The blizzard of 78....My first of many BIG weather events!!

[Guest]

For me this is the first true blizzard I remember the begining I would rather forget. :o lol........
Anyways i was in Philly visiting my grandparents...I remember getting up in the middle of the night to run to the bathroom..Grr...Lets just say it wasn't pretty. :o lol But there i was sitting on the throne and I looked out the window and saw the hugest flakes i have ever seen..Well after i was finished i peaked once again out my bedroom window at the street and seen everything covered in white.. So when i get up a few hours later of course i jump out of bed and run downstairs to look at the snow that was now about 5 inches deep.....Anyways this was the day me and my brothers are supposed to head back home to MD...Had my doubts about that untill low and behold my uncle shows up.Blizzard and all.The snow was up too about 8inches. So he loads me and my brothers up in his van and off we go......What normally took about 2 1/2 hours back then ended up taken 6 hours....It was suprising to see so many others who had ventured out that day driving down i95..That snow kept up all the way till we neared Baltimore, MD and that was also my first big let down from a weather event...Kinda felt jipped seeing how when we got back home there wasnt half the snow there was when i left Philly....Of course I would get mine the following FEB in 79 which is another story....
Either way this is not a good way to remember a first blizzard.....From a upset stomach to being stuck on i95 for half a day... :o

This is the first of my accounts of bigger weather events i have been a part of..........Next of course is the Original Presidents day blizzard of 79.

Wouldnt mind seeing some other stories here of first memorable weather event.....

[Guest]

Blizzard of 79.............This storm here was one of the more intense snowstorms in the DC area.................This is a shortie story seeing how most of the 22 inches that fell from this storm happend over night!
This is the first big snowstorm that i enjoyed for one reason it gave me off of school for a week....First time as well i seen cars buried under snow....I will add too that it was this same year in which DC also saw its earliest snowfall which happend on the 11 of October of 79...3 inches fell in my neighborhood.

The rest of that winter was pretty quite snow wise as we only got one other storm that left the area nearly under a foot of snow and the same could be said for the winter of 80-81...........

As far as 81-82 goes this was the winter of cold in the DC area..Broke several records that winter and the most unforgettable thing that happend was the plane crash in the frozen potomac river.....Not sure how many know this but on the same day a train jumped the tracks on the metro rail kiling several people but because of the Plane crash which took up most of the news that day it wasent covered as well.. By the way the Plane crashed because of Ice on the wings. It was heading from what is now known as Reagon National Airport. Back then it was Just "National Airport". And the plane was headed for Florida.

My next story is the DC blizzard of 83......Which this is still on the top of my list for any snowstorm i have been in.......So check back in for it....You dont want to miss this! :o

[Guest]

Now its time for me to talk about my top blizzard..................This was the first True Blizzard that had what most who loves winter storms would die to be in.....It had the blinding snows, It had Thunder and Lightning, It had what imo should be considered and no less a blizzard.......This baby started during the morning hours and lasted all day till almost sunset.....And you better believe i was out in it most of the day............The last thing i remember doing before i left the house was dialing the 936-1212 number for the DC area updated forecast .......Anyone else here do that back before the days of twc and the such on tv now??????Anyways when i got outside the snow was about 5 inches deep and so i decide that i will walk down to the shopping center which was about 2 miles away..........No more then i get nearly out to the main road do i see the sky light up and then came the thunder at which time the snow really picked up to a pace where i couldnt see no more then a couple of feet ahead of me and this continued for about a hour or so then at the point i reach the Highway which in the area is known as Indian Head Hwy (MD RT211) the snow lets up a little just enough so i can see maybe 500 feet or so.....Anyways i continued on now up the highway because the shopping center was right off of it......What traffic there was was only moving slightly faster then i was walking up that highway........Anyways right as i get into the parking lot of the shopping center the sky lit up once again and then the thunder which again got the snow really going again..........I couldnt believe when i got there the snow was already over my knees and then i went inside and hung out with my other friends that managed to get there for a hour or so. Then i left and walked back home and what was amazing to me was the fact that when i arrived outside my front door evidently no cars had come thru and the snow had drifted between the cars up to there roofs and the snow continued for a couple of hours more before it quit.......This was the second time now that i had seen snow up to the car roofs and over in some cases.............I did alot of sledding and had my share of snow ball fights that day.........Either way as you all will see as i continue my stories that no winter storm so far has compared to the Feb DC 83 Blizzard.......And by the way i have atleast ten more big snowstorms still to go before i get to what happend here in Ohio back in the Presidents day Snowstorm Pt2.................And by the way not all my stories just relate to the snow.......I have some tropical weather and a few other notable weather events that i have been in. ....................So check back in for them......................Which by the way speaking of them tropics my next story is Hurricane Gloria back in Sept of 85 at the MD coast another first for me.. :o

[Colin]

Great stories!

