January 26th marks the 44th anniversary of the “Blizzard of ’78”! What were you doing 46 years ago? If you were living in Michigan at the time, you were probably doing a lot of snow shoveling. This storm was one of the biggest snow storms to every hit this area. A low-pressure system moving from the Gulf Coast met with two other low-pressure systems, one from the Southwest and one from Canada, to create one of the worst snowstorms the Midwest has ever seen.
January 26, 1978, fell on a Thursday. I remember the storm starting the night before. Schools were closed on Thursday (which was a rarity back in 1978) in anticipation of all the snow. My father went into work that morning. He called at about 10 am and told me to get out and get the driveway cleared so that when he got home he could get his car off the road and into the driveway. I spent a few hours shoveling (we had no snow blower back then) to clear just enough room for the car. That was right about the time a snow plow went through and filled the driveway back up. It was time for round two of shoveling.
At the time I lived on First Street, NW, in Grand Rapids, right across from I-196. There was no traffic on the interstate for a few days. The only mode of transportation for most people was either a snowmobile (it was weird seeing snowmobiles going down city streets), or skis. Very few people owned 4-wheel drive vehicles. I remember radio and TV stations asking for volunteers with 4-wheel vehicles to help transport medical personnel to the area hospitals. Grand Rapids Public Schools remained closed until the following Monday.
WOOD TV 8’s Bill Steffen (who was working at WZZM TV-13 at the time) spent several days at the television station without ever leaving. He remembers “The Blizzard of 1978 ranks as the #1 snowstorm ever for Grand Rapids and much of Lower Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. The barometer reading of 28.28″ in Cleveland still ranks as the lowest non-hurricane barometer reading in U.S. history. Grand Rapids also set a record barometer reading 28.68″. Grand Rapids had 15″ of snow in about 15 hours (19.2 total). Muskegon picked up 52″ of snow in 4 days. Wind gusts of 42 mph blew the snow off roofs. The storm hit on a Wednesday Night, and many schools didn’t reopen until the following Monday. Some were closed for nearly two weeks. The heavy snow started shortly after 10 PM on 1/25. All air and rail service came to a halt. Seventy deaths were blamed on the storm. The National Guard were called out in Michigan and Ohio. Over 125.000 vehicles were abandoned in the storm. It took 3 to 5 days to move the abandoned cars and open the expressways. After this, we had the coldest February ever in G.R. and the 5th coldest March. Snow piles from the storm lingered into April.” Here is a post on Bill’s Blog about the storm.
The snow storm is ranked in the “Top 10 Big, Bad Blizzards” by Time Magazine.
The storm even has it’s own Wikipedia page!
Nick Ryberg used all 8-1/2 minutes of Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” to put these pictures to music. (I’m not sure how many of these pictures were taken in Grand Rapids. I wish I knew what happened to the few pictures I had of the storm.)
What are your memories of the “Blizzard of ’78”? Leave your comments below…
Photo: YouTube/Rights and Justice for All
80 Comments
Was a Freshman at CMU. Classes were canceled on Thursday and Friday. The college opened up Finch Fieldhouse and Rose Center for basketball, volleyball, racquetball and swimming. By Saturday morning, all alcoholic beverages had been sold out in Mount Pleasant. It was a crazy 4 day weekend to say the least!
I was a freshman at CMU too! One of my roommate’s boyfriends and a few of his friends at Ferris were going to pick her up and drive down to Detroit. They made it to CMU but no further. Dorm room was packed with 8 people. 7-11 next to my dorm sold out of things in minutes. Couldn’t get to classes but COULD make it to the Wayside bar:) Not a car in the lot but it was standing room only at the bar!!
OMG “STRANGLEHOLD” great tune to dance to!*🔔😎🎼🌳👊🎺⭐💚💃💃💃💃💃💃💃💃💃💃come on come on now!🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳
nice
I was so in love with my 1st.. Love the sun shined around us 😘😀😘😀❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks for the entertainment and Memories Scott. 😊
lived on Merrill rd in Merrill mich my husband drove every day to Pontiac michigan he worked 2nd shift worried so about him getting home he bucked that snow no 4×4 then just a chevy truck took him about close to 4 hours to get through all that blinding snow when he got there he just got the truck in of the road an it died lift hood of the truck could not see the motor backed with snow how lucky we were that he got home to be with his family just saying what great man he was want to say God sure answered our prays that day thank him for that
I was in Flint. Our Volkswagen was buried .
