the sense of mind to drive straight to a HoJo's. We were stranded there for three days!
I was 6 years old at the time and grew up in Syracuse. I still remember waking up in my bedroom and not being able to look out the window from all the snow..on the second floor lol. I have become wise in my old age and have moved to Arizona....
During the height of the blizzard, I strapped on a pair of small plastic children's skis and slid from Amherst to Kensington-Bailey to my girlfriend's house! Those were the days!
Great pics - bring back memories of being snowed in at work at Globe Albany for 4 days. The roof of the Niag.Frontier Food Terminal blew off. The wind shook our building all night - we slept in rooms without windows for safety. It was quite an experience! The day it started coworkers set out for lunch on Fri; took hours to get back - it went from sunny to zero visibility in a matter of minutes. I got home Tues. by a circuitous route to find open roads - had to go cross town and haled part way.
Thank you for making and posting this video! I was 12 and living in West Seneca during the blizzard. My father was able to get home from work just before the roads closed in. Our house was buried, so when Dad went up on the roof to clear off some snow, we went up with him and sledded right into the back yard. Walls of snow along the driveway got so high we used a wheelbarrow to move it out in the yard. Thanks to your video, my 11-year-old can see how it compares to the MD blizzard of 2010.
My family still talks about this blizzard. They lived in Lockport at the time; my mom was pregnant with me. We moved to Florida in the 80s, but have spent several snowy Christmases in Lockport since then, and I have never seen anything like this! I never even imagined! Thanks for putting this together!
I remember the October Surprise of 2006, and the wonderful November "Snowmageddon" of 2014 (which still won't settle down), but I've only heard stories of the Blizzard of 77. My mom was 9 and told stories on how high the snow was in the west side. At one point the sledded from their 2nd story balcony to the streets. Crazy stuff man, but its what makes Buffalonians strong!
The pictures, in this presentation are just unbelievable. I've lived, in New England all my life; and I experienced our biggest ever snowstorm, the Blizzard of '78. That was a huge weather event for us; but I have never seen snowdrifts like the ones, in this report. Living with those lake effect snows must be a real adventure.
Superb - this only further increased my affection for Buffalo and western NY state. My parents and I lived in Dunkirk briefly in the early 70's when I started grade 1. We were in eastern Ohio when this happened (which of course had its own blizzards in 77 & 78). I hadn't realized just how bad this was until now. Thanks for posting this!
Remember it well. Our family of ten was pretty much stuck in our home for days. My Dad had to sleep at Bell Aerospace for night as every road was closed. And school was out for 2 weeks! My little brother was only two months old when this hit, and we ended up having someone with snowmobile bring us some SMA formula and food! Man, it was cold! Good times! ;)
I was a senior in high school and we have blizzard pictures in our yearbook. The snow drifts were so high that you could walk from the ground to the roof of our house. We had a little miniature Dachshund and trying to take her outside to do her business was a real challenge!
I was there....27 years old and later in that winter, got pneumonia....recovered but got a serious case of FTS (F_this S_) and moved to Houston. Never looked back. Southern women, shrimp boils, brisket and long necks....damn, I pissed away 1/3 of my life freezing my nads off....so WHY am I living life at double speed??? Gotta catch up to where I SHOULD have been!!!
i was 13 when this happened and i remember our whole back yard being encased in ice and i couldn't be happier. I know that sounds crazy to be happy but i remember my mother telling me there would be no school. i was so happy because i was being bullied by a piece of garbage called Karen Fagin. Funny how at the age of 58 you still remember those things. I was just so happy i didn't have to go to school. Thank God for ice storms.
I was there and remember was stuck in East Aurora NY, and was able to get food and milk to my family in Cowlesville by snow mobile a few days later. Will never forget it.
I was born during this blizzard never believed my mom til now after all these years lol. We lived Not far from Lake Michigan . Only now my mom hasn't regained all her memory after the stroke she had a few months ago. Thanks for posting as now I belive her finally better late than never.
Great video! My dad would always tell me stories about the Bilzzard of '77 but he only had two or three pictures from it (one had snow reaching his 2nd story window). I now feel bad complaining about snow, my generation has NOTHING on this!
I remember going around on snowmobiles and getting stuff at the store for our neighbors. I was a sophomore in HS and I lived in Fredonia at the time. Wicked!
I was reminded of this blizzard after this year's blizzard. I was traveling on Amtrak from NY to Chicago and the train was stuck outside of Buffalo for 12 hours. I joked that I was a Buffalo resident for awhile.
I grew up down the lake in Erie, PA and received my meteorology degree from PSU in '96. So, I'm a weather nut. Thanks for the BEST weather compilation video I've ever seen! I just wish I was older than 4yrs old when this happened, because it was bad further down the lake too. Great job! I've lived in SW FLA for the last 10 years; I'd have given up my hurricane Charlie and Wilma experiences to have seen this blizzard!!
I lived in Buffalo from my birth until 1982. I was stuck in my house for 7 days but never lost electricity. I was at a bar on Bailey ave. called Anancone's eating a sandwich when it started to come down and I left hurriedly, only to then enter a whiteout about halfway home! Somehow I made it, but I will never forget this blizzard. Still, Buffalo is a beautiful place and don't think it's only claim to fame is some snowfall!