[Guest]

Well tonight its a cane story................Let me first start off by saying after the 83 blizzard not much too speak of happend in the area and in Jan of 85 me and my family relocated to Ocean City, Md.......And The one thing of note that did happen that first winter of mine at the beach was i got too see Ocean Effect Snow and this is the only time that i seen this living at the shore in the 17 yrs that i did......Yea i have seen plenty of snowstorms there which will be included with the stories here but this was the only snow event which was a Ocean affect and not a storm system.........Anyways thats what i got greeted to when i moved to the coast...........And i would add too that when i first moved to the shore is when i first seen twc because we didnt have cable when we lived in the DC area with all the networks you could get without it.........Either way i was hooked when i flipped on what was then on channel 25 twc and seen it...........And i will admit as well that twc is what really kicked up my intrest in the tropics..........Couldnt ask for a better expert then John Hope who i miss alot.........May god rest his sole........But yea It wasent long watching the tropical update and i was tracking the canes as well with him..........If i remember correctly we had a TS pass just to our east that summer and i think it was the E storm anyways seeing that really got me into high gear........I think the highest winds with it were 50 at its strongest.......But as that was meandering off the coast John Hopes Eyes and mine got turned to the coast of Africa because a decent sized cluster of Thunderstorms had begun to move off the coast..............And something about this sent a chill down me..This i will swear by......Anyways i watched this cluster as it moved out over the water and about the time the cluster past the cape verde Islds it was a depression well on its way to beeing Named what will become Gloria......I watched this system everyday as it headed in its wnw direction and became a hurricane at which point the specutations started as to where it would go.......Which i must say this system was very well forecasted.....The issue was a Coldfront that was comming down out of canada and how the Hurricane would interact with it meaning push it back out to sea or possibly take it into the Carolinias and even the Ma which defintly had my attention and the last possible track was what would become its finall track which was up the coast into the ne.....This was the possibilities they gave on twc when Gloria had reached cat 3.............Of course where i lived everyone foreseen doom because it had been a very long time that the Town of Ocean City had seen a Cane....In which the last cane to pay a visit to that area seperated OC from what is now known as Assateague and created the Ocean City inlit..........And another part of the doom thing is the fact that Ocean City is 10 miles long and in most cases the Ocean and the back bay is only seperated by about 3 blocks or so and in the Midtown area there is alot of high rise condos that sits on the ocean front..........It wasent long after the possibilities were out that the first Hurricane watches were put up from about Charlston Sc to the NJ coast........At this point John Hope and the guys from the nhc were saying that the cane would make the turn to the N but they werent sure if it would turn enough to Miss the outerbanks and and or the Delmarva which is where OC is located and make landfall or if it would just ride the coast and into the NY city area.......The main issue was the cold front that had begun to slowdown in the Ohio VALLEY.......By the next morning the watches had turned into Warnings and new watches were placed farther up the NJ coast with the Warnings beeing from the SC/NC boarder north to the Nj coast near Atlantic City...........I will admit my heart had sunk and i was thinking that Ocean City may no longer be as i headed off to School......I remember vividly riding the bus that day to school I looked at everything that i passed on my way to school.. What else caught my attention was i heard sobbing and at first i had just brushed it off because maybe a person was just having a bad day or something like that....Then i listened closer and begun to look around the bus and saw that it just wasent one person sobbing that it was a few and at which time i heard the conversation going on around me and it was because of the cane bearing down on us........At this time by the way i was in Highschool........Either way it suprised me too see that..............Anyways we ended up having school let out early that day and when i arrived home i quickly learned that the town had begun ordering evacuations and so we packed up some things and did the window taping and all and i kept twc on the whole time seeing what was going on with the cane and at this point the cane was moving nnw headed for the outer banks of NC.......At this time the highest strike possibility was on my area and the warnings were posted farther up the coast to NY........They still werent sure at this point if the cane would turn far enough N to miss my area and had mentioned that it was looking more and more like it would make landfall On the Delmarva after hitting the outerbanks..........At this point the sky had begun to cloud up from the approaching cane..........So my family decided that we