 
Hamtragedy
Member
Username: Hamtragedy
Post Number: 53
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 12:48 am: |    |
The ice storm occurred the week following Easter Break. I remember looking out the window In Grandmont into the backyard and the sky was full of orange and green lightning from all the downed power lines. This continued all night long. As I recall this was the Sunday night before we were supposed to go back to school after Easter Break. Detroit kids got another 4 days off. |
Catman_dude
Member
Username: Catman_dude
Post Number: 266
Registered: 03-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 1:59 am: | |
What's all this talk that we only got 8-9" of snow in the Blizzard of '78? I remember it being over 20" in 24 hours in Westland. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 1403
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 2:07 am: | |
Catman Dude:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/st ories/blizzard1978.php
"Bands of heavier snow spread north into much of Southern Lower Michigan during the very early morning hours of the 26th. Rain continued to fall, however, over the extreme southeast corner of Lower Michigan. At 1 AM EST, rain was observed at Detroit Metro Airport with the temperature comfortably above freezing at 36 degrees. Further north at Flint, however, sleet and freezing rain were falling as the temperature hovered around freezing. Air pressure tendencies were noted as falling rapidly /PRESFR/ and continued that way for several hours (in fact, several stations in this storms path had to re-adjust their barographs for station pressures traces that were BELOW initial chart scale)."
"The Blizzard Warnings were allowed to die across Michigan during the forenoon hours of Friday, the 27th. Record 24 hour snowfall totals from the storm included, 16.1 inches at Grand Rapids, 15.4 inches at Houghton Lake and 12.2 at Dayton, OH. Snowfalls for the entire storm (25-27th) included a whopping 30.0 inches at Muskegon (some of which was Lake Michigan enhanced), 19.3 inches at Lansing and 19.2 at Grand Rapids. Snowfalls were less over Southeast Lower Michigan (mainly because of the rain that fell for a period) and included 9.9 inches at Flint and 8.2 inches at Detroit."
Now unless you went outside and measured the snow yourself with a yard stick or something, then 20" is over-exagerating.
However, the storm was very strong (a 950mb low is rare up here), which is why it was so bad.
(Message edited by detroitrise on January 19, 2008) |
Mrnittany
Member
Username: Mrnittany
Post Number: 8
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 9:08 am: | |
In terms of raw inches of snow ... the Blizzard of 1978 is not one of Detroit's great snowstorms. But in terms of the raw dynamics and power of the storm ... it ranks as at least a 1-in-100 year type event.
Detroit recorded its lowest ever barometric pressure of 28.34 inches/960 millibars (corrected to sea level). The storm itself bottomed out at 28.05 inches/950 millibars. For comparison's sake, those pressures are lower than any recorded in the infamous East Coast Superstorm of March 1993, and lower than anything observed in the U.S. from Hurricane Dennis, a Category 3 storm at landfall that came ashore near Pensacola, FL on July 10, 2005. (of course, this came nowhere approaching historic Hurricanes like Katrina, Dean this past summer, etcetra)
Considering it's MUCH, MUCH, MUCH tougher for everything to come together and cause an inland storm to "bomb out" like this, as compared to a Coastal storm or a Hurricane, this storm deserves its rightful place in the history books. |
Mrnittany
Member
Username: Mrnittany
Post Number: 9
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 9:14 am: | |
TO Warrennite84 ... there were actually TWO DIFFERENT Blizzards of 1978.
The one of January 26, which primarily affected Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, parts of Wisconsin.
Then another on February 6-7 which literally buried southern and central New England. |
Oldredfordette
Member
Username: Oldredfordette
Post Number: 3654
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 10:20 am: | |
There was drifting like crazy that night too. I remember going out after the worst of the snow stopped, and realizing I was standing over a No Parking sign on the street. I didn't get home from my boyfriends (now Mr. Oldredfordette) till the next evening.
We had plenty of beer and the pizza place on the corner ended up staying open too (they couldn't leave either so they made pizzas for the whole neighborhood). It was fairly festive. |
Carptrash
Member
Username: Carptrash
Post Number: 1559
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 10:46 am: | |
In '78 I was just back from the Peace Corps (see TROPICS) and was subbing at the Wayne-Westland schools. Because I could walk to school I did and was placed in charge of three or four different classes (2 or 3 students per class). There was some discussion about this because putting a sub in charge of more than one class at a time was illegal - probably against the union contract too - but there was not a lot of choice. I have pictures somewhere. Maybe.
