A friend of mine was in college in the Midwest at that time. Being about 18, he and his dorm-mates decided to go out for pizza during the storm. Since they were on the edge of campus, it was a short walk. When one of their friends vanished on the way back, they found him fallen between two parked cars. That was when they realized they were walking on the snow above the cars, and that was how deep it had piled up.
I was stationed at Minot AFB, ND in '78. That February I got stuck down in a missile Launch Control Center for three days when a storm blocked the roads, and even the helicopters couldn't get to us.
I was in VT skiing with a friend that week. Never had powder like that before or after. Mid thigh deep average with some drifts over your waist. We had to shovel out the snow banks on the road every morning and night for two days so we could leave or get back in after day of skiing. We'd watch the news at news at night and laugh at MA being shut down by Dukaka. That was good since there were no lines at the lifts all week no matter where we skied. It was a couple weeks later I went to visit my parents in mid MA. There was four feet of snow in their yard after a couple weeks, so they had A LOT. Their street was BARELY one car wide, still after a couple weeks. Dad told me they had to use a big front end loader to open the street after the snow stopped.
If that happened these days people wouldn't know whether to shit or go blind.
It was the first time the snow stuck to the beach in Mississippi in 20-30 years. And here I was running around in tennish shorts because it was only 1-2°F below freezing and the previous winter, 1976, in Missouri, we had three feet of snow and below 0°F temps.
my dad's seabee unit (MIUW-201 AKA "buckley's raiders") was out of Lawrence,MA. they called him on the phone and told him to get to the yard to start moving cars and rescuing people. "love to. how do I get there?"
they sent a UH-1 for him. picked him up at the Salem,NH high school. he HATED helicopters.
the military wrecker at 2:36 might have been him. if so that was the wrecker they stole from Otis AFB and that's a story for another time...
A friend of mine was in college in the Midwest at that time. Being about 18, he and his dorm-mates decided to go out for pizza during the storm. Since they were on the edge of campus, it was a short walk. When one of their friends vanished on the way back, they found him fallen between two parked cars. That was when they realized they were walking on the snow above the cars, and that was how deep it had piled up.
ReplyDeleteI was stationed at Minot AFB, ND in '78. That February I got stuck down in a missile Launch Control Center for three days when a storm blocked the roads, and even the helicopters couldn't get to us.
ReplyDeleteYour fate was sealed when the Detailer thought "Why not Minot?" Ha! I came "this close" to being assigned there, apparently. Ended up in San Diego.
DeleteI was in VT skiing with a friend that week. Never had powder like that before or after. Mid thigh deep average with some drifts over your waist. We had to shovel out the snow banks on the road every morning and night for two days so we could leave or get back in after day of skiing. We'd watch the news at news at night and laugh at MA being shut down by Dukaka. That was good since there were no lines at the lifts all week no matter where we skied. It was a couple weeks later I went to visit my parents in mid MA. There was four feet of snow in their yard after a couple weeks, so they had A LOT. Their street was BARELY one car wide, still after a couple weeks. Dad told me they had to use a big front end loader to open the street after the snow stopped.
ReplyDeleteIf that happened these days people wouldn't know whether to shit or go blind.
Nemo
It was the first time the snow stuck to the beach in Mississippi in 20-30 years. And here I was running around in tennish shorts because it was only 1-2°F below freezing and the previous winter, 1976, in Missouri, we had three feet of snow and below 0°F temps.
ReplyDeleteI remember it well. I was 12 years old then. Lived in Hanover, MA at the time.
ReplyDeleteDGinFLA
my dad's seabee unit (MIUW-201 AKA "buckley's raiders") was out of Lawrence,MA. they called him on the phone and told him to get to the yard to start moving cars and rescuing people. "love to. how do I get there?"
ReplyDeletethey sent a UH-1 for him. picked him up at the Salem,NH high school. he HATED helicopters.
the military wrecker at 2:36 might have been him. if so that was the wrecker they stole from Otis AFB and that's a story for another time...
I lived 300 miles to the north-west of Boston in the Thousand Islands and snow was over the door handles on my father's Suburban.
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
I was a combat engineer stationed at Fort Campbell and I drove a 5 ton plow truck on I-24 for 3 days straight.
ReplyDelete