I was 7 years old living in Cheektowaga, NY (Buffalo airport) when the Blizzard hit. I still remember that we had to get out of the car before backing out of the driveway because the snow drifts were as high as the telephone polls. No exaggeration. School was cancelled for 2 weeks. State of emergency. Took us forever just to dig out our driveway, snow so deep and so thick and heavy. Ive been through many of a snow storm, but never another one like this!
I was there....born and raised in buffalo.....One of the most important facts was that the sky really turned black at 11:30am as if it was 11pm at night ...that was crazy
It was worse up here in Watertown, Buffalo got the attentione only because they're a larger city. This storm raged over us for 5 days, it was a miracle we didn't lose power or phone services. Tanks from Ft. Drum were in Watertown and literally driving over the tops of cars left parked on the street but couldn't be seen. My school gymnasiums roof caved in from the snow as well. This was a pretty good video, I'll give it 5 stars.
OH wow man do I remember that! I started moving to Wyoming Ave that day, around 9am, in a little orange camaro convertible. I had to drop the top in order to get my things to fit. We got stuck on Fillmore and E. Delavan..Behind a firetruck. I lost my Uncle in that blizzard. I thank God we made it. Funny, taking pictures was the last thing on our mind. By day 3, food was critical. Wow! thanks for this great great piece of history.
move to this region until August of 1977 from Maryland;, but for years I have heard of the Blizzard of '77, now I know what everyone was talking about!
Awesome footage. I was 9 when the Blizzard of '77 blew through. We lived in Niagara Falls on 3rd Avenue and I remember one of my mom's co-workers was stranded at our house with us. As a kid, you don't realize the magnitude of the storm. I remember being scared that night but also excited...NO SCHOOL! And I remember not being able to wait to go outside to play in ALL THAT snow.
I remember I was almost 8 years old and being in 2nd grade at Clarence Center Elementary school and all of us students were told to report to the gymnasium with our coats and we were going to start boarding the buses to go back home. This was probably late morning on Friday Jan. 28th, 1977. Our bus made it as far as Shimerville and Roll Roads in Clarence Ctr. We were stuck in a snow drift until about 8:00 that night. A plow had finally come along and was able to get us out. I lived on Clarence Ctr. Rd. just a few miles from where we were stuck. As the next couple of days went on though roads became impassable for everyone including plows.
I was 10 at the time In Batavia and we were stranded indoors for a few days we lived on rt98 just south of the thruway and had strangers at our house who had to leave their cars on the thruway. We had no school for at least two weeks. Very memorable time.
I was in the hospital at Millard Gates. My doc came in around 7 am and told me to get my husband there to get me home or I wouldn't get out until spring. We got home to Clarence Center and got our daughter back to the house just as the blizzard hit. The world turned white. We couldn't see a thing past our hands. It wasn't until Sunday that we saw the sun again. Much more can be told.
We literally had to use our hands to dig a path from the house to the garage so we could get the shovels to dig our way out of the house. When we teenage kids were freed, we would climb the drifts atop of department stores and jump off on the drifts below in West Seneca/Orchard Park.
I was living in South Buffalo during this Blizzard. I remember having to dig out the snow from the elderly neighbors' homes so we could deliver food and medicine to them. The snow was actually a lot of fun as a 14-year-old. We could walk down the middle of main street. Vehicles were not permitted on the roads.
We lived just north of Syracuse. We moved in a blizzard and the snow didn’t stop for a month. Wrapped the car engines in comforters, swept away over 12” of snow off the cars every morning. Quite an adjustment from winters in North Carolina.
We had 36 snow days on Grand Island, 42 in Buffalo. I was in 7th grade, we went to school through the end of JULY! My brothers climbed out onto the roof and dug us out! My dad was in insurance, and worked with plowers to clear the roads, finding cars with "blue" people in them. Devastating. Changes everything. Community becomes SO important. So does prepping for winter, and keeping in touch with elderly neighbors. Bless those hardworking people who saved us all.
GREAT slideshow! We got slammed in Spencerport/Brockport betwee Rochester and Buffalo. Couple miles off Lake Ontario. Looked just like the worst pics on here, still got the pics. My sled was the only way to get around for over a week. The ol' Rupp Nitro 400 never let me down.
I was living in Batavia, NY. The streets were closed for a week. We saw drifts higher than silos of barns. Never lost electricity and lived in town and could walk to the store. We had plenty of Yukon Jack to sustain us. By July '77 we had moved to Texas!
I just showed this to my 7 year old. He is the same age that I was when the storm hit. I now live in LA and work in emergency services and we go into an emergency response mode when it rains.....what a difference!
This same blizzard hit Chicago and Michigan first -- I'll never forget it. I've never seen so much snow in my life -- the good thing was NO school for a week, but unfortunately no electricity either!
I remember this storm, being in Cleveland and having just got hit a few days earlier by a blizzard, but it was nothing compared to what Buffalo experienced. That was a bad winter for everyone.
I was 11 years old living in Northern New York about 2 hours south of Ottawa.I remember watching the snow pile up until our car and the 1st floor of our house had snow over the windows. Now that I live on the Texas coast, I have hurricanes. Still I don't miss the snow and bitter cold!
wyne crawford I was a Freshman at Bishop Timon High School. I was lucky my Dad was a Football Coach so it was Free. The bad news I lived in North Buffalo. Had to take 3 City buses to get there. They were long days 6am - 5pm. I was old enough to go to some of those concerts they had at Bills Stadium. I lived in the City we didnt get those big snow drifts.
