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Snow, snow everywhere
Just before noon on Friday, Jan. 28, 1977, Buffalo's fate was sealed as the "Snow Capital of the World" when the storm of the century—the Blizzard of '77—pummeled Western New York. Like this winter's "October Surprise," every Western New Yorker knows where he or she was and what they were doing from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1. This year marks the 30th anniversary of "the blizzard" and many area newspapers are looking for photos and personal stories. There are a number of Web sites and archives of news articles that capture the amazing, and often terrifying, struggle between Mother Nature and man.
Six feet of snow falling on Buffalo would not have been so bad, but wind gusts of 29 mph to 49 mph produced snow drifts that ranged from 10 to 30 feet. These drifts buried cars in the middle of streets, cut off underpasses and even trapped people in their homes as roofs were covered by compacted snow. For some astounding images and meteorological statistics, visit the Blizzard of '77 Web site (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er
/buf/blizzard/blizindex.html) at the Web site of the Buffalo office of the National Weather Service.
The Wikipedia does a good job of providing broad coverage of "the blizzard" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_of_'77). It covers the weather conditions and state of Buffalo's snow-removal equipment prior to the storm, gives a day-by-day analysis of cleanup efforts, and describes the consequences of the storm. For example, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, equipment from as far away as Colorado was used in the cleanup.
For a detailed look at the economic and political impact of the blizzard on the Northeast and the Great Lakes regions, run a guided search in Lexis-Nexis Academic (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/lexisnexis.html). For summaries of New York Times articles, select "U.S.," then "New York News Sources," and then enter the term "blizzard" in the first query box, limiting the search to 1977 (from 1977 to 1977). Here you'll find that President Carter declared Western New York a federal disaster area, the first time this designation was used for a snow-related event, and that more than 150,000 workers in the Great Lakes region were laid off as a gas shortage forced power companies to shut off heat to all non-essential buildings. For other ways to search the Times, visit http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/nytimes.html.
All this aside, we Buffalonians have embraced our image as the "Snow Capital of the World" and often celebrate it. To mark the 30th anniversary of "the blizzard," visit the Buffalo Museum of Science's exhibit titled "Snow" (http://www.sciencebuff.org/now_playing_.php) (through Feb. 25), watch the documentary "The Blizzard of '77" by Erno Rossi (http://www.whitedeath.com) or play a round of the Blizzard of '77, a board game by Marino Games. And don't forget to stop by the nearest corner store and pick up a pint of Zero Visibility, Perry's commemorative ice cream (http://www.perrysicecream.com/icecream/premium/product.php?id=153).
Brrrr!
—Cynthia Tysick, Arts and Sciences Libraries