Blizzard of 1978

[jeremy]

I was 7 living with the Family in a House Trailer in North Central Indiana. What I remember the most, hmmmm...

Do NOT ride the 3 wheeler over the Top of the Trailer...
Do NOT ride a Snowmobile over the top of the Trailer...
Do NOT jump off the roof of the Barn into the snow drift...
No you can not jump the Snowmobile over the Trailer...

No school again this week for...

I also remember it as the only time that Trailer was warm in the winter too...

 

[irishfan]

I read about the big blizzard in a history book. It looked like it was an interesting time.

 

[Yamaha]

I wasn't born yet, but I have pictures that were taken in northern madison county then, and it was rediculous.....snow drifts that were taller than payloaders.....and that was the only way they could clear roads up here

 

[DialTone301]

I was 15 and delivered medicine and food via snowmobile. We also worked for the Sheriff's department checking roads for stranded cars. Lots of fun.

 

[Bshaw]

Blizzard 1978

I was 21 and newly married . My Brother in law picked me up from the workplace in a farm tractor and took me home to my new bride.
We baked bread and stayed in the house for a 5 days with not a lot of clothing on ( Being newly weds you can imagine what we did for 3 days )
Not a lot of money in those days but some great memories.

 

[sclark]

I was two. Probably sat around crapping my diaper and watching sesame street. Not much different than now.

I was also two, so I was probably doing the same as you.

 

[straight-shooter]

I was 12 liveing in the boonys of northern Indiana. If I remember correctly we did not have school for 3 weeks couldnt get the car out for atleast a week after that. My stepdad had to ride on the back of the neighbor's snowmobile for groceries.
We could walk up the snow drift onto the house roof.This was the front of the house which is where the cars were parked.

+1

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

As bad as some of the snow storms have been in IN since then, I get the distinct impression that everything since has paled in comparison.

Now the storm that hit Southern IN about 5 years ago... That was for sure a bad one. And I know that the Lake Effect dumps 12" storms as a matter of routine.

I think it was Jan of '95 that west-central Indiana was hit pretty hard. THINK it was then; I distinctly remember having an "extra week" of Christmas break; and I had my car. Since I graduated HS in '96....trying to work backwards.

But has IN been blasted by a bona-fide "Blizzard" the likes of the Jan '78 since Jan '78?

Just curious...from a 33-year old life-long Hoosier.

-J-

 

[MrsGungho]

As bad as some of the snow storms have been in IN since then, I get the distinct impression that everything since has paled in comparison.

Now the storm that hit Southern IN about 5 years ago... That was for sure a bad one. And I know that the Lake Effect dumps 12" storms as a matter of routine.

I think it was Jan of '95 that west-central Indiana was hit pretty hard. THINK it was then; I distinctly remember having an "extra week" of Christmas break; and I had my car. Since I graduated HS in '96....trying to work backwards.

But has IN been blasted by a bona-fide "Blizzard" the likes of the Jan '78 since Jan '78?

Just curious...from a 33-year old life-long Hoosier.

-J-

In '78 South Bend had 36" of snow dumped along with the blowing wind. They always say it isn't the snow but the blowing that does it in. When we looked out our front window we had drifts as high as the front of the house and covering both cars. I remember a few "bad" storms since '78 but yes, they pale in comparison to that.

Great Blizzard of 1978 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[redbaron]

I was also two, so I was probably doing the same as you.

Two as well! My mother carried me for almost two miles to get to my grandparents house. She took several pictures along the way.

Now the storm that hit Southern IN about 5 years ago... That was for sure a bad one.

That snow storm sucked!!!!!! I had been waiting years for a good snow storm to come along so I could go out and playing in it with the jeep. Well wouldn't you know, that snow come along when I had the jeep completely tore apart doing a rear 4 link, wheelbase stretch and new roll cage!

 

[moischmoe]

I was six, and lived close to Ft. Wayne. I had fun sledding and digging tunnels. It was the first winter that I can remember. I just thought it was "winter", I didn't know it was a "Blizzard". I've been disappointed every year since.