I was a senior in high school when the blizzard hit. I later tried to "rescue" a friend stranded at Eastern Hills (a 5-10 min. walk through the woods); But the woods were transformed into a dangerous & surreal arctic-like tundra covering all but tops of the trees. Even when I found my way, I kept falling through the drifts, & had to dig & crawl my way back out. I finally made it but my friend was safer a few more days at the mall-which at least provided warm shelter & hot coffee.
I remember driving my 1967 Wildcat during the Blizzard thankfully made it home Safe.I was 19 and did not want to stay home but I did oh well.That was the first time Roots came on TV
I was 11 years old when the storm hit. Missed 2 weeks of school. and the house was completely covered on the front. Vivid memories in Amherst. Fun time for us kids in our neighborhood.
I certainly remember the blizzard of 1976: my mother and I went grocery shopping in it! I was shocked that the supermarket was open; we barely made it home!
When this blizzard hit I was living in a big old house that was heated by water radiators. I remember my dad getting stranded at work in the city. I stayed on the phone with him all night keeping him posted on what was being said on T.V. while my mom and brother were in the basement trying to unfreeze our water pipes so they wouldn't burst. Me and my brother and sisters slept in our winter coats and mittens the first few nights and still froze all night. I would do it all again. It was a blast.
I decided to look for something about the Blizzard of 77 in Buffalo and I found this one. There are two pictures that I took in there. They both say "Blizzard of 77" and the town. The first one in Alden was on N. Milgrove Rd between Rte 5 & Rte 33 and the second one in Akron was a house I used to live in on Remsen Rd. At the time I lived in Akron and every hour I shoveled the door open until I couldn't open it anymore. I had to climb out a window to get out in the morning. Great Video.
I grew up 25 miles east of Buffalo. This blizzard canceled my 5th birthday party. I remember my older brothers sledding off our porch roof because the snow was drifted 10+ feet in our yard. And when the snow plows made it down our street, the banks were about 15 feet high.
I was in high school at the time...never have seen a storm even close to that one. We were stuck at school for several days (actually had a blast). The wind blew the snow so hard, and the snow drifts were packed so hard that you could drive over them. Nearly all the roads (I was in Niagara County) were cleared with front end loaders, plows were useless. Lots of cars were completely buried...and came out in chunks, the term Iron Snowdrift became common.
At about 5:10 of this video I was there in Bison Yards cleaning the RR tracks. You see the from loaders filling train card full of snow out of Buffalo to be dumped elsewhere. I lived in Cabooses for 3 weeks and are at Your Host doing 16 hr shifts at 20 yrs old. It was a hard job but made good overtime pay!
Been here for 16 years from Scotland and we haven’t had anything that bad yet. But my wife (who was 4 when this happened) and her family lived through this.
It was my senior year of high school. We didn’t go to school much that year at all, between the Blizzard and the energy crisis. If you looked out the window, it was like being on the inside of a ping pong ball. My mother put on her dress boots and coat and walked to the office. Mom was tough little bird.
I lived in Lancaster during this storm. I remember the thunder and waking up to 10 ft. drifts in the driveway and the power outages. A couple of my neighbors had electric stoves and we helped them out with cooking for their families since we had a gas stove. School was out for about a week and I would go outside and build forts in the drifts. I would shovel out the driveway and have to start all over again because the snow was falling fast and hard. That was a real hell of a storm.
I will never forget that storm...it was a mega problem...in my opinion 1978 blizzard was bad but the Blizzard of '77 was just unbelievable...I was about 20 years old...
I work at the University of Buffalo on the Amherst Campus in the student housing. I was stuck on campus for four days - slept in the student lounge and in my office at the Student Club. Remember of running out of everything - bread, milk, eggs....it was pretty amazing. No phones but we did have heat.
1130 am on Friday. I was one of the last cars to go past the airport on Niagara Falls Boulevard. Left my car somewhere on Hyde Park Blvd. Got to work at Carborundum. was there until the next friday.
My sister was stuck in East Aurora for a week because of the Blizzard. My father got stuck trying to get home from his office near the airport. A neighbor got stuck at Veteran's hospital where her husband was a patient. My younger sister and I were sick that day and didn't go to school - thank goodness!
I turned four years old that day.We moved to Dundee N.Y. in the summer of 1977.We had some bad winters there but this was a killer storm.Dundee is located where Seneca lake is.
I lived in Lake View. The plowed up snow mounds in the South Shore Plaza (Hens & Kelly, The Big N, The Poor House,...) parking lot didn't melt until well into June.
WOW...what memories. I was in my apartment in Buffalo with my 4 month old baby. The metal doorknob on my door was frozen solid. I had to hit my broom on the ceiling to call my upstairs neighbor to help me get out....my door was frozen shut...lol...no cars except for emergency were allowed.
i was there also, with my little brother, i remember my neighbor kept telling us to fill up the bathtub with water in case the pipes freeze, mom finally came home on a snowmobile that was a sight, and my brother and i went to the corner and climb the hill and was standing on the stop sign... I have pictures, very cool memory...