In '74 I'd just moved from Ypsi to Manchester. The day after the storm the bull go out of his fenced in area and there was no way anyone could get down to deal with him, so Tim (you probably don't know him) and I each got a shovel or something that provided at least symbolic protection started plodding through knee deep (I'm tall) snow at the brute. Suddenly he started bounding through the snow, ran at the fence and jumped over it. it was one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen and am still so grateful to my guardian angels that they convinced him to run away from us rather than AT us.
What was the question again? eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek
(Message edited by carptrash on January 19, 2008) |
Wash_man
Member
Username: Wash_man
Post Number: 552
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 2:18 pm: | |
I was a senior in high school. I remember not having a full week of school for most of January and February because of the snow. I can't remember specific dates or snow depths (see Head Shop thread!) |
Flanders_field
Member
Username: Flanders_field
Post Number: 12
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 3:10 pm: | |
I remember that snowstorm in 78, the raindrops were HUGE, during the part of when it rained on the NE side. Seems like that area of Detroit usually was spared most of the heavier snowfall in the metro area in the 60s-80s.
I'll never forget looking at the satellite weather map, back then, as the extremely low pressure area looked like an inland hurricane, ala the recent movie The Day After Tomorrow. |
Elimarr
Member
Username: Elimarr
Post Number: 47
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 3:59 pm: | |
1978 - I do remember the snow plows finally going down the residential streets and the labor involved to dig your car OUT for that particular blizzard. (I know I said I'd never put a kitchen chair in the street to reserve my spot...well, never say never!)
1974 - Some extra days off of school at the end of Thanksgiving weekend.
1965 - When my dad shoveled the driveway, I saw that the mounds he made on the side had gotten about six feet tall. He was pretty much piling the snow as tall as he was. |
Austinjohn
Member
Username: Austinjohn
Post Number: 308
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 6:39 pm: | |
I lived in Kalamazoo during the blizzard of '78. It was bad there. My apartment was the whole second story of a house with a stairway going up the side of the house to the door. The snow drifted halfway up that stairway and we had a difficult time getting out. Some friends walked over from across town and stayed for three days. The neighborhood bar was open and we spent a lot of time there. They made chili for everyone and gave it away free. We got so drunk one day they sent us home. We were required to dig the car out on the third day so they could plow the street, and I was pissed because the snowplow buried my car in the driveway after we worked our asses off to get it out of the street. |
Lafontaine
Member
Username: Lafontaine
Post Number: 8
Registered: 06-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 6:56 pm: | |
I was living in a flat on Chelsea on the eastside while I was going to WSU in '78. Detroit did not plow the side streets at that time so the streets were nothing but deep ruts. Trying to get out of the ruts into a parking space or driveway was quite an adventure. Also, when someone was coming at you from the opposite direction usually resulted in a game of chicken as neither driver wanted to leave the ruts. Loser (the one who moved over) paid by getting stuck.
Eventually, after all of this, I burnt out my transmission rocking the car back and forth when I got stuck.
I learned to park the car in a parking lot of one of the businesses on Chalmers whenever we had a snowstorm and just walked down the street to my house. |
Al_t_publican
Member
Username: Al_t_publican
Post Number: 209
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 7:08 pm: | |
Detroit Free Press "Winter 76-77 Survivor" patch. I worked in circulation for the Freep then. They gave us clothe sew on patches to commmeorate that winter. There was a winter in the late 70s and/or early 80s in which the temp did not go above 32F for something like six weeks. Frozen ruts in residential roads in Detroit were common.