should go to one of the evacuation shelters which ended up beeing my Highschool of all places..lol............The highschool is located about 6 miles inland from the ocean by the way...........Anyways we get there and Mr weather man here searches out the first tv to watch the cane approaching and i see some friends as well and go wondering off thru the school...lol.....At about the time the first drops of rain had begun to fall a MAJOR headace takes over me and i decide to go lay down for a little bit of course instructing everyone i knew to wake me in a hour or so so i wouldnt miss any of the cane action going on.........Imagine here i am taking a nap and i feel this heat on my face which brings my up out of my sleep and just as i was begining to wake up the heat had turned into a bright light i could feel on me and my eyes fly open and low and behold me some friggin camera guy from one of the DC area networks had that thing pointed right at me :o .grrrr....lol.....Thats true by the way.........Anyways i get up and head for the Cafeteria and see whats going on with the cane.....Yea ha ha ha soon as i get there im informed by my mother that she just seen me on tv :o .........Ayways i laugh it off and go to check and see whats happening with the cane.......At this time it was moving north and passing thru the outer banks......They had as well extended the warnings up to Cape Cod.......It was at this point i heard a few people let out a oh no and i turn to see them watching the Station out of Baltimore MD who had a guy doing a live feed from OC and he was at a hotel on the Boardwalk filming the ocean from the lobby crashing into the boardwalk not far from where he was standing.......I thaught what a idiot and no longer did that thuaght pass thru my mine and along comes a huge wave crashing thru the entrance to the lobby and off the air he goes........I said man i have to see his so i head for the doors by the Office and head out to see and feel wind like i had never before seen...............Wasent long and i was told to come back in because the Center of the cane was fast approaching us and the winds were getting ready to really kick up............Anyways i go back in and about 20 minutes later that wind kicked up and it realy sounded like a roar outside and everyone was told to stay away from the windows and any doors...........It was no longer then a few minutes when the TV connections were lost and the electricity..........There we all sat in a dark gym with candles and some of the older people had just started playing cards and others just read books.....I just sat there on my cot in the Gym and listened to that wind blowing away outside................I ended up nodding off and was awoken a few hours later right as the center had just passed us and was now north of us........Wasent long after the winds started to die down and the electric returned.......Of course now the big question on everyones mine was Ocean City still there??????Was maybe a few hours later and the officials started announching that this place and that place could return home but no mention of OC......My mother was like oh man its gone................A few other people as well started saying that.........It wasent untill another hour or so passed that some we finally was told that we could go home but only residents of Ocean city...........Meaning people who were tourist that happend to get caught there couldnt go back into town........What a site when i got across the bridge into town........Sand was everywhere as well as chunks of wood from what i would find out later was the boardwalk that was pretty much destroyed from the cane............I looked up and saw roofs gone and i thaught ours would probably be gone as well because alot of the roofs that were gone were designed like mine.........Anyways were heading up to our block and everything is a mess even the phone booths were gone or just lay there smashed up.....Turn down our street and i spot up ahead the building next to ours with its roof gone. :o Our building sat back a little along with two others like it so we couldnt see anything yet.........Anyways we near it and one by one all three of our condos buildings were intact.........I felt bad for the people in the newer building next to ours with no roof...........And we get home un pack and i go out and wonder up to the beach and check out the waves as well as the boardwalk........The waves were awsome and i looked to my left and seen just pillings comming up out of the sand where the boardwalk had been....I think i stared at it for almosta half hour or so in amazement.......Some pieces of it were still there but most of it was gone as was most of the beach........And most of the Condos facing the ocean on the bottom floors were pretty much destroyed....................Anyways this my story of Hurricane Gloria and as well you could say my introduction to twc................I hope you enjoyed it and i still have quite a few more stories still to tell yet and my next one is of my first snowstorm at the coast or should i say back to back snowstorms at the coast :o ............So check back in.................

[2 Seam Fastball]

I can remember the Blizzard of 78 very well. I was outside with my father then one minute it was snowing then it stopped then cleared and then it started again. It was like a hurricane eye passed over us. It was so cool.