I was hauling produce from Salinas Ca. into Cleveland, in a cabover Peterbilt and looked like I was the only truck on the road, as I was breaking the new snow that had fallen through the night. Around sun up as I was getting close to my exit, (I thought,)The heavy snow had all the road signs covered, and couldn't tell exactly where in snow hell I was at. Somehow I managed to find the Pic-n-pay store. Don't remember much else about the day as I was totally worn out, and once offloaded, I pulled the rig down the lot and crashed for the day. Situation was somewhat better when I woke, and headed back over to R.R. Donnelly in Chicago for a load of mail for Phoenix. '77and '78 was a couple of rough winters for the truckers...and IF you had the stuff you were needing, a trucker brought it.
I remember this storm. My dad got the day off at Ford as they shut down the plant. My dad didn't get far when he was trying to get to work and he heard on the radio to stay home. He helped a hitchhiker during that storm. It took him nearly hour to get back home. A trip that would have taken 15 minutes normally. For me there was no going outside until the storm stopped. There was so much snow and it was awesome to play in. This was in London, Ontario.
My aunt was living in Akron when this went on. She was stuck in her house for three days before her roof collaps from the weight. Thankfully the neighbors took her and her kids in untill they were able to repair it. My uncle was in the hospital when it happened so she was there by herself. Says it was the scariest time of her life.
I was 10 and lived near downtown Buffalo at the time. I had just gotten a Radio Shack weather prediction kit for Christmas and I remember watching the barometer go down and down that morning. The little anemometer did a pretty good job up to a point. The temperature and wind chills that I computed on the kit were unbelievably low. There was a cow path down James Street with about 15 feet of snow on either side, so we could walk to B-Rite store. I studied meteorology in college as part of my maj
I remember a few winters/storms like this from the 70's. I have had to dig down to find cars a few times. Once I had to climb out my parents bedroom window, walk onto the porch roof, and dig down to the front door and a tunnel to where I thought the driveway should be (until the plow came). Yup those were the days ... when it was worth the investment in a snow machine .... unlike any decade since.
I was there - the pictures don't do it justice. I will never forget walking over cars burried in snowdrifts, and the visibility so bad you couldn't see your hand in front of your face - REALLY!
The folks who were great during this time were the many snowmobile owners. They pitched in and were doing all kinds of things for folks. Many delivered groceries to the elderly and picked up prescriptions. They even assisted stranded motorists. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for those folks and all that they did.
Thanks for remembering the snowmobiles that helped. I delivered food and medicine.
My next door neibour who was a volunteer fireman, had a snowmobile and did the same thing for us.
I remember seeing a snowmobile going down Bailey Ave. near Walden. My sisters and I had gone to a nearby store for groceries, which we had to haul home on a small sled!
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Love hearing the old radio news. Brings back memories of my childhood.
I remember the blizzard of 77 like it was yesterday that's good. I was 7 years old. I went out shoveling and made a ton of money
I can't wait for winter. I watch this all the time.😂 I have a snow playlist.❄☃
My Dad did the play by play for the Sabre game in his underware in the family room over the phone :)
Hmm, I'm pretty sure I listened to that broadcast (and all of the Sabres games). Thanks for cracking me up this morning!
You are so welcome :) thanks for remembering xoxo
I remember watching that game on TV! I hope you still have your father.
I remember that Kelly,your dad was a pioneer lol,and the Sabres have honored him
no John Ted Darling died from Picks Disease in 1996
I was in the field at Ft Drum doing, oddly enough, winter warfare training. The temp one night fell to -54 F so the exercise was ended. My unit then was tasked to conduct health and welfare visits to outlying farms and homes, rendering assistance as needed. On skis, because that was the only way to get around after the few plowed roads. So much for climate change.
Middle daughter born Jan 30. Fire company sent plow, fire truck (???), pick up truck ( ???) and an ambulance. (yes!!) neighbors watched me leave from their front windows. Thanks. Lotsa memories.
My Dad has a chapter in the book. He was one of many that Erno Rossi interviewed. I was a young therapist at the VA at the time and watched that black wall come in from my clinic window. Got home six days later only because as a healthcare worker I had driving privileges once the streets became somewhat passable. My cousin volunteered with his snowmobile delivering food and medicine.
I was there, too. I worked at a hospital and we HAD to come in. So, one person somehow got a car out and we all loaded in. You can't close a hospital. The houses were covered, many people were stranded all over the place. I made banana breads and brought them to nearby churches (I walked through all that snow, but they needed food). It was pretty amazing. Buffalo always gets lots of snow, but this fell so quickly and so much, that they couldn't keep up with it. It's called "Lake Effect" snow. Eventually, they had no other places to put the snow, so the National Guard was called in and they carried snow in railroad cars to down south for it to melt. It was pretty amazing. Once in a lifetime event.
Oh, we THOUGHT it was once in a lifetime, and now look. The Christmas blizzard of 2022 was actually worse :(
I was a bank teller and stranded in the bank on Main & Court Street from Friday morning till Sunday afternoon! We all watched "ROOTS" My dad worked at Trico and made it to my apartment on Lafayette Ave. The remainder of my family was stranded in Holland NY. A copy of "THE WHITE DEATH" and the Buffalo Newspaper have relocated with me to Chesapeake VA.