Some folks put out chairs, bushel baskets, and other items to mark their shoveled out parking revetments. On the way home from the bar then I would sometimes give those items a lil' kamikaze massage. |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 577
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 7:19 pm: | |
AustinJohn- Where in Kalamazoo did you live? That winter I was living near the junction of Douglas and West Main, near Stowe tennis stadium. |
Maryellen22471
Member
Username: Maryellen22471
Post Number: 47
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 7:28 pm: | |
the memory I have of the blizzard of 78 is I was 6 years old and playing in the snow with my brother and neighbors while my dad shoveled..my dad was a teacher and we all had a snow day. My mom wanted my brother and I to come in because she thought the snow was getting too deep. When I went to go in the house..I got stuck in the snow and my dad and neighbor had to lift me out of the snow and carried me in the house because my boots were still stuck and were not found until the snow melted. |
Flanders_field
Member
Username: Flanders_field
Post Number: 14
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 12:17 pm: | |
The winter of 81-82 was one of the coldest and snowiest I remember, and was pretty much the last one that was all-cold all season long.
Ironically it was the winter of that Canadian duo, Doug and Bob McKenzie who did that Great White North schtick on one of our FM radio stations:
http://tinyurl.com/2hkacb
The following winter of 82-83 it was 65 degrees on Christmas Day, and ever since we have not really had a winter in SE Michigan that did not include many thaws and occasional warm temps. In the 60s and 70s, I used to build an ice rink for skating and hockey games, in our backyard in Detroit, and it would last until April.
(Message edited by Flanders_field on January 20, 2008) |
Cmubryan
Member
Username: Cmubryan
Post Number: 514
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 4:00 pm: | |
Apparently my first winter on earth was the last "Old School" winter season. |
Flanders_field
Member
Username: Flanders_field
Post Number: 19
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 4:52 pm: | |
I had bought a brand-new black 77 Camaro Z28, in the previous spring, a model that had been discontinued by Chevy for about 3 years, and was only available in a 4 speed manual, so I decided to store it in my parents garage for the winter months, and instead drove an old Chevy station wagon that was owned by my father.
The station wagon served me well, and I drove to my job at the Michigan Central Depot that morning. Management decided to let us leave work early that day , due to the worsening weather conditions. I went out to clean off the car that was now buried in ice and snow, and promptly broke the only ice scraper/snowbrush I had. I threw it in the air in frustration, and the gale-force wind carried it out of sight. Had to trudge back into the building and borrow someone elses, as the car was parked on a hill some distance away from the depot.
(Message edited by Flanders_field on January 20, 2008) |
Newportnic
Member
Username: Newportnic
Post Number: 6
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 8:42 pm: | |
I was an Operating Engineer for Ma Bell. By the time I left Newport for downtown I-75 was closed. There were cars stuck in the snow everywhere and the drifts were 3-4'. I drove my '52 Willys 4X4 Pick-Up it had tall 16" tires and a snow blade (not a common a sight in '78)
http://i133.photobucket.com/al bums/q63/NewportNic/52Willys.j pg
It must have looked like it would make the trip because the National Guardsman blocking the freeway entrance waved me past. Once I got downtown my boss wouldn't let me go back home. He put me up in a hotel (Hilton?, Trolley Plaza Apartments there now). I got a picture somewhere of the County's Tandem Dump with a "V" Blade stuck in a 6-8' drift north of my house. They had to bring in a large end loader to dig it out. |
Gargoyle
Member
Username: Gargoyle
Post Number: 98
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 9:00 pm: | |
I remember the snow blowing almost sideways in that storm. It drifted up on things and stuck because it was so wet.
I was working afternoons at Ford's Romeo Tractor Plant when that storm hit. Jobs were not plentiful then, and I was still probationary, having been hired in the middle of November of '77. I was living with my parents in Wyandotte and trying to save enough money to move out closer to the job. The commute from Wyandotte was 52 miles.
My mom was very old-school about employment, having grown up in the Depression. Her philosophy was that you went to work no matter what. She came barging into my room at about 9 am, announcing the bad weather conditions. She said she had some breakfast for me and had packed me a big lunch, and if I left for work right then, I could make it on time. She was quite irate when I took one look out the window and pulled the covers back up over my head.
Took my stepdad and me most of the day to clear the driveway and sidewalks. |
Jrvass
Member
Username: Jrvass
Post Number: 405
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 9:52 pm: | |
I think in '78 we had close to 19" near Pontiac. I remember having to clear the drive with a Toro Sno-pup, 6" at a pass. So I'd have to lift it up, do the first 6" for a few feet, the next 6" for a few feet, the last inches for a few feet. Lather, rinse, repeat. For a driveway that was probably 500' long! (I was almost 16... gotta behave to get that license!)