Went to work …National Guard picked me up ..was there for 3 days Bay Medical Care Facility.
Lived in Karlin with my Grandma – up near Traverse City. I was only 3 when this happened, but I remember playing in all that snow afterwards. My grandma shoveled the driveway herself. My aunt and cousins made tunnels in all that snow and my grandma was worried it would collapse on us and we would die. Her house has windows that are pretty high up because of the basement, but the snow was all the way up to them!
I remember jumping out of the 3rd story Dorms at CMU into the snow.
Love that
My husband and I were married the week of the blizzard of ‘78. I remember the blizzard like it was yesterday. People were snowed in everywhere. We were so concerned we may need to postpone our marriage, or the possibility not many people could come to our wedding because they were snowed in. Fortunately our wedding plans went as scheduled and everyone came to celebrate. We are now celebrating our 41st wedding anniversary on February 3rd.
I was 8. I still can see all the snow where we lived at 4212 Woodworth, Holt, Michigan. My mom would make us furniture in the snow and my brother and I would dig out and build snow forts with the neighbor kids. At night we would all sled in the streets for hours. Those were the greatest days ever. Kids today will never know or understand the fun. Best memories ever. I also remember the ice storm Lansing had on New Years Eve. I was in 6th ot 7th grade babysitting with a friend. Icicles everywhere. Traffic lights out and roads sheet of ice.
PInckney MI Ten foot snow drifts on the roads plowed to allow one car to pass thru. Had to use a front end loader to clear our driveway. Will never forget it!
I was a senior at Michigan State, which was closed for only the second time. I still have the newspaper photo of some guys rolling a keg of beer down Grand River Ave (drinking age of 18 back then), and remember wading through waist high snow to go to a party. MSU rarely closed so it was a huge deal at the time.
First year post college grad job. Lived in Grand Rapids not far from downtown. It wa the first time I saw construction vehicles clearing the streets…
And while shoveling out my car, I finally met the very cute boy next door that I had been ogling from my Victorian loft apartment. Fun memory walk.
We lived outside Rockford, we had a snowblower delivered all gassed up and my husband blew his way home, all the neighbors that had blowers got together and cleaned the road. Kids were climbing up snow banks to garage roofs and sliding off. Snowmobiles were going in for grocery.
I remember it well, we lived ain a rural area of Mason, my father and neighbor had to Eventually shovel a path to the main road so we can get bread milk the general necessities. I was only 14 years old man school was closed for a week no snow plow came down the road for that long as well. Wow what a storm
I remember I didnot have any boots and I had to wrap trash bags around my legs and walk to the shoe store to buy boots. Lololololol lasting memories
My husband and I were married the week of the blizzard of ‘78. I remember the blizzard like it was yesterday. People were snowed in everywhere. We were so concerned we may need to postpone our wedding, or the possibility not many people could attend our wedding because they were snowed in. Fortunately our wedding plans went as scheduled and everyone came to celebrate. We are now celebrating our 41st wedding anniversary on February 3rd.
I was 5 when it happened, living in Ravenna, MI. My dad rode a snowmobile or a ATV to the farm that was 2 miles away. He rode the snowmobile into town that was 10 miles to get our mail and groceries. We didn’t find our mailbox until May!
I lived in Bay City, Michigan in 1978. I remember having a Chevy Blazer and picking doctors and nurses up to take them to the hospitals.
At CMU, first time in 7 years the school closed for weather. Beer trucks couldn’t get through. Town went dry. lol. We took trays from the cafeteria to the football stadium and “trayed” down the hill. Made snow forts like we were kids. The snow was piled so high by the scoreboard bldg, that we climbed up and jumped off. Found out in the spring that there were short cement pillars under all that snow. Dumb college students have a LOT of fun. So much so, that 41 years later, we can still recall what we did and how much fun we had.
We lived on Saginaw Bay in Bangor Township. During the storm, wind gusts reached 70 mph. Miraculously, we didn’t lose power! Drifts were so high we could have stepped off them onto our 2 story roof. Our cars were completely buried. It took 2 days to dig out around them. The snowplow came through on day 5. When the storm was still raging, my nursing supervisor called me to see if I could get to work. She had NO idea how much worse conditions were out on the Bay. I opened the back door and the wind literally sucked the air out of my lungs! I went back to the phone and said, “Nope”. If medical employees could make it to a main road, emergency volunteers on snowmobiles or 4 wheel drives, would try to pick you up to staff the hospital. I was a young mom and an operating room nurse and lived miles from work. I thought it was way too dangerous and risky to attempt to get to work. Many employees lived in town, much closer to the hospital. Nurses and employees who were at the hospital, stayed at the hospital.