I remember a cartoon my gramma sent me from her Florida newspaper. In it was a blank white space except for a little gray area showing the shadow of a plane. Caption: Meanwhile in western New York, the search for Buffalo continues.
I lived in Niagara Falls and went to college at ECC when this happened. What memories! Thanks for posting. Especially enjoyed the WKBW news. I've recently moved from WNY/Finger Lakes area to Tennessee. Schools were closed here 2 weeks ago because we had 1" (that's one inch...not one foot) of snow...wimps! I told my neighbor the other day that we are enjoying the mild Tennessee winter. He said "Mild?, this is the worst winter we've had in a long time!". It has snowed here 2 times this winter, one inch each time. If that is bad for this area, it was worth moving here just for that reason
This was my first winter back in Buffalo after being away in the Marine Corps for 4 years. When we thawed out in the spring I loaded the wife and kids in the old VW Buss and headed west to Vegas. That was home until last year. Moved to S. Carolina.
I was 7 years old. We got stopped at the PA state line because roads were closing. My Dad had the sense of mind to drive straight to a HoJo's. We were stranded there for three days!
I was 6 years old at the time and grew up in Syracuse. I still remember waking up in my bedroom and not being able to look out the window from all the snow..on the second floor lol. I have become wise in my old age and have moved to Arizona....
During the height of the blizzard, I strapped on a pair of small plastic children's skis and slid from Amherst to Kensington-Bailey to my girlfriend's house! Those were the days!
Great pics - bring back memories of being snowed in at work at Globe Albany for 4 days. The roof of the Niag.Frontier Food Terminal blew off. The wind shook our building all night - we slept in rooms without windows for safety. It was quite an experience! The day it started coworkers set out for lunch on Fri; took hours to get back - it went from sunny to zero visibility in a matter of minutes. I got home Tues. by a circuitous route to find open roads - had to go cross town and haled part way.
Thank you for making and posting this video! I was 12 and living in West Seneca during the blizzard. My father was able to get home from work just before the roads closed in. Our house was buried, so when Dad went up on the roof to clear off some snow, we went up with him and sledded right into the back yard. Walls of snow along the driveway got so high we used a wheelbarrow to move it out in the yard. Thanks to your video, my 11-year-old can see how it compares to the MD blizzard of 2010.
My family still talks about this blizzard. They lived in Lockport at the time; my mom was pregnant with me. We moved to Florida in the 80s, but have spent several snowy Christmases in Lockport since then, and I have never seen anything like this! I never even imagined! Thanks for putting this together!
I remember the October Surprise of 2006, and the wonderful November "Snowmageddon" of 2014 (which still won't settle down), but I've only heard stories of the Blizzard of 77. My mom was 9 and told stories on how high the snow was in the west side. At one point the sledded from their 2nd story balcony to the streets. Crazy stuff man, but its what makes Buffalonians strong!
It was me, I was the October surprise of 2006.
The pictures, in this presentation are just unbelievable. I've lived, in New England all my life; and I experienced our biggest ever snowstorm, the Blizzard of '78. That was a huge weather event for us; but I have never seen snowdrifts like the ones, in this report. Living with those lake effect snows must be a real adventure.
Superb - this only further increased my affection for Buffalo and western NY state. My parents and I lived in Dunkirk briefly in the early 70's when I started grade 1. We were in eastern Ohio when this happened (which of course had its own blizzards in 77 & 78). I hadn't realized just how bad this was until now. Thanks for posting this!
Wow! That's incredible! Great video... Good job. I liked the radio in the background... lending me a visit back in time. Thanks for sharing.
The song Dancing Queen was brand new !!
Remember it well. Our family of ten was pretty much stuck in our home for days. My Dad had to sleep at Bell Aerospace for night as every road was closed. And school was out for 2 weeks! My little brother was only two months old when this hit, and we ended up having someone with snowmobile bring us some SMA formula and food!
Man, it was cold! Good times! ;)
I was a senior in high school and we have blizzard pictures in our yearbook. The snow drifts were so high that you could walk from the ground to the roof of our house. We had a little miniature Dachshund and trying to take her outside to do her business was a real challenge!
I was there....27 years old and later in that winter, got pneumonia....recovered but got a serious case of FTS (F_this S_) and moved to Houston. Never looked back. Southern women, shrimp boils, brisket and long necks....damn, I pissed away 1/3 of my life freezing my nads off....so WHY am I living life at double speed??? Gotta catch up to where I SHOULD have been!!!
i was 13 when this happened and i remember our whole back yard being encased in ice and i couldn't be happier. I know that sounds crazy to be happy but i remember my mother telling me there would be no school. i was so happy because i was being bullied by a piece of garbage called Karen Fagin. Funny how at the age of 58 you still remember those things. I was just so happy i didn't have to go to school. Thank God for ice storms.
I was there and remember was stuck in East Aurora NY, and was able to get food and milk to my family in Cowlesville by snow mobile a few days later. Will never forget it.
I was born during this blizzard never believed my mom til now after all these years lol. We lived Not far from Lake Michigan . Only now my mom hasn't regained all her memory after the stroke she had a few months ago. Thanks for posting as now I belive her finally better late than never.
Great video! My dad would always tell me stories about the Bilzzard of '77 but he only had two or three pictures from it (one had snow reaching his 2nd story window). I now feel bad complaining about snow, my generation has NOTHING on this!
