As summer ends and fall begins it too draws to a close and that is when people whenever they gather begin to talk about the weather. There might be some talk about how nice the summer was or maybe conversations hit on how nice the fall was and how pretty the leaves all looked. But as the conversations moves onward it is a sure bet that the topic will hit on the following.
Someone will say well winter is upon us now. Then there will be a reply that yes it is here and I just wonder how cold it is going to be this year. All then will nod and agree that yes it might be colder than last year and all nod again. Then someone will say it is going to have to get colder than last year you all know that don’t you. Then here is when the big statement comes out. Don’t see any way it can be colder than the winters of 77’ and 78’ and of course they all nod a lot on that statement.
Now here is where I can jump in and say they are telling the truth about those two years. This as my generation can attest to were the two worst winters on recorded history. (Yes you can look it up.) Of course I don’t think a winter in southern Ohio goes by without the news doing a feature on the “blizzard or 1978.” It was the worst conditions that came out of nowhere and it caught us all unprepared for it. The thing is it lasted for 24 hours and then it took what seemed like forever to dig out from it.
What arguably might be even a bigger phenomenon? The entire winter of 1977. I had been through many winters as a kid and a teen but in the first few years as a married man I have to say I have never experienced anything as rough as the winter and more precisely the month of January of 1977. It seemed that every week there would be heavy snows and then strong winds so that we would have to work our ways through large snow drifts. I mean having to do that once was quite a feat but almost weekly was exhausting and seldom did you make through all of these snows and drifts. (I know I didn’t.)
I did some googling and here is the raw numbers for January of that year. In that month we dealt with twenty-six consecutive days below freezing. On January 16th the temperature was minus 21 degrees. On January 17th it was minus 24 degrees and on the 18th it went down to minus 25! During that time the temperature stayed below zero 58 straight hours. Now during all that and I don’t think any of us were really paying attention as we were just trying to keep warm but the Ohio River froze over. I don’t mean just a skim of ice either. It froze from six inches to one foot.
I don’t know about all of you but I still can see it on the noon news report as people were walking all over the Ohio. Many crossed over to Kentucky and back. This event I had never seen and I had seen a lot of cold winters and frozen ponds but never the mighty Ohio River. To me even greater was that those massive barges could no longer move in the river. They were frozen in place and this went on for over a week. Google says the last time before 1977 was 1958 and to this date it has only happened thirteen times. The amazing part is that the water level in the Ohio has been increased so that the body of water is much larger and it really should be impossible to happen but that fact I guess has to come with an asterisk beside it because it has happened.
I know that while the river was freezing over I was facing a frozen problem at my home. At that time we had a water supply in a cistern. It was a big cistern but as the water got lower and the winds never seemed to stop the water in my cistern froze over and left my wife and I waterless. At that point you learn that you never really miss something until you don’t have it anymore. Now since I had never had this to happen before nor had it seemed anyone I knew had never either. So I really had no idea of how to go about unfreezing it. For a few days we only got water from melting snow from our yard and using it to wash with. Now it is said that it takes a foot of snow to get an inch of water. Well I’m here to tell you that is a true statement.
We used every bowl, dish, pot and pan to collect the snow in. When it was melted we then would pour it all into one pot and heat it up so we could wash with it. We were a page right out of the pioneer days but a dab of warm water can feel extremely good. Especially after you go through all that we did to get it. Now a man suggested using a heater and attaching furnace pipe on the end of it so the heat would blow into the cistern and might get the ice to melt. It took two days but water never looked that good and it only reminded me that this weather was much colder than anything I had ever seen before. I admit that if I hadn’t gone through that winter I doubt I would have been near as ready as I was for the next year. (The blizzard.)
Those of you who went through it know I am not overstating any of this event. I am sure the millennials who read this are going to be doubtful but look to your history books. Ohio that winter was a frozen tundra that would compare to anything in the great northern regions of the USA. To drive down to the Ohio River and see nothing but ice and people all over it as if it were a permanent status was something that caused the jaw to drop and look in total awe. Yes folks here is just one more reason why I don’t care for winter. Besides I can’t ice skate anyway so it need not freeze again.
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories about his youth and other topics. If you are interested in reading more of his stories they can be found in his books ‘There are Places to Remember” and’ Memories ARE from the Heart.” He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com or mail to P.O. Box 213 Bethel, Ohio 45106.