Thirty years later and my boots are still wet.

Nothing beats a good snowstorm. About three days in advance you hear that it’s coming, something that “could be the biggest storm since bla bla bla”. The excitement builds as the television radar picture slowly approaches your area (like a horde of zombies). The stores are packed with people intent on spending their time socked in eating bread and milk sandwiches as roving news reporters interview the craziest doomsday shoppers they can find.

In 1978, our only real-time data came from the TV and radio. We were more removed from the larger picture, more plugged in to our local communities. It was more of a “gather around the communal campfire” feeling back then, and the blizzard of ’78 was a monster every bit as much as Cloverfield, but without all the seasickness.

A big snow storm is fun because no one is spared, no one knows for certain when it’s going to end, and everyone secretly wonders what would happen if it didn’t. Cars buried, highways closed. How far back in time will we go?

I was 12 years old in 1978, and the blizzard was the deepest snow I’d ever seen. Elm Street was a sheet of ice for me to test my Lego 4wd truck on, and there were constant news reports reminding people not to walk on the frozen Ohio River.

WEWS TV5 News – Cleveland – January 25, 1978

Blizzard of 1978 – Documentary Part 1

Blizzard of 1978 – Documentary Part 2

Category: Stuff