I believe I was 11 years old live in Alpena mi. Our house was about half way covered up to the windows in areas. Didnt need a ladder to crawl on roof to shovel it off. Best week off school ever. LOL!! I remember my brother scaring the crap outta my mom. She was doing dishes and he jumped off the roof right in front of the window. Freaked her right out. LOL!!
We lived in BridgepotMi. I had the only gas stove in the neighborhood. Also the only one making coffee in an old camping percolator. My house was like a Starbucks. 🤩. All the neighbors came over each morning to get their coffee fix. It was a great memory. Splitting firewood to heat the house with the fireplace not so much.
I was in the National Guard, 46Mp Co, we were activated to help with emergency situations in Lansing.
I worked at an S.S.Kresge store in Madison Heights Michigan and we opened for business despite the weather. I worked in the Ladies Clothing Department which was called Ready to Wear. Few employees came in so I was asked to help “man” the grill in the cafeteria. I had never done any work in the food industry, yet did my best. Grilled sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. We had crank registers that you could use without power, and we stayed open despite power outages. Our manager finally conceded and closed the store when he became concerned about shoplifting possibilities! I’ll never forget it! I was 22.
My husband’s dad died in this storm 🙁
I REMEMBER ALL THAT SNOW…MY MOTHER HAD MY BROTHER AND HIS FRIENDS UNBURY HER OLD CAR…GOOD LORD WE HAD SO MUCH FUN….BUT THE BEST WAS NEW YEARS EVE IN 79 …I MOVED TO TAMPA ,FLORIDA AND STAYED THERE FOR 25 YEARS….I NOW LIVE IN THE LANSING AREA AND LOOK AT IT NOW…..COLDER THAN HELL….I CAN’T REMEMBER EVER SEEING -25….SHIT….WATCH OUT FLORIDA HERE I COME AGAIN
Well..my niece born that day and was so terrible take my sis to the hospital..we had to walk w her 2 blocks to Norwegian Hospital…the people in the streets helped us, cuz no car can’t turn on..was really a negative experience ..but thanks to GOD we made…
I drove my father to the emergency room around 9:30 am…storm was just starting. He was having complications due to cancer. He was admitted later in the afternoon.
Of course I don’t remember the storm, I was only 1 1/2 years old when it happen… my mom passed away December 2017 so I can’t even ask her about it…
i lived in Alma Michigan i remember getting on my snowmobile with a friend we rode our snowmobiles out to the freeway and hauled people from there stuck cars to the big boy resturant most didn’t have hats or gloves but we’re glad to get there people were hauling emergency people to and from the hospital to work
My father was a Dr. living on Green lake, south of Grand Rapids, he arranged with milk farmers and snow plow drivers to get either to the hospital or his office, for at least a week. The snow plow would pick up the milk trucks and then come by my dad’s house and he would follow. That was the only way he could get out!
I was just getting out of class at Wayne State Law School at Cass & Ferris in the New Center area of Detroit. Trying to get home to Novi we finally made it to 13 Mile Rd at Novi Road and got stuck on an impassable 13 Mile Road, when friendly folks on snowmobiles picked us up and took us home from there. No cars made it.
I missed it all. I had moved to Columbia, South Carolina. My parents and siblings were still in Michigan. So, they told me all about it.
We lived in Bay City. I was 3 months pregnant for our first child. The thing that struck me was that after the storm stopped, there was snow plastered on every side of our house from the terrible, swirling winds!
I was living in St Louis and I remember ice skating in the front yard I was 13
My wife and I were married on the Saturday before the blizzard and to call the honeymoon off and run back and take care her 8 year old. We had a turkey ham so we had food. After a while we were running out of meals featuring turkey ham. We played a lot of board games and card games.
So much snow and drifts I lived outside the city limits in,Bronson, Mi had a truck plow and a road grader stuck on our road the town shut down that was bad.
Every time the ‘78 reminiscences appear I have to share mine. Loaded with an enclosed uHaul trailer attached to my olive green 1971 Dodge, I left Connecticut just as the snow began to fall, headed to Pueblo, Colorado. I drove for 5 days in the most treacherous snowstorm weather imaginable thru PA, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas. It snowed all five days with only me and trucks on the interstates. The trip should have taken 3 days, i drive through parts of the night until I hit Dodge City, KS, credit card maxed out. I have never been so scared in my life at 27, I had never been cross country before that.