My Dad had to abandon his car and it took 3 months to find it.The family station wagon! Ole bear! But we got it back and i learned to drive in it!
I remember going around on snowmobiles and getting stuff at the store for our neighbors. I was a sophomore in HS and I lived in Fredonia at the time. Wicked!
I was reminded of this blizzard after this year's blizzard. I was traveling on Amtrak from NY to Chicago and the train was stuck outside of Buffalo for 12 hours. I joked that I was a Buffalo resident for awhile.
I grew up down the lake in Erie, PA and received my meteorology degree from PSU in '96. So, I'm a weather nut. Thanks for the BEST weather compilation video I've ever seen! I just wish I was older than 4yrs old when this happened, because it was bad further down the lake too. Great job! I've lived in SW FLA for the last 10 years; I'd have given up my hurricane Charlie and Wilma experiences to have seen this blizzard!!
I lived in Buffalo from my birth until 1982. I was stuck in my house for 7 days but never lost electricity. I was at a bar on Bailey ave. called Anancone's eating a sandwich when it started to come down and I left hurriedly, only to then enter a whiteout about halfway home! Somehow I made it, but I will never forget this blizzard. Still, Buffalo is a beautiful place and don't think it's only claim to fame is some snowfall!
I was 7 years old living in Cheektowaga, NY (Buffalo airport) when the Blizzard hit. I still remember that we had to get out of the car before backing out of the driveway because the snow drifts were as high as the telephone polls. No exaggeration. School was cancelled for 2 weeks. State of emergency. Took us forever just to dig out our driveway, snow so deep and so thick and heavy. Ive been through many of a snow storm, but never another one like this!
I was there....born and raised in buffalo.....One of the most important facts was that the sky really turned black at 11:30am as if it was 11pm at night ...that was crazy
It was worse up here in Watertown, Buffalo got the attentione only because they're a larger city. This storm raged over us for 5 days, it was a miracle we didn't lose power or phone services. Tanks from Ft. Drum were in Watertown and literally driving over the tops of cars left parked on the street but couldn't be seen. My school gymnasiums roof caved in from the snow as well. This was a pretty good video, I'll give it 5 stars.
Thank god i was only 10 years old to me it. Was the best winter ever now that im older and look back of the devastation it just blows my mine
OH wow man do I remember that! I started moving to Wyoming Ave that day, around 9am, in a little orange camaro convertible. I had to drop the top in order to get my things to fit. We got stuck on Fillmore and E. Delavan..Behind a firetruck. I lost my Uncle in that blizzard. I thank God we made it.
Funny, taking pictures was the last thing on our mind. By day 3, food was critical. Wow! thanks for this great great piece of history.
I was 14 at the time and remember this well. You would dig down into the snow looking for the street sign to see what street you were on.
Oh my God!! Glad you were ok
I was 14 also loving in Niagara Falls.
move to this region until August of 1977 from Maryland;, but for years I have heard of the Blizzard of '77, now I know what everyone was talking about!
Awesome footage. I was 9 when the Blizzard of '77 blew through. We lived in Niagara Falls on 3rd Avenue and I remember one of my mom's co-workers was stranded at our house with us. As a kid, you don't realize the magnitude of the storm. I remember being scared that night but also excited...NO SCHOOL! And I remember not being able to wait to go outside to play in ALL THAT snow.
I remember I was almost 8 years old and being in 2nd grade at Clarence Center Elementary school and all of us students were told to report to the gymnasium with our coats and we were going to start boarding the buses to go back home. This was probably late morning on Friday Jan. 28th, 1977. Our bus made it as far as Shimerville and Roll Roads in Clarence Ctr. We were stuck in a snow drift until about 8:00 that night. A plow had finally come along and was able to get us out. I lived on Clarence Ctr. Rd. just a few miles from where we were stuck. As the next couple of days went on though roads became impassable for everyone including plows.
I was 10 at the time In Batavia and we were stranded indoors for a few days we lived on rt98 just south of the thruway and had strangers at our house who had to leave their cars on the thruway. We had no school for at least two weeks. Very memorable time.
I was in the hospital at Millard Gates. My doc came in around 7 am and told me to get my husband there to get me home or I wouldn't get out until spring. We got home to Clarence Center and got our daughter back to the house just as the blizzard hit. The world turned white. We couldn't see a thing past our hands. It wasn't until Sunday that we saw the sun again. Much more can be told.
The radio broadcast is pretty awesome too..
Not to sound cruel?, but atleast the radio station was nice enough to play some ABBA to calm the folks down
We literally had to use our hands to dig a path from the house to the garage so we could get the shovels to dig our way out of the house. When we teenage kids were freed, we would climb the drifts atop of department stores and jump off on the drifts below in West Seneca/Orchard Park.
I was living in South Buffalo during this Blizzard. I remember having to dig out the snow from the elderly neighbors' homes so we could deliver food and medicine to them. The snow was actually a lot of fun as a 14-year-old. We could walk down the middle of main street. Vehicles were not permitted on the roads.
We lived just north of Syracuse. We moved in a blizzard and the snow didn’t stop for a month. Wrapped the car engines in comforters, swept away over 12” of snow off the cars every morning. Quite an adjustment from winters in North Carolina.