[isobar]

Great stories KOW. Do you miss living on the coast?

[Guest]

Yes i do isobar..........Especially during Cane season........And as well i do miss my late night walks on the beach...............Winter wasent to bad here this winter which helps but i kinda doubt i will see the (BIG) snowstorms i have seen living at the coast................Just dont get that kind of moisture here in this part of Ohio to get 18+ snowstorms very often if at all.......Came close this winter the Presidents Day Pt2 snowstorm with 17 inches here from it.........I did some research on it and came up kinda short because offical records for the town i am in dont go back too far and what i did find dont come close to what i have seen at the DE/MD coast snow total wise in a snowstorm.....That 17 inches just as well may be the biggest snowstorm this town has seen.............I may have seen the snowiest winter this year for this town as well which is 56inches where as in 96 i saw almost 80 inches at the DE coast...............Which i have 2 Stories for this thread that year!!!!! :o ...............Anyways i will be adding the long awaited back to back snowstorms of 87 shortly...............And thanks again to You, 2 Seam Fastball and Colin for your inputs and compliments!

[isobar]

I also miss that about the east coast ... a big, explosive nor'easter.

[ColdFront77]

Interesting stories, Harry. I will read what follows.

[Guest]

Back to Back Snowstorms at the Coast....................These two systems dropped a total of about 40 inches of snow when all was said and done! What even made these two systems even better was the fact most of the snow fell during the daylights hours! On the day of the first one i decided i would take one of my adventures walking my outside................I lived at the time right on the MD/DE line on the Delaware side about a mile away from Ocean City, MD which is where i decided i would walk too..........Now this system like the 83 DC blizzard had its share of wind and very heavy snow................I think at times i could hardly see 3 feet in front of me because of the snow................And by the way dont ever go to the beach in MD during a snowstorm because when i had made my way to Coastal highway (The Main Highway in OC,MD) i couldnt believe the amount of stuck cars everywhere on that highway...............And what was moving was going slower then i was!!!!!!!Anyways i make my way walking down the second lane of the highway because it had the least snow on it which was about 5 inches of powder/Slush in spots...........Well i Continued on for about 26 blocks and decided to take a break at the Mall (Goldcoast Mall) and got myself warmed up with some hot chocolate and decided i wanted to see what the Beach and Boardwalk looked like and if any other fool like myself!!! dare to venture out on a day like this so i decided i would cheat and take a bus down to the boardwalk......I really didnt feel like walking another 120 blocks (7 miles or so) to get there.......Anyways i get out where i needed to and walked up to the boardwalk and was suprised to see others out walking like myself.........The snow was about 15 inches deep except near the Buildings where the endless T-Shirt shops and other Tourist traps are at.......What a sight it is too see all that snow on the beach............Its a sight i wont ever forget..............Anyways i ended up at the Arcade down a few blocks on the boards and met up with some friends who i was suprised to see and got a ride home which almost took as long as it did for me to get to where i was..............Of course we had our snowball fight and the such........What i did find amuseing was the fact that peoples idea of sledding at the beach is tieing a rope behind a car or truck and letting it pull you........They do this because there isnt any hills at the MD/DE coast...............And believe it or not there where those as well that were going down the sand dunes on thier skim boards.........And even a couple of fools out in the ocean with thier surf boards.....brrrrrrrr Yea i like to boogy board myself but not in conditions like that even in a wetsuit................I dont go out in any water below 50*! Anyways the next day rolls around and i looked out my bedroom window at the bay and what a sight that was.........Frozen solid with snow on it! I did my digging out that day which i had to because i had seen what was comming right behind the 1st snowstorm!!! Another!!!!!!Oh by the way at the time Mike Siedel(TWC) was a forecaster for the local station in the area....................He actually forecasted the two snowstorms very well.........And did his forecast out in the second snowstorm on a highway in the town the TV station (WBOC 16) is located.........Which is Salisbury, MD by the way...............Anyways the next day comes around and the snow is comming down once again at the same rate it did with the first snowstorm....................I decided i would just sit it out at home and watch it pile up on the bay!..............And when it was finished i looked across the street at the house across from me to see the snow more then halfway up the front door!!!!!!!!!!!!And the cars that didnt get shoveled out from the first snow were completly covered!................And it would be almost ten years that i got too see snow like this again which of course was the famous winter of 96 which will be comming soon after another couple of stories to come!...............Which after the back to back snowstorms it would be Veternsday 1987 that i get to see another big snowstorm by accident which is the next story!!!!!!!!!