The ice storm that was mentioned was around my birthday in March of '75(?). I remember that our power was out for a few days and we stayed at my aunt & uncle's house in Southfield until it came on. Had my birthday party there.
When my uncle thought someone was using too much hot water in a long shower, he'd go down to the basement and slowly shut off the hot water valve!
I went to college at NMU (On the "Sunny Shores of Lake Superior") in Marquette. The worst blizzard we had there was Thanksgiving '85. A friend of mine was X-C skiing along Lakeshore Drive and a huge wave came in and he was in water 3' deep for a few seconds. Damn near froze to death before he could make it the few blocks back to my apt. So many trees were knocked over that they closed the road until spring.
Drifts over 12'. They had to use front-end loaders and dump trucks to excavate street corners so people could see traffic in order to make safe turns. The snow was dumped in the woods.
Snowfalls in Detroit are made worse by the "TV Weather Guessers" and the volume of traffic.
Drive safe... Don't tailgate or make sudden turns! |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 227
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 4:27 am: | |
i loved them 70,s blizzards, 30 yrs later i will love them if i get a tractor with a plow or snow thrower, got pix of the 78 blizzard somewhere. |
Kville
Member
Username: Kville
Post Number: 95
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 5:15 am: | |
During the '78 snow, I was a minister living over on east side near Dickerson & Harper. We were buried under about 15-20 inches. I had a funeral to do the day after and we were supposed to go all the way out to White Chapel Cemetery, which was a hefty journey for a funeral procession even in good weather. Needless to say, we concluded the service at the funeral home.
Detroit NEVER plowed side streets back in those days, and according to my dad, Detroit never did the side streets during his lifetime either. Our garbage couldn't get collected and after about a week, I saw what I think no man had ever seen before - the city plowed the alley behind our house. One garbage truck drove down the alley with a plow blade, followed by another one to pick up the trash. However, since trash was picked up in the alleys in our neighborhood, they still never did get around to doing the side streets. We had to do what we always did - drive down the two ruts in the street and pray that no one would come from the other direction. |
Raptor56
Member
Username: Raptor56
Post Number: 244
Registered: 05-2007
| | Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 4:06 pm: | |
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s tories/M/MI_BLIZZARD_ANNIVERSA RY_MIOL-?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HO ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |
Paczki
Member
Username: Paczki
Post Number: 41
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 9:12 pm: | |
I lived at 94 and 12 Mile and worked in the Detroit Bank & Trust Bldg on Fort and Washington. The day it started snowing we were sent home early and told that the office would be open in the morning and we were expected to be at work no matter how bad it was. I got up extra early, dressed and got on 94. It took me 4 hours to go down 94 to 75 to 375 to Jefferson. Normally I would park at Cobo rooftop but this day I parked in the garage, walked up hill on Washington with wind and snow making it very difficult to get to the building. When I got in to office very few people were there. I took off my coat and boots sat down and the boss came up to me and told me to go home, he was closing the office because of the storm. It took me another 4 hours to get home. The next day I stayed home. |
Prokopowicz
Member
Username: Prokopowicz
Post Number: 26
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 9:53 pm: | |
If I remember correctly, Grosse Pointe public schools, which never closed for snow, waited a long time to finally declare no school. By then, I was in the building for before-school intramural soccer, and almost all the players showed up. A lot of people complained at the next school board meeting. Since then, I think the GP schools have been in line with all the other districts. |
Chuckjav
Member
Username: Chuckjav
Post Number: 343
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 2:06 pm: | |
Gnome & AustinJohn....
I was living in Kalamazoo (sophomore at WMU) during the Blizzard of '78.
My wife, baby boy, and I resided in the married students apartments on Western Avenue.
Once things really started looking bad (Friday afternoon), I took the initiative to get my '69 Dodge Coronet Wagon on the road to A&P on Stadium Drive. Heading up and over the Howard Street hill from campus to Jewel-Osco would have been impossible.
I filled a cart with all the staples; Kraft macaroni & cheese, Hamburger-Helper, milk, cereal, fresh meat & chicken, cheese, and plenty of Miller Beer ($1.77 per six-pack).
