January 1978

[Chicago WX]

Thanks for referencing my web site.

The weird part was, the warm air mass in the Appalachians got routed backward to Michigan and Wisconsin, but the arctic air went through Missouri and Kentucky, then some of the arctic air had to propagate north, following the storm to Lake Huron. The storm happened and moved to Canada so quickly that majority of the snow (one foot) had to have fallen in 12 hours. I'm not sure that all worked out.

No problem. Love your site...very well done.

[Indystorm]

Ya, I was living on the north side of Indianapolis at the time of the Great One....15 inches there if my memory serves me correctly but winds were ferocious and I remember transformers popping.....much heavier totals up my way where I live now in Elkhart.

[baroclinic_instability]

Thanks for referencing my web site.

The weird part was, the warm air mass in the Appalachians got routed backward to Michigan and Wisconsin, but the arctic air went through Missouri and Kentucky, then some of the arctic air had to propagate north, following the storm to Lake Huron. The storm happened and moved to Canada so quickly that majority of the snow (one foot) had to have fallen in 12 hours. I'm not sure that all worked out.

Great site, didn't know it was yours. You have a lot of terrific phase examples on there.

[Chinook]

Great site, didn't know it was yours. You have a lot of terrific phase examples on there.

I used to live in Toledo, and I also used to be known as "Pinwheeler" on the weather discussion boards. I did research at the Toledo Public Library for some of that historical information.

I may work on the visual appearance and the organization of my web site. I have always wondered if I should separate the content into two sections or two web pages. I am considering putting the links to other web sites as one web page and the historical information as another web page. Then, what do I call my links page? I don't really have any really good ideas.

[baroclinic_instability]

I used to live in Toledo, and I also used to be known as "Pinwheeler" on the weather discussion boards. I did research at the Toledo Public Library for some of that historical information.

I may work on the visual appearance and the organization of my web site. I have always wondered if I should separate the content into two sections or two web pages. I am considering putting the links to other web sites as one web page and the historical information as another web page. Then, what do I call my links page? I don't really have any really good ideas.

You should definitely add to your plains storms section! There have been a number of good blizzards in the northern plains the last couple years alone.

[sojitodd]

isn't that the truth. It wasn't until years later that I was reading an article about the blizzard and it said that cmh had picked up 6 or 7" of snow. I thought it was a misprint. Truth was, the amount of snow didn't mean squat. It was all about the wind, the sudden drop in temps and the flashfreeze. When snow comes in on 60mph winds and a 30 degree temp drop, 6" might as well be 3'. The winners in pure snowdepth were places in IN and MI, yet most of the deaths and destruction occurred across OH.

In March '08 when we got our 22" snowstorm (almost 3 times as much as the blizzard), there was virtually no disruption beyond 24 hours. If it wasn't for the fact that it was a record snowfall here, it would be a very forgettable event.

by the way....i think it's cool your mom was a wxweenie

there might have been a snow pack, however i recall the rainy, foggy day before it hit...and i believe the snowpack had taken a pretty decent hit here in columbus...not sure much was left by the time the blizz hit.

I was about 14 or so back then. I also remember the blizzard of 1977 all too well..I had let the dog out and forget about her and when I finally remembered she was half frozen, standing patienty by the back door-my mom nearly killed me over it.

Anyway I was up all the night before the 78 storm. They were warning of the blizzard that night and stressing how bad it would be-remember watching channel ten. I just don't think anyone realized how bad it would be though. We did have a good snowpack in Columbus, but it was so warm the night before(seemed like nearly sixty degrees) and with the rain the snow had really melted down. I remember one problem was that many of the street sewers were blocked by slush and ice and many roads had several inches of water on them before the temps dropped-made them absolute skating rinks the next day.

About 3am the winds picked up, and I remember the snowflakes that started coming down were the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen-absolutely massive. The wind was so strong that I thought our living room picture window was going to blow in.

By 6am or so we had gotten our half foot of snow-but it was the wind and the cold that was so stunning. Nearly every home in our neighborhood had some kind of damage-we lost two trees, our neighbors entire patio roof was ripped off and destroyed, across the street they lost siding, on the other side they lost two apples trees-nearly everyone had some kind of wind damage. The closest thing that I have seen to this was Ike damage in 08.

I remember going out to try and help chip our station wagon out of the street, but it was locked in by about four inches of ice. Plus there was virtually zero visibility and the winds were gusting to at least 50, and it was 2 below zero! But nobody else could get even get their cars out of the driveway, so the neighbors decided that our station wagon would be the vehicle to free, so everyone chipped it out so when they could finally get to an open store(nobody had stocked up on food and people actually had run out of bread and milk), everyone piled in the station wagon and went to the Big Bear when it finally opened.

I think it took a good two full days for the winds to die down.

The power was also out by early morning of the storm, and it got damn cold (what with the actual cold and the wind basically sucking any warmth out of the houses) inside, before the power actually came back on. My brother's High School English teacher(at Westland HS) died because of this-she went into her garage to warm up in her car-and was found dead there-did not allow for ventilation.

Truly and epic storm that I will never forget.

*sorry for such a long response..but it was really something, ya know?*

For years after this, whenever there was a call for a bad snow storm, people would flock to the stores to stock up on bread and milk, etc. I don't remember that kind of response before this storm, but afterwards, people did just not want to get caught unprepared again.

[KokomoWX]

Six additional photos a friend provided of Frankfort.

[Uncle Bobby]

I was in my 3rd year at Bowling Green State University, which is about 20 miles S of Toledo.

I didn't take any pics. In fact, I may not have even owned a camera in 1978, but here are a few anecdotes:

The night before, there was a ton of buzz around campus about the storm. I remember walking home in rain from the ice arena (where I had played some intramural hockey that evening) thinking "Huh? Blizzard? But it's raining!"

The next day everyone lined up at the carry-out stores. The lines were over a block long, and they all sold out of beer and wine before closing time. The only thing moving in town was snowmobiles. Not even the snowplows were on the streets, yet.

Walking across campus I saw a bird on a limb of a tree, frozen in place.

About a week later, I decided to see if my old beater '64 Plymouth Belvedere would start. I got in, turned the key, and... nothing. Not even any clicking sound. So, I opened the hood. The snow was packed into the engine compartment so tight that you couldn't see the engine. For all anyone knew, there may not have even been an engine in there at all. All I could see was a solid block of snow, from where the bottom of the hood had been to the ground.

Oh, and BTW, about a year later I happened to see a very interesting display that the met dept had posted about the storm. I wasn't even a met student myself, I just happened upon it by accident. Knowing that, they may have something about it on their website. I haven't checked, and don't have the time to do so myself right at the moment.