[JCT777]

King - these are great stories and I remember every storm you described! I have lived in suburban Philadelphia, PA my whole life. The Blizzard of '78 is the first big snowstorm that I remember from my childhood. The Blizzard of '83 is my all-time favorite snowstorm. Hurricane Gloria was incredible - even as far inland as where I was living. They closed most of the schools because of the winds. And of course the winter of 1987 was fantastic for mid-Atlantic snow lovers. Keep the stories coming!

[Guest]

My big suprise on veterens day of 1987!!!!!!Actually it was a suprise for me and my brother.......We had both decided to drive up to my uncles for the night sence we had use of moms car.........She was over at my grandparents for the night and didnt have to work untill the following night..........Anyways we get there and its raining some and thaught not much of it............So the next day rolls around and we awake to the site of huge snow flakes falling and kinda heavy which suprised me because it wasent called for so i just figured it would go back to rain.......ha ha ha....Anyways a couple of hours pass and everything is covered in white and the snow was really comming down hard..........Didnt take long before we realised we werent getting back home that day :o ........My uncle decided to venture out and we went with him kinda hoping the roads werent too bad.......NOT! They were a mess to say the least..........they were completly covered and everyone was just crawling along and we headed back to the house after making a stop at the store.............By the end of the day the snow was halfway up the cars but was comming to a end and about 17 inches had fell ............Called my mother and told her we were stuck here for the night and she wasent happy .......She did get to work by the way...She told us that even the beach areas there had about a inch of snow...........Anyways we did get home the next day........Roads were in pretty good shape which suprised me and we got maybe about 40 miles away from my uncles and just about all the snow was gone which suprised me as well.........This storm did break the record for the earliest heaviest snowfall for that part of Maryland and is among the top 10 for heaviest snowfalls............The rest of the winter at the coast was depressing for me seeing how a couple of systems started out as a good snow but changed to rain..........One of the storms actually started out with Temps near zero and after about 7 or 8 inches the temps rose rapidly and the snow went to ice for a couple of hours before going to all rain and they continued up to the low 40s and this happend in about 5 hours or so......Anyways the following winter i would get to know what drifting snow really means! :o :o Which is my next story.............

[Guest]

This here is a short story about a snowstorm that struck the MD coast in 1989..........This was a snowstorm that begun during the late morning hours and unfortunatly for me i had to work...............It was a decent snowstorm in which it left about 19 or so inches at the coast.........I did get to go out and play in it later that day because i had decided it was best to shutdown where i was working because mainly thier wasent much buisness and of course i wanted to get out in it...........Which me and my friends did in one of thier cars and we drove around the town doiing donuts in the snow and them sort of things and had a snowball fight of course............Didnt stay out in the snow too long because this snowstorm had a biting wind which would end up leaving me a big suprise the next morning when i got up..................Which when i did get up and headed out the door i was stopped cold in my steps when i adjusted my eyes to the site of a snow drift that looked like a perfect wave in the ocean that was about 6ft high............I had never seen anything like that before or sence..........It is something i still have a perfect picture of in my head.............Lets just say it took me and my other three friends about a hour to get my one friend out of the parking lot with all the snow that had drifted onto it........And yet across the street there was maybe about 6 inches or so of snow on the ground................After this storm it would be 7 years before i would see a snowtorm with snow amounts of 12 inches or greater.............Other notable events up untill the winter of 1993/1994 would include the march superstorm of 1993 which left a measly 6 inches when all was said and done...........And of course the Holloween Storm of 1992 which some refer to as the Perfect Storm which a movie is based upon.........That storm brought the bay to my front doorstep about 3 inches deep in my yard which my house was about a 1/4 mile away from the Bay and took a few of the homes on the beach out to sea in the town of Dewey Beach,DE................The following winter of 93/94 brought DE one of the most costliest storms ever in the Form of ICE which is my next story............

[isobar]

Did you keep a journal? Because you sure remember each storm with such great detail. I can't even remember what I had for breakfast!