The trip home was really bad; road conditions had worsened considerably during the time it took to shop. I honestly believe that my car was the only vehicle on the road....I truly lucked-up.
Fortunately I had purchased enough food and beverage to last several days; it wasn't until the following Wednesday that conditions were favorable for venturing off campus. |
Aiw
Member
Username: Aiw
Post Number: 6516
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 2:37 pm: | |
The Windsor Star ran an article today:
http://www.canada.com/windsors tar/news/story.html?id=ef82929 c-c486-4025-8146-6f1bba4f1f7e& k=51489
Also they published some photos from the archives of the storm:
http://www.canada.com/windsors tar/photogalleries/template.ht ml?topic=snowstorm1978 |
Umstucoach
Member
Username: Umstucoach
Post Number: 148
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 4:24 pm: | |
My parents were living in Kalamazoo at the time (on Lovers Lane, a very apt street name to live on for a recently married couple). Anyway it was on Sunday my dad wanted to walk to church @ St. Monica's on Kilgore, a couple miles away. My mom told my dad that nothing was open and that they shouldn't walk, but my dad insisted that they didn't close church. Well they walk the couple miles to the church and they see that no lights are on and the doors are locked. Needless to say, my mom was less than happy with my dad.
However, they say that the walk to and from church was beautiful, since the roads were closed for all traffic except for emergency vehicles, and many people walked in the middle of the road, and the experience became another story to tell me throughout the years |
Dabirch
Member
Username: Dabirch
Post Number: 2508
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 5:20 pm: | |
quote:8 or 9 inches even qualifies as something people remember?
It is times like these that I really miss good ol' manrooter... |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 999
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 9:44 pm: | |
We were living in Dexter...just west of Ann Arbor...my (then) wife had the flu...I set off on CC skis to the nearest store about a mile away pulling a toboggan behind me...loaded it up with staples...including a gallon of milk and a couple of cases of beer (first things first!)...she was pissed that I didn't bring back juices for her to drink...it was several days before we were plowed out of our drive that had a good 3-4 feet of snow drifted over it. |
Emu_steve
Member
Username: Emu_steve
Post Number: 560
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2008 - 3:24 am: | |
this thread is confusing me.
some say the snow fall was 8.2" in Detroit, I thought it was almost 2 feet.
yet:
' "As I walked along I could just barely determine if I was anywhere nead the middle of the road," he recalled.
Phillips said Windsor got 13.8 cm of snow that day - a record - and 29.3 mm of rain. It registered the lowest barometric pressure recorded for the day in Ontario, a record that still stands. '
Unless they've changed measurements, doesn't it take 2.54 centimeters to equal an inch??
13.8 cm is nothing.
I'm confused. (: |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 610
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2008 - 7:05 am: | |
yeah, there must be something typo with the Windsor story ... look ar the reader comments on that article. The comments are more interesting than the article.
In Kazoo the blizzard came on top of smaller storms in December and January; hence there was already a base of a foot before the real blizzard closed down the town.
I do remember drinking a lot of horrid Huber Beer ($2.49 a case) bought from the IGA on West Main. |
Detroitrise
Member
Username: Detroitrise
Post Number: 1432
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2008 - 8:53 am: | |
Emu_steve, 13.8 cm is only 5.4 inches. I'm sure they saw a lot of rain that day too, so I'm not surprised by that.
By the way, that 8.2 inches was at Metro Airport, not IN THE CITY of Detroit. So we probably did see less than that. |
Summertime1
Member
Username: Summertime1
Post Number: 2
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 7:43 pm: | |
I lived on Fordham (7mile and Kelly). My 1976 firebird was covered. You had to drive in ruts, the city didnt plow!! geri in St. clair Shores |
Goblue
Member
Username: Goblue
Post Number: 1025
Registered: 03-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 12:50 pm: | |
Summertime1: You might check the "Heilmann" thread...there are several people on that thread who lived right in your area. We were on Fordham a block or so east of Chalmers...but were gone by the 70's. |
Living_in_the_d
Member
Username: Living_in_the_d
Post Number: 15
Registered: 01-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 1:34 pm: | |
Yeah, In retrospect, I also believe it was at least two feet. |
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