DawgTalkers.net Forums Thread Like Summary - Happy Anniversary all you Blizzard of 78 Survivors

I can remember it like it was yesterday, starting work at 4-5am? at E.55th? and Broadway. Work sent everyone home early. Took me 6+ -ish hours home straight down Euclid ave(12 mile drive?) to my apt in Bishop Park apts in Willoughby Hills. Good thing I had a full tank of gas.

Wind chill reaching -60 below.

The article says the storm caused more than 1 billion dollars of damage 44 years ago. What would that figure be in todays dollars.....?

1978 Ohio Statewide Blizzard

Cover of the report issued by the office of the Adjutant General of Ohio describing the efforts of the National Guard during the Blizzard of 1978.

In January and February 1978, a series of three storms hit the United States Midwest or the Northeast. These storms were some of the most severe winter events to occur in recent history, and collectively are known as the Blizzard of 1978.

The first storm avoided Ohio, targeting the Northeast. From January 19 to 21, twenty-one inches of snow fell in parts of the region. This was a forty-eight-hour record for snowfall.

The second storm found Ohio in its path. From January 25 to 27, between one and three feet of snow fell in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Winds averaged between fifty and seventy miles per hour, creating snowdrifts as deep as twenty-five feet. With temperatures already hovering near zero, the wind chill was deadly, reaching sixty degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Thousands of people were stranded in their cars and in their homes. For the first time in its history, the entire Ohio Turnpike closed due to the blizzard's severity. One semi-truck driver was buried inside of his truck by a snowdrift. Rescuers did not discover him for almost one week. Thousands of homes and businesses lost electricity. As the storm moved eastward, warmer temperatures converted the snow to ice, paralyzing the Northeast. Over seventy people died in this storm; fifty-one of the victims were in Ohio.

Approximately three weeks after this storm, a television special titled "Blizzard" aired, describing the storm in Ohio. The program stated: A storm of unprecedented magnitude . . . that is what the National Weather Service terms the blizzard, which whipped Ohio last month. What occurred on January 26th, 1978 in Ohio was not a blizzard. What did occur was even rarer and even more dangerous: a severe blizzard . . . the worst of winter storms.

The National Weather Service defines a "severe blizzard" as a storm with winds of 45 miles per hour or greater; a great density of falling or blowing snow; and temperatures of 10 degrees or less.
In fact, winds gusted to more than 100 miles per hour over much of the state, with sustained winds in the 45-60 mph range. Record snowfalls were recorded in many areas and all-time low barometric pressure records were shattered as the intense storm whipped the state . . . The Blizzard of 1978 was, in fact, the worst storm to ever occur in Ohio.

The final storm targeted the Northeastern coastline of the United States and occurred during the second week of February. One to three feet of snow fell in this blizzard. Fifty-four people died, and the storm destroyed approximately two thousand homes. The blizzard caused more than one billion dollars in damage.
https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/1978_Ohio_Statewide_Blizzard

My brother and I, both in high school, were the only ones amongst our group of friends that had any weed. There was a dry spell, and we had just scored a quarter pound of some good goldbud. We were sitting in his bedroom (he had a really nice Marantz rack system) getting high and listening to Led Zep. There was a knock on his window (which freaked us out because the snow right there was a good 6-7 ft drift), and we opened the curtains to see a couple of our buds sticking their heads through the snow. They trudged almost a mile through chest high drifts to make it to our house. They weren't going to be denied, lol.

I walked to school that morning through the blustering wind and snow. The news had not announced any school closings because the impending storm was expected to be rather mild. Called the magic number (remember when you could call for time, weather and school closings? you're getting old!), nope, Fullerton Elementary not on the list.

There were about thirty kids in the lunchroom, they quickly took attendance, told us buses weren't running, and sent us home. They also told us we would be the only ones getting perfect attendance that year (that turned out to be a lie, and I was mad as hell lol). Getting back home was actually pretty scary.

