The date was January 28, 1977. It will be 40 years this coming Saturday. The weather forecast was not good. Western New York was about to make national headlines, which, in the winter, is not out of the ordinary.
The storm did not have a name as they do today. It is rather funny that meteorologists feel the need to give winter storms a name today. Some years, in western New York, they would be into the Greek-letter-named storms quickly if they tallied them all. What started on January 28, 1977 was simply called the Blizzard of ’77. No other moniker was needed. It summed it up quite nicely.
Locally, snow started falling around noon and just kept falling. Even major roads were closed in our area, some for days. Snow had drifted in some places 15 feet and higher. People were stranded in town halls, schools, at SUNY Brockport and elsewhere.
It was a great time to own a snowmobile. Folks with snowmobiles helped in many ways. They would bring groceries to those who could not get out, delivered nurses to Lakeside Hospital and even served as a fire brigade.
Westside News is revisiting that time with the stories that appeared in our Suburban News in the aftermath of the storm. Check out our Community Link this week, which is included with your copy of the Suburban News or Hamlin-Clarkson Herald.
We would love to hear about the experiences of our readers during the Blizzard of ’77. We invite you to share those experiences by sending along a letter to the editor via US mail or email or you can go to our “Your Voice” section of our website at HYPERLINK “https://westsidenewsny.com/section/your-voice/” www.westsidenewsny.com/section/your-voice/.
