![]() ![]() But nothing, not even a strong awareness of the land and the lakes, could have prepared them for the Blizzard of 1977. Yes, people in the Niagara region are not strangers to managing diverse weather and navigating sprawling landscapes. It brings people from all over the world to their doorsteps, hoping to see a natural wonder up close on a Niagara Falls boat tour. It defines the crops they grow (we all know about Niagara wineries!) and the businesses they run. The unique Niagara peninsula dictates where and how they build their homes. Those who live in the Niagara region will tell you that they are used to the environment defining their lives. Many people reading this either lived through or know someone who lived through the Blizzard of 1977. What did the people do during the Blizzard of 1977? Guess which of these scenarios played out that year? There were only two things that could have happened at that point – the snow would either melt with the coming spring, or it would blow off the lake. By January 28, 1977, three feet of snow had gathered across the expanse of the lake. Lake Erie is no small space – its total area is nearly 10,000 square miles, with a coast stretching from Detroit to Buffalo, New York. This daily precipitation quickly covered the large frozen lake. Nearly 60 inches of light, fluffy snow came down between December 25 and Janu– that’s about three times the current 30-year average for the region. Once the lake froze over that cold December, snow began to fall. By comparison, Lake Erie was only 3 percent covered in ice on January 25th 2017. That year, the lake froze over 100% by December 14. It hasn’t done much freezing in the 21st century, but the winter of 1976-77 was a whole different story. Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, which means it is the most likely to freeze over in the winter. ” … up until the blizzard began on January 28th, 1977, it had snowed every day since Christmas of 1976, leading to a whopping 150 cm of snow falling prior to the blizzard in January alone …”Īt the center of the story is Lake Erie, whose coast is a short 30 minute drive from Niagara Falls. ![]() The weather prior to the storm and environmental factors around Niagara Falls are critical to understanding how it got so bad. While the blizzard officially lasted five days, Niagara residents often remember the days before and after the infamous storm – the winter of 1977 – just as well as those treacherous days and nights. This was more than your average “snow day.” This was the Blizzard of 1977. The snow accumulated into drifts as it blew, burying everything from cars to bus stops in 20 to 40 foot snowdrifts. But if the superintendents felt overwhelmed then, they were in for quite the battle in the days to come.īetween January 28 and February 1 1977, 50 mile per hour winds blew the heavy snow atop Lake Erie wildly around the region, coating the surrounding 16,000 square kilometers. On January 27, 1977, the forecast was foreboding and the city was out of options. The superintendent of the city’s work department in Niagara Falls had even less to offer, admitting that he had “about given up trying to predict the weather and how best to deal with it.” He admitted to reporters that he was “ready to contact his travel agent and head to Florida.” “What good are they going to do if they can’t go anywhere and are running into each other?” the superintendent of roads told the papers. Plows had been working day and night to clear the roads of Fort Erie, Wainfleet, Pelham, and Port Colborne, but results were lackluster. Their budget was stretched, their workers were exhausted, and their equipment wasn’t up to the task. #Weather network radar st catharines ga how to#Officials were completely out of ideas for how to deal with the increasingly brutal weather. It had been a tough winter, and this was far from the first story about snow-stricken streets. Roads were covered by up to four feet of snow, and rural residents found themselves completely shut in. The Niagara Falls Review detailed how lakeside towns just a few miles south of Niagara Falls, Ontario had been hit by yet another overnight storm. ![]() Niagara Falls residents woke up to yet another headline about the weather: “Crews battle drifts, blinding snow. To learn about a truly strange winter in Niagara Falls, Ontario, you’ll have to look back to the Blizzard of 1977. If you ask Niagara residents, 2015 wasn’t so unique. Yes, the Falls were somewhat frozen, but that happens almost every year. During the winter of 2015, tourists rushed to Niagara Falls after CNN reported the famous waterfalls had “frozen over.” While the natural wonder was certainly beautiful that winter (the Falls are beautiful any time of year, really), the frozen Falls hype wasn’t quite true. ![]()
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