No newspaper to deliver as the Cleveland Press couldn't get the papers out of the warehouse. Paper guy shows up with two bundles of papers the next day and told us we had to deliver Thursday's paper as well as Friday's.

"What? Are you kidding me??"
"I'll just leave them here, you do what you want."

Of course, I packed up double the load and headed out, my ninety minute route took over three hours but I got some pretty hefty tips the following week!

The craziest thing I remember from the news came five days later... They uncovered a trucker who was trapped in his vehicle for five days. He said he survived on "cigarettes and snow".

As an 11 year old, I didn't think it was much of a big deal. Put on two pairs of socks, gloves and a ski mask and you're good to go. Had I been six or seven years older, I would have been in the room with jfan and the big bag of weed!

I was really new at my job. I worked at the local SOHIO refinery as a coke cleaner. Coke is the very last product that can be gleaned from petroleum refining and looks like loose coal. Product is pumped into 3-story tall drums where is cools for 24 hours. As it cools, this thick, viscous material hardens into a solid. At that time, the coke is removed (or 'cleaned') from the drums. A high-pressure (1500 psi) water cutter slowly spins from the top of the drum to the bottom, carving out the coke accumulated on the walls. Envision an upside-down capital letter T, with the water spraying out in opposite directions. The freed coke falls into train cars stationed below. The unit looks like this:



The extended superstructure above is the rigging that holds and controls the cutter.

I was scheduled for 2 days off the day the storm hit. I made it home, and immediately the phone rang. It was my foreman, telling me that the refinery had issued an "all hands" order, and that all employees would be required to return to work. "Bring two changes of clothes, because we're all riding this thing out together." About 30 minutes later, a coworker came by in a Jeep 4X to take me back. Muster was in the rec center, near the front of the plant. I walk in the gym area, and see at least 100 army cots. Welcome home. Coke cleaners was a regular day shift job: 7AM-3PM. So now that I was at the plant, there was really nothing to do, or so I thought. I was assigned to the pipefitters, who were tasked with de-icing vulnerable lines. 1 hr on/1 hr off til about 10PM.

Next day, I start my reg shift, 7-3. It was pretty normal, as the cutting house was heated and enclosed. The poor bastiges who worked the train cars weren't so lucky. The cutting tool's water rains down continually, splashing around the entire area near the train cars. Ground workers wore rubberized coveralls, thick rubber gloves, and knee-high rubber boots. That week, the place looked like Niagara when it freezes. Ugly and beautiful at the same time. Dudes who de-iced on Day One were given the night off. I was bone tired and passed out on my cot at about 5PM. At 6, my foreman wakes me up. "Clem, we have some work to do. (What mean 'we,' Kemosabe?) *at this point please refer back to the picture above, so you can feel the full impact of what came next...

"Two of the FAA lights are out on the coke towers. I need you and Runny (Bill Runser) to go change them." [doom chords] "But there are no planes flying in this..." "The law is the law. Runny's already heading over there, if you hurry, you can catch him-" Yes- the structure was tall enough to require those flashing lights you see on TV towers and the like. That's where we had to go. Runny and I had changed those lights before. In good weather, it's a 20 minute job. 30, if you want to hang out for the view- it was pretty cool to see your entire town from that vantage point. This time, it took us almost an hour. The lights were frozen in their sockets, the wind was whipping, fingers were numb, the world was a sea of white...

Foreman stepped up, and got us relief for the duration of lockdown. No more de-icing for Runny & me. Just our reg job, and lots of TV time/card games in the rec center.

Oh, and here's the kicker: I was there for 3 days before I was released home. At double time and a half. For every hour I was on site. That next paycheck was the largest number I'd ever seen with my name attached. All said, it was a pretty cool 3-day adventure for a strapping 21 year old lad, just starting out--

#blizzof78
#isurvived

78 Blizzard in pics... Good stuff.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/01/blizzard_of_1978_still_stings.html