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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis deep freeze is a "re-run" of 77/78 winters
It was sooooo brutally cold AND snowy, businesses & schools went on half days or closed altogether.. sometimes there was no heat
the link below is a small re-telling of it..We lived it
The article is about Ohio..we lived in northern Indiana.. The brutal winter spanned Illinois/Indiana/Michigan/Ohio and other states
I still remember my son ( he was 3) would turn on the tv and wait patiently for the weather.. If it did not have a minus, he could go outside for a bit.. my kid was tough
our street looked just like this
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https://www.wcpo.com/news/our-community/from-the-vault/from-the-vault-back-to-back-winters-of-1976-77-and-1977-78-were-coldest-snowiest
The Ohio River froze in '77. A crippling blizzard hit in '78.
For two straight years, it was Elsa, Mr. Freeze and Old Man Winter against the Tri-State, and winters have never been harsher. If you lived through those two historic seasons here, you probably have a story to tell.Maybe you were among the hundreds who walked across the river in '77. Maybe it took you days to dig your car out of the snowdrifts that rose to 9 to 12 feet during the Blizzard of '78. Like every winter since, every winter to come will be compared to those back-to-back blasts of frigid cold and snow that crippled the region.
In each year, the biggest events happened in January.
In 1977, it was the brutal cold 26 consecutive days with below-freezing temperatures capped by three straight record-setting days:
> Minus 21 on Jan. 16;
> Minus 24 on Jan. 17;
> Minus 25 on Jan. 18.
The temperature stayed below zero for 58 straight hours. Pipes burst and car batteries died. That's also when the river froze for the first time since 1958 and only the 13th time in recorded history.
Photo courtesy of Kenton County Public Library
The river stayed frozen for six days - Jan. 18-23. The ice was estimated to be 6 to 12 inches thick. There was a slight warmup that broke the ice, but it froze again for nine days - Jan. 30 to Feb. 7. Tugboats occasionally cut a path down the middle of the river, but the ice just packed together again. Boat traffic was suspended from Jan. 25 to Feb. 2. It was the coldest January on record with an average temperature of 12 degrees (The normal average was 31.1). January 1977 also set that month's record for snowfall with 30.3 inches (the normal was 6). And the 1976-77 winter set a Tri-State snowfall record with 47.3 inches. But those snow records fell 12 months later.
In 1978, what some called the worst blizzard in U.S. history slammed into the Tri-State and the Midwest on the night Jan. 25. continuing into the next day. It brought 6.9 inches of snow on top of 14 inches already on the ground. It also brought sustained winds of 35 mph with gusts up to 70, and temperatures that dropped to zero. It was a whiteout, a knockout punch. Those two winters 76-77 and 77-78 - were the coldest and snowiest on record.
snip for much more
https://www.google.com/search?q=indiana+1977+winter&tbm=isch&source=hp&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwix-OuQ4pTgAhVOwMQHHVH4D2oQsAR6BAgAEAE
RGinNJ
(1,021 posts)doc03
(35,454 posts)a steel mill in Steubenville Ohio at the time one night it was -24. We had barrels filled with coke burning in the mill to try and keep
the hydraulic lines from freezing. It is supposed to be about 2 in the morning and Thursday morning about -5. That would be a heat wave compared with 76/77.
Hassler
(3,402 posts)Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/sfl-remember-snow-in-south-florida-20120118-story.html
greyl
(22,990 posts)the snow in Florida that day? Argggh.
&MaxW=1200&Q=66
Snow fell on an eventful week in Miami-Dade -- and the United States.
Newly elected President Jimmy Carter's inauguration was scheduled the following day; Miami-Dade commissioners had passed the controversial county ordinance banning discrimination against gays the day before, setting the stage for a bitter battle between singer Anita Bryant and homosexuals.
And on television, a highly anticipated mini-series was about to air. In Miami, Dorothy Jenkins Fields, 64, founder of the Black Archives and then a school librarian, said the snow is a blur to her. That's because the mini-series Roots, based on Alex Haley's book, was about to premiere.
Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article1931272.html#storylink=cpy
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)I was in high school. The night before we had a meeting of the student newspaper staff to finish up the issue. We were considerably behind so a special night session for a few hours was necessary. It was the only time we did that. My house was only a few blocks from school but when I walked home it was bitterly cold, easily the coldest I had ever been in Miami. I remember our entire family talking about it that night. The 11 PM news led off with the weather including snow forecast in Florida, with some possibility in Miami.
I had early shift from 7 am to noon. The next day at maybe 9 AM there was commotion in school as some kids with a window view were reporting snow. Fortunately I was in class with a cool teacher who understood the historical significance. Plus we were on the ground floor, which really helped. Mr. Johnson let us outside in the courtyard between wings to experience the snow. Maybe 5 or 10 minutes worth.
It was very light and did not survive more than seconds after landing. But it undeniably was snow. I remember holding my forearms out and having snow settle on top. Amazing experience.
The afternoon paper Miami News was very prominent in that era. I always went outside when it arrived in mid afternoon. That day the banner headline read, "Snow in Miami!"
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Scruffy1
(3,257 posts)Living in Minnesota when I hear people talking about the cold in the warmer climes is always good for a laugh. Oh my God, 26 days of frost!, The river froze over! At one time I lived in Northern Wisconsin and the temperature never got to zero for the whole month of January. The coldest was -63 F. and that's not wind chill, but actual temperature. Just a few years ago the polar vortex camped on us for several weeks not 2-3 days. It's supposed to be around 4 degrees C Saturday. Heatwave.
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)It just used to be WINTER...when crazy shit like SLEET...BLIZZARDS...SNOW.It used to happen all the time..
I remember one year when it was in the teens on my son's birthday 11/11...and it wasn't until Feb something when it got above 32..
Any time after halloween, we expected it to be cold and snowy..
mnmoderatedem
(3,739 posts)A former coworker, who lives in Florida with her husband, and they previously lived in San Diego, took a trip to New York City and had a number of people on her email blast, including me. She indicated they loved NYC but it got down to 50 degrees "and they didn't bring their winter clothes".
Another. Someone from a southern climate they were looing forward to coming to Minnesota to see what it's like to go skiing. It was July.
Mister Ed
(5,951 posts)The snows of that howling '78 blizzard engulfed my car in the middle of Interstate 35 in north-central Iowa, closing the road for three days. I was lucky to have escaped with my life.
I recall that a trucker on 1-80 in northern Indiana was stranded in his cab for five days, surviving on a small bag of snack nuts. He had plenty of snowmelt to drink, though.
wishstar
(5,273 posts)It was -20 on my thermometer in NC and only one person I knew had a car that would start (due to heated garage), so I got ride with her to work for 2 days as temps were close to -20 two nights in row. That's the lowest I experienced anywhere. I do recall Jan 1977 being terribly cold as I had an old car with heater that didn't work and mechanics couldn't fix making for miserable hour long commutes to and from work.
RockaFowler
(7,429 posts)I lived in Michigan and it was BRUTAL that year.
Silver Gaia
(4,552 posts)We heated with wood. I remember waking up one morning that January to find that the glass of water inches away on my nightstand had frozen solid.
I remember putting my clothes under the covers to warm them up before getting dressed so I could go stoke the fire.
Bitter cold.
2naSalit
(86,963 posts)additive and they ran out of #1 fuel early on. We had to put two layers of cardboard over the radiator grills of our semis and other drastic measures. I remember having to stop at grocery stores to buy cases of isopropyl alcohol to dump in the fuel tank since there wasn't anything else to keep the fuel in liquid form. And I had to get out with a propane torch to heat up the crossover lines under the engine. Froze up completely in western WY. I recall seeing the antelope huddled together, which is something you rarely see. And the refer unit was on heat instead of cool much of the time. That winter actually killed one the of the units on one of my trailers because it was mounted on the underside of the trailer (bad design but that's what we had on that one).
I remember it well because I was outside much of the time or at least out driving in it.