We didn't have school for *weeks* after that.
It was good to hear the WKBW audio along with the pictures.
Thanks!
Nice slide show. The one picture is from the street behind where I lived at the time!
We had 36 snow days on Grand Island, 42 in Buffalo. I was in 7th grade, we went to school through the end of JULY! My brothers climbed out onto the roof and dug us out! My dad was in insurance, and worked with plowers to clear the roads, finding cars with "blue" people in them. Devastating. Changes everything. Community becomes SO important. So does prepping for winter, and keeping in touch with elderly neighbors. Bless those hardworking people who saved us all.
GREAT slideshow! We got slammed in Spencerport/Brockport betwee Rochester and Buffalo. Couple miles off Lake Ontario. Looked just like the worst pics on here, still got the pics. My sled was the only way to get around for over a week. The ol' Rupp Nitro 400 never let me down.
I was living in Batavia, NY. The streets were closed for a week. We saw drifts higher than silos of barns. Never lost electricity and lived in town and could walk to the store. We had plenty of Yukon Jack to sustain us. By July '77 we had moved to Texas!
I just showed this to my 7 year old. He is the same age that I was when the storm hit. I now live in LA and work in emergency services and we go into an emergency response mode when it rains.....what a difference!
I remember that winter as a kid. Interestingly enough, my folks moved to Arizona in the spring following this!
This same blizzard hit Chicago and Michigan first -- I'll never forget it. I've never seen so much snow in my life -- the good thing was NO school for a week, but unfortunately no electricity either!
Amazing, and utterly surreal to see. The radio is great. Thanks for posting!
I remember this storm, being in Cleveland and having just got hit a few days earlier by a blizzard, but it was nothing compared to what Buffalo experienced. That was a bad winter for everyone.
I was 11 years old living in Northern New York about 2 hours south of Ottawa.I remember watching the snow pile up until our car and the 1st floor of our house had snow over the windows. Now that I live on the Texas coast, I have hurricanes. Still I don't miss the snow and bitter cold!
i was 17 years old at the time when we had blizzard of 77
Can't believe we're 60 now.
wyne crawford I was a Freshman at Bishop Timon High School. I was lucky my Dad was a Football Coach so it was Free. The bad news I lived in North Buffalo. Had to take 3 City buses to get there. They were long days 6am - 5pm. I was old enough to go to some of those concerts they had at Bills Stadium. I lived in the City we didnt get those big snow drifts.
I was a senior in high school when the blizzard hit. I later tried to "rescue" a friend stranded at Eastern Hills (a 5-10 min. walk through the woods); But the woods were transformed into a dangerous & surreal arctic-like tundra covering all but tops of the trees. Even when I found my way, I kept falling through the drifts, & had to dig & crawl my way back out. I finally made it but my friend was safer a few more days at the mall-which at least provided warm shelter & hot coffee.
I remember driving my 1967 Wildcat during the Blizzard thankfully made it home Safe.I was 19 and did not want to stay home but I did oh well.That was the first time Roots came on TV
I was 11 years old when the storm hit. Missed 2 weeks of school. and the house was completely covered on the front. Vivid memories in Amherst. Fun time for us kids in our neighborhood.
I certainly remember the blizzard of 1976: my mother and I went grocery shopping in it! I was shocked that the supermarket was open; we barely made it home!
When this blizzard hit I was living in a big old house that was heated by water radiators. I remember my dad getting stranded at work in the city. I stayed on the phone with him all night keeping him posted on what was being said on T.V. while my mom and brother were in the basement trying to unfreeze our water pipes so they wouldn't burst. Me and my brother and sisters slept in our winter coats and mittens the first few nights and still froze all night. I would do it all again. It was a blast.
I decided to look for something about the Blizzard of 77 in Buffalo and I found this one. There are two pictures that I took in there. They both say "Blizzard of 77" and the town. The first one in Alden was on N. Milgrove Rd between Rte 5 & Rte 33 and the second one in Akron was a house I used to live in on Remsen Rd.
At the time I lived in Akron and every hour I shoveled the door open until I couldn't open it anymore. I had to climb out a window to get out in the morning.
Great Video.
I grew up 25 miles east of Buffalo. This blizzard canceled my 5th birthday party. I remember my older brothers sledding off our porch roof because the snow was drifted 10+ feet in our yard. And when the snow plows made it down our street, the banks were about 15 feet high.
I was in high school at the time...never have seen a storm even close to that one. We were stuck at school for several days (actually had a blast). The wind blew the snow so hard, and the snow drifts were packed so hard that you could drive over them. Nearly all the roads (I was in Niagara County) were cleared with front end loaders, plows were useless. Lots of cars were completely buried...and came out in chunks, the term Iron Snowdrift became common.
At about 5:10 of this video I was there in Bison Yards cleaning the RR tracks. You see the from loaders filling train card full of snow out of Buffalo to be dumped elsewhere. I lived in Cabooses for 3 weeks and are at Your Host doing 16 hr shifts at 20 yrs old. It was a hard job but made good overtime pay!
Been here for 16 years from Scotland and we haven’t had anything that bad yet. But my wife (who was 4 when this happened) and her family lived through this.
My Birthday that year was awesome ... everyone stranded at NU, student, teachers, workers etc. drinking at the campus bar! one I remember well
It was my senior year of high school. We didn’t go to school much that year at all, between the Blizzard and the energy crisis.