I was 11. Missed school for two weeks. Had to shovel quite a bit, but had lots of fun in the snow.
I was a freshman at Western Michigan Univ. School was closed. Everything was closed. It was 50 below zero with the wind chill factor.sniw drifts were 20ft tall. I had a friend to get drunk and jump out of a 2nd story window Of Eicher Hall in Valley II into a 20 ft snow drift unwittingly hitting a garbage can and breaking his back. It was a crazy time.
I was 14 at the time. We were living in Grand Rapids up Lake Michigan Dr hill. We had a snowmobile and my older brother and me were making trips to Great Day in Edison Plaza for our neighbors. Only thing we couldn’t get was cigarettes and alcohol for them. He did take some neighbors so they could get some.
I was 8 years and remember well. We lived on regal street in Traverse City in a three story house, and the snow was piled all the way to the roof of the house!! We were able to walk right onto the roof.
I lived in Chatham, Ontario Canada about 50 miles from Detroit. We had snow drifts up to the top of our patio doors! No school for days and my father who was president of the local snowmobile club was out for hours recusing people stranded on the 401 hwy in their cars. That storm was definitely epic!
I was the manager of the Park Plaza Hotel in New Haven Comn ,we had the walter camp football convention that weekend starting on Thursday The state was cloesed .the formal dinner was cancell on Friday night if was being held at Yale university , but on Saturday we had a luncheon for 600 young kids to come see the players , i was ask to attend a meeting in the Presidential suite with general manager and the President of the WCFF they look at me and ask if i thought we can put together a team together to pull this luncheon off ,I Said YES you get the kids hera I’ll get the food. out ,everyone showed up ,it was hell of a experience
i was the manager of the park plaza hotel in new haven at the time we had the walter camp football foundation weekend convention . the state was close but we still decided to hold a 600 person lucnheon on sat , they where all yound kids to come see the players ,everyone showed up , it one hell of experience i remember tbe General manager and the President of W C F C call me to the Presidential s suit ask me if i thought we can pull this off I Said YES
I was 5 years old so don’t remember, lol. I’d been happy playing in all that snow though!
We lived in Plymouth MI. My husband plowed snow non stop for days. When not plowing, he checked on our elderly neighbors & made several runs for medicine & food. Carl Glass was their hero.
That snow lasted for months. We sold our home & bought another house. Never saw what it looked like outside or landscaping. Just drifts everywhere.
Our son loved that snow.
I also remember people had trouble trying to open storm doors. Think about it! People couldn’t see through windows.
Driving was treacherous for quite a while. Snow so high it was hard to see around corners.
I’m from Kalamazoo but lived in Stevensville at the time. Talk about “Lake effect “ snow coming from Lake Michigan! The snow was up to the eaves on our duplex. After we shoveled out enough to get the snow mobile out off we went down I 94 to meet up with another couple on theirs! We helped out a few stranded motorists and ended up as the only people at the only restaurant open! What a blast!
We had to take our family from Shields Mi to bay city to get a room in hotel. All our electricity was out and we were lighting our oven for days and police came by telling everyone to get out if they only had the stove.
Still living across the pond in the UK, so never saw this blizzard!
Stuck at Grand Valley State Colleges, as it was called then. I think the food service stopped . A bunch of us went into the ravines and started jumping into snow over our heads. Only something you can do when you are young. It was a 5 day party basically.
We lived in the thumb area of Michigan in a small town called Peck. We had no power for a week. Our friend had a gas stove so we walked to his place to eat & he stayed at our house at night as we had gas radiators. Snow drifts made it impossible to leave. We were young & it was exciting. We made some lifetime friends in our small town that week as we were all in the ‘blizzard’ together.
Remembering those days in mt. Clemens was so much fun.
Walking to school in that stuff was a life time memory.
I lived in milwaukee and was 6. My dad built all of my siblings tubing pathways we could crawl through because it was so deep. Cars road around with those bright orange flags high on their antenna so you could see them coming.
I was out side in my back yard building a igloo with the red block having fun i was a teenage back then.
I lived in Dewitt mi just out side of Lansing mi I had a white 71 duster I to dig 3 holes before I found it. I got to rest up on the sleep I had been missing. I have told the story of that storm many times to my kids. With all the equipment me have now they couldn’t believe we couldn’t go anywhere for days unless we walked.
