The Blizzard of ’77 Began On This Day 35 Years Ago
Have you ever wondered why Buffalo has the reputation of being the 'snow capital' of the nation? Well this storm is why.
Western NY was shut down for more than 1 week. There were temperatures well below 0°F with peak wind gusts over 60 MPH. The high winds caused there to be snow drifts as high as 30 feet throughout the city and inner-ring suburbs. The storm was so bad that the National Guard, US Army, Marines & Air Force all mobilized troops to help in the clean-up. There are some reports that the Salvation Army fed 167,000 people & the American Red Cross provided 5 tons of food during the week of the storm.
According to the National Weather Service 29 people lost their lives due to this storm, at least 9 of those people were found buried in their cars.
The Blizzard of '77 made national news for at least the next 11 days, thus giving Buffalo the unofficial 'Snow Capital' title. Many news outlets showed photographs of of snow up-to the roofs of homes... The blizzard was so widely known, someone even thought it was a good idea to make a Board Game about it...
For a while today, it was looking like the blizzard was coming back to celebrate it anniversary.
Thank goodness that didn't happen...