 

[eldirector]

I was on "snow plow watch" that winter. My dad strung an extension cord across the street to a neighbor's. Our side was without power for a few days, but the line across the street was still up. We ran the furnace for an hour or so, and kept the fridge and freezer cold. If I saw a plow coming, I had to run out and unplug the house! Big job for a 7-year old!

We also spent the day digging snow forts, and sledding off of another neighbor's roof (10' snow drifts!).

I think that winter is what prompted my dad to get a tad more prepared. We had a genset soon after that, and the addition he put on the house had a fireplace. I remember losing power most every winter growing up, and we just fired up the genny and played board games in front of the fire.

 

[Yamaha]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qH8n9B92oes/R59npamYiXI/AAAAAAAABc4/nM7KSwEeRTk/s320/aaajan30blizzardof78

sr43 idk where in indiana....lol


the map had from indy north along 31 at 20-25" of snow, south bend area the map claimed 25-40"......but the rural areas got the worst of it, with the 40+mph winds back then....my family had just bought 2 snow mobiles, and that was indeed the way to get around. When I get home I'll try to get my scanner to work and upload pictures from northern madison county that my dad and uncles took. Great topic of discussion

 

[Armed Eastsider]

Well I was born in 88 but my mother has told me about the blizzard of 78 many times.

 

[plowman766]

I was 19 at the time and we had a lot of cattle and hogs I remember we couldnt get down the road to one farm because the snow was so deep so we took two tractors one leading and the other one following through the field with the feed grinder to get feed to the cattle we pretty much did chores and shoved snow everday for a week but as a young guy I thought it was all kind of fun. Im sure if I had to do it today I would have been like my dad was and hated it. [Its amazing what a difference 33 yrs makes] I remember a farmer several miles away had lost some sows in the storm and couldnt find them, when the drifts thawed down in the spring they came crawling out of one they were very skinny but had lived by eating snow for water amazing I hope we never see another like that one. So far this year in NE Indiana we have been very lucky [Knock on Wood ]

 

[edporch]

I was a student at Indiana University Bloomington.
I lived in a trailer that stood at the corner of 17th and Fess, right across from Memorial stadium in a trailer park where all the trailers were individual ones. (it's just a park now and the trailers have been long gone)
Not the "watermelons" as we called the trailers further East that were green on the outside and red on the inside. LOL
Yes, time does fly.

 

[grimor]

there is an old Polaroid picture of me sitting on the roof on our house in 78 with snow drifts touching my feet. I was about 1-1/2 yo. I guess we got a bit of lake effect and a lot of drifting.

 

[UncleMike]

I got snowed in at the PD.
Slept in the basement of City Hall.
Civil Defense got me within a block of home the next day.
Walked the rest of the way in knee deep snow with 60 mph winds.
Patrolling on snowmobiles the following week was kinda fun!

 

[Colt556]

I had been out of the Navy a little over a year and was working as a phlebotomist at the VA Hospital on 10th St. They were asking ppl to stay and help cover shifts just in case others couldn't make it in. I was young, dumb and full of, well, you know and I was going home! I drove my 72 Camaro with big fat L60s in the rear home just as the snow really started coming down. It was not fun to say the least. Those that stayed were there for 3 days! My buddy had a 67 Olds Toranado that was huge and had front wheel drive and a 455, I think, in it so we went terrorizing around the east side parking lots. That thing would go through anything! We picked up a couple more guys and hit the liquor store. Had some good times drivin around with nobody else on the road. We also did some good like getting groceries for the neighbors and checking on the old folks. But mostly we drove around having fun.

 

[Cemetery-man]

One bit I remember best is while I was delivering food to a stranded country homeowner. While travelling down a road with the snowmobile, I suddenly noticed a large amount of sparks fly out both sides of the sled. When I turned around, I discovered that I had just rode over the roof of a car that was sitting in the middle of the road completely buried in snow. We dug down and luckily no one was inside it. That was a very scary moment.