January 28, 2022 – Blizzard of 1977

45 years ago today, Western New York was in the midst of one of the biggest snowstorms to hit our area, the Blizzard of 1977. With wind gusts of 46-69 mph, snow drifts piled up as high as 30 to 40 feet! The city of Buffalo and surrounding areas were hit particularly hard. It had been unseasonably cold and very snowy for most of the winter, and Lake Erie froze over by December 14, 1976. That meant that the lake was covered in deep, powdery snow. The strong wind blew all of that snow into drifts 25 feet high in Metropolitan Buffalo. Within half an hour of the blizzard starting, roads became impassable and travel was nearly impossible. Around 13,000 people were stranded in downtown Buffalo, with as many as 10,000 cars being stranded across the city. In the hardest hit areas, snow mobiles were the only means of transportation. President Carter declared a major disaster area in 7 Western New York counties – the first time a snow storm had been declared a federal disaster area. Learn more here.