I worked the afternoon shift at Children’s Hospital in Detroit. The snow was so bad the midnight shift and the day shift didn’t make it to the hospital. After 36 hours nurse’s and other medical personnel were being picked up by people who had Trucks and 4 by 4. My drive home was scary one lane sort of open No one on the road. When I got to the side street I could barely get my car though. At the last few feet to my street another car decided to play chicken with me and I almost went flying down a hill. When I got home I had to shovel to get in the driveway. I slept 12 hours after that.
Hey Scott what a strange coincidence
We lived on First St NW too at that time. We had a large family and we lived in 1012 the only house that was set back off the street and had large front yard.
I was a senior at Flushing high school. After being snowed in for 3 days, my friend who was staying at my house and I, walked through thigh high drifts, 2 miles to a main road where some friends picked us up to go to a party.
We lived in Muskegon I was pregnant with my 2nd child but wasn’t due for another 2 months but started leaking amniotic fluid and completely snow in. My husband was out of town and I was home with our other 5 year old. I can tell you I was very scared!
On that day It also snowed in New York. The NYC elevated train in Brooklyn was stuck on the frozen tracks. I met my husband on that train. He walked me home in the snow. It was about a mile. A year later I gave birth to my beautiful daughter.
I was 16 and lived in rural Grand Blanc on a dead end road. The plow didn’t get to us for 5 days, which was fine with us. Memories of jumping off of antenna towers and making standing room snow forts is what I think of when remembering that storm. Now, as an adult, I would have worried every minute of it.
I was 8, living in Utica, now Shelby Twp.
My dad was a surveyor, cleaned a spot on the driveway to put his measuring rod next to snow bank and read alittle over 5′.
It would be nice to get a shirt of ” surviving blizzard of 78″ for a keep sake..now 48yrs old
I don’t remember this one but I lived in Chicago during the winter storm of 67. It stopped the entire city for two days
My mom had a friend visiting from Florida with 4 kids. The kids had never seen snow before and were not prepared for the funfest we were about to have! We gathered any and all outdoor gear, tube socks for mittens, whatever we could find. We took them outside and built some cover, and the snowball fight commenced!
We made forts and snow people, dug tunnels, made igloos. So much fun! One of my best memories 💕
Thanks for the article. It sure brings back memories for me. I was working at Bank of the Commonwealth downtown Detroit. All of the banks closed at 2pm because the buses were going to stop running. My sister worked at Manufacturer’s bank and had driven to work so she picked me up along with a couple other girls shortly after 2:00. We didn’t make it home to Allen Park until 7:15. I can remember the snow was coming down so hard, every second swipe the wiper blades couldn’t move. At one point two of us walked a block ahead to a Cunningham’s Drug store and bought snacks for everyone. The car hadn’t moved when we got back.
i was 13 living in boston mass i can still remember this day like if it just happend yesterday every time it snow it brings back that memory i loved it.
Who is doing the music, I don’t remember but I like it.
Ted Nugent
It was our first winter in our new home on Big Crooked Lake, Grattan, MI. Since we were on a private drive, we were responsible to keep the snow under management. As soon as it was cleared by residents who had snow blowers, plows on 4 wheelers, it was totally snowed over again within 30 minutes. So we let it go, gathering together with whatever food we could prepare so everyone had a good meal within each day. It was a social bonding of friendship that began a lasting bond for several years. June 3, 2019 will mark 42 years!!!
I lived in New York. The snow was above my 2 years old child. The Long Island expressway was closed down. After that storm we moved to San Diego.
We lived in Grand Rapids Mi on oak dale st off Eastern st. Boy I remember this everyone that had kids had a sled so that was the only way we could get to the store so that’s all you saw in the streets it was cold but so much fun we have two girls they were about 2 and 4 they enjoyed the ride in the sled. Those were the days so much unity back then everyone helped one another even if you didn’t know them. You met so many new people. Those were cold days but fun days. I now live in Ga. and I don’t miss the snow no matter how much or not much snow still love my home town but never want to move back there sorry to all you true Michiganders. Now when we get a little dusting here they shut down the city and please don’t go to the store because you will not find any milk, eggs, or bread I really don’t understand that what could you make with those items
I was only six years old at the time. We lived in Stilesgate, which is near the intersection of 36th St. and Kalamazoo Avenue. Luckily my dad had our four snowmobiles in the garage. He and some of the neighbors would take our snowmobiles up to the 28th and Kalamazoo Meijer to help out the neighbors. I remember me and my three older siblings getting her picture taken at the end of the driveway. The snow was over my head and we could see jthe top of the mailbox at.