If you looked out the window, it was like being on the inside of a ping pong ball.
My mother put on her dress boots and coat and walked to the office. Mom was tough little bird.
I lived in Lancaster during this storm. I remember the thunder and waking up to 10 ft. drifts in the driveway and the power outages. A couple of my neighbors had electric stoves and we helped them out with cooking for their families since we had a gas stove. School was out for about a week and I would go outside and build forts in the drifts. I would shovel out the driveway and have to start all over again because the snow was falling fast and hard. That was a real hell of a storm.
Viewing this in Maryland, Feb. 2020. It was 62 degrees here today. Wow!
Got the book white death ( about this blizzard) for Xmas today
I will never forget that storm...it was a mega problem...in my opinion 1978 blizzard was bad but the Blizzard of '77 was just unbelievable...I was about 20 years old...
38 years ago today, hard to believe it was that long ago. A storm that will never be forgotten.
Thanks so much for sharing this! I live in Lancaster. This is fascinating to hear about my town!
Father was 7 years old, grandfather was plowing the entire time, with a pickup. A damn pickup! This was about an hour north of Syracuse.
I was born during the blizzard of '77!!
I work at the University of Buffalo on the Amherst Campus in the student housing. I was stuck on campus for four days - slept in the student lounge and in my office at the Student Club. Remember of running out of everything - bread, milk, eggs....it was pretty amazing. No phones but we did have heat.
Hard to believe it was +40 years ago. Even harder to believe I remember it very clearly.
I don't. I was in diapers in my crib. Lol
1130 am on Friday. I was one of the last cars to go past the airport on Niagara Falls Boulevard. Left my car somewhere on Hyde Park Blvd. Got to work at Carborundum. was there until the next friday.
My sister was stuck in East Aurora for a week because of the Blizzard. My father got stuck trying to get home from his office near the airport. A neighbor got stuck at Veteran's hospital where her husband was a patient. My younger sister and I were sick that day and didn't go to school - thank goodness!
I turned four years old that day.We moved to Dundee N.Y. in the summer of 1977.We had some bad winters there but this was a killer storm.Dundee is located where Seneca lake is.
I lived in Lake View. The plowed up snow mounds in the South Shore Plaza (Hens & Kelly, The Big N, The Poor House,...) parking lot didn't melt until well into June.
WOW...what memories. I was in my apartment in Buffalo with my 4 month old baby. The metal doorknob on my door was frozen solid. I had to hit my broom on the ceiling to call my upstairs neighbor to help me get out....my door was frozen shut...lol...no cars except for emergency were allowed.
i was there also, with my little brother, i remember my neighbor kept telling us to fill up the bathtub with water in case the pipes freeze, mom finally came home on a snowmobile that was a sight, and my brother and i went to the corner and climb the hill and was standing on the stop sign... I have pictures, very cool memory...
I was hauling produce from Salinas Ca. into Cleveland, in a cabover Peterbilt and looked like I was the only truck on the road, as I was breaking the new snow that had fallen through the night. Around sun up as I was getting close to my exit, (I thought,)The heavy snow had all the road signs covered, and couldn't tell exactly where in snow hell I was at. Somehow I managed to find the Pic-n-pay store. Don't remember much else about the day as I was totally worn out, and once offloaded, I pulled the rig down the lot and crashed for the day. Situation was somewhat better when I woke, and headed back over to R.R. Donnelly in Chicago for a load of mail for Phoenix. '77and '78 was a couple of rough winters for the truckers...and IF you had the stuff you were needing, a trucker brought it.
I remember this storm. My dad got the day off at Ford as they shut down the plant. My dad didn't get far when he was trying to get to work and he heard on the radio to stay home. He helped a hitchhiker during that storm. It took him nearly hour to get back home. A trip that would have taken 15 minutes normally. For me there was no going outside until the storm stopped. There was so much snow and it was awesome to play in. This was in London, Ontario.
don't forget a lot of that came into Southern ontario as well!!
WOW!!!
Combining the slides with the old radio audio ..... one of the coolest videos I've seen.
My aunt was living in Akron when this went on. She was stuck in her house for three days before her roof collaps from the weight. Thankfully the neighbors took her and her kids in untill they were able to repair it. My uncle was in the hospital when it happened so she was there by herself. Says it was the scariest time of her life.
I was 10 and lived near downtown Buffalo at the time. I had just gotten a Radio Shack weather prediction kit for Christmas and I remember watching the barometer go down and down that morning. The little anemometer did a pretty good job up to a point. The temperature and wind chills that I computed on the kit were unbelievably low. There was a cow path down James Street with about 15 feet of snow on either side, so we could walk to B-Rite store. I studied meteorology in college as part of my maj
My grandpa was in this and is still living :D He even has a book with his name in it.
I was about 5 years old and lived in Mt. Hope, Ontario.
Amazingly enough, we didn't lose our hydro.
I remember a few winters/storms like this from the 70's. I have had to dig down to find cars a few times. Once I had to climb out my parents bedroom window, walk onto the porch roof, and dig down to the front door and a tunnel to where I thought the driveway should be (until the plow came).
Yup those were the days ... when it was worth the investment in a snow machine .... unlike any decade since.