[Guest]

No Journal...............I just happen to have great long term Memory especially when it comes to the weather...........Heck thier is other stories i could share on here about past weather events i have been a part of but they werent that big of a deal imo...............Anyways thanks for asking and reading my stories:)

[isobar]

I just happen to have great long term Memory

isobar needs to find some more brain food.
What did you have for breakfast KOW?

[Miss Mary]

I remember the Blizzard of 78, vividly! I was living then in an old house, with storm windows. The kind that rattle all night long in high winds. On and off all night, I heard them rattling. About 5 a.m. I sat up and looked out our front window. The stop sign across the street was whipping about like crazy, touching the ground on both sides. I thought for certain it would snap in two. I noticed snow whirling about, fierce winds. So I went to turn on the TV, no power. Hmmmmm, odd I thought. Found a radio and promptly heard we were having a blizzard. And many schools were closed. I called a good friend I worked with and asked her if she was going to work that day. She said - sure, why not? I said - well, look our your window! She agreed, we might be home. We worked in a large doctor/surgeon's practice. 6 docs, 4 offices, 30 employees. All offices were closed, surgeries cancelled. I could stay home! One employee though *had* to catch a ride into the main office on a Firetruck (her hubby was a fireman) to call patients, cancelling appts. All of her own doing. She then got stranded at work - well, d'oh, that's a no brainer. She ended up spending the night at one of the doctor's homes, who lived 5 minutes away. We never heard the end of her ordeal - how she braved the blizzard to report to work. And on a Firetruck too. Ugh, we did not like her one bit after that, LOL!!! I was stuck home for a few days, with little groceries. Enough, but not what you wanted. So that was my lesson in winter survival-ness - always watch the forecasts and stock up. You never know when a Blizzard will hit!!! Funny thing was though, here in Cincy it was way above freezing the day before, and the storm wasn't predicted to be this bad. Until after the 11 p.m. news that night. So Cincinnatians went to sleep, not knowing what was coming. I was completely clueless! It was a nice break for a few days there. I was fortunate not to be out in it stranded somewhere. We had drifts very high. And I clearly remember grocery shopping as soon as the roads were clear - no milk or bread to be found. Shelves were bare for a while there until deliveries could be made on a regular basis. I'd like to think that today with the wx band radio systems we have and computerized scrolls across TV screens, the public would be better informed. Now in Cincy, the forecasters sometimes go overboard in warnings. And people think, nah, it won't happen again. Never say never.

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing that miss Mary..................Nice to hear about the Other blizzard of 78......................By the way im ready for the next.......Bring it on...................I will be updating this shortly..............Thanks again for the replies....

[Guest]

Well here is the story of the DE Icestorm in the winter of 94............................This was one storm that was actually forecasted well................And one that was a first big icestorm for me.................This mess started out as a sleet and snow combo with temps hovering around the low teens............It quickly became all sleet and beacam heavy as well and continued this way for what seemed like hours before changing to a sleet and freezing rain combo :o .......Had about 4 inches of sleet in my yard when the freezing rain started to mix in with the sleet.................This continued into the next day and when i looked outside i couldnt believe how much ice thier was and that my power hadnt went out.................Everything was a sheet of ice.....................Of course me Mr winterman himself had to go out init............At this point it had let up a bit.............So i got into my car and decided to drive to work seeing how some people had managed to get there themselves..................The drive itself was breath taking..............Everything was glazed over in ice........Thankfully the sleet had made for some traction on the road...............I spotted a few trees down but not many to my suprise..............I got to my work and right away headed for the TV and twc which was already on............I couldnt believe the damage this storm was doing not far from me in places that had seen more Freezing rain.................This ice storm ended up beeing the worse natural disater for DE and about a week later i would see why...............I drove out towards the west and man what a sad site as half the forest where flattend from all the ice ...............When the storm had wrapped up i had about 6inches of ice in my yard between the sleet and Freezing rain it was not easy to get to the car for almost a week.....................Hopefully i wont see this kind of event again......................Other then this the winter of 93/94 was a very cold one for DE where countless record lows were set especially during January of 94...........And a clipper that left 9 inches of the white stuff which was the only decent snow of the winter....................The next big event wouldnt occur untill Memorial day weekend of 95 which is another first for me weather wise and will be the next story for here...................Check back in for it.......