Blizzard of 1967

If you have ever lived in Upstate New York, you will most likely be familiar with the term “Lake Effect Snow.” What this means is Syracuse gets more snow due to Lake Effect Snow than the city would get otherwise. My mom, Carole, hated snow, but had lived in New York State all her life experiencing her share of this Lake Effect Snow.

Dad, on the other hand, was quite used to this phenomenon, because he too had lived in New York all his life. His younger brother Allan was in the same boat as his wife Ann Marie and their five boys. They lived on a three-acre lot in Lafayette, which had more deer than it did people. Uncle Al bought three snowmobiles which his sons Mark, Eric, Scott, and Skippy (Allan Junior) drove just about everyday there was snow on the ground which was every day from late November to the first weeks of April. Robbie, their youngest was still an infant at the time. From what was told to me, they would get an additional foot of Lake Effect Snow. According to the oldest, Mark once told me the extra foot of snow made the snowmobile go faster. I believed him, too.

The lake that produced this effect was Lake Ontario, the first of the five Great Lakes. Fed by the St. Lawrance River, Lake Ontario could produce some serious Lake Effect snow. In 1967, I was eleven years old and in the seventh grade at St. Matthes, a parochial school in our St. Matthew’s parish. Snow days were the best as far as I was concerned. Snow days meant that I would get out the sled and meet my friends at a nearby hill.

Mom would stay indoors all day looking out the window as the snow accumulated in the yard. She would be wearing her sweater or two and her long underwear and till be chilled to the bone. With his studded snow tires, dad would still make it into the office. Having grown up with a ferocious work ethic, he believed in hard word and effort. He demanded the same from me in my school work. I did alright, but he always wanted me to do better.

Both my brothers Steve and Tom were still too young to go to school, but I could tell both of them would give me a run for my money academically. Both of them could read which made me leery of them. From what mom told me, she loved school and always got A’s. I got mostly A’s, but some B’s and C’s. If I went below C level, I would immediately hear from dad, but that happened just one time. Never again.

There was almost no snow on the ground on January 25, 1967. This was not common for Syracuse and people were starting to wonder if we would have an early spring. If we went without snow into February, people would start talking about the end of the world. During Christmas Break, the two inches of snow was just a dusting. Later into the break, the temperature reached forty degrees and the dusting of snow disappeared and became puddles.

“I wish we had some snow.” I said at the dinner table.

“Frosty, eat you dinner.” Mom glared at me.

While Stephen picked at his plate, Tommy dug in, clearing his plate before the rest of us finished dinner. Tommy was a cute imp with chubby checks and belly. He asked for more and ate that as well.

“I want to use my new sled.” I whined.

“I can live without the snow.” Mom said sharply.

“Me too.” Dad chimed in, “My back is hurting and if I have to shovel snow, I’m sure it will hurt like heck.”

All I kept thinking about was that new sled Santa Claus gave me that was hanging idly in the garage. I was hoping by now I’d be sailing down a hill on top of my sled with some of my neighborhood cronies.

Billy Snowden was already bragging about owning the fastest sled in Franklin Park. He was in my class at school, and he was always claiming he was the best at this or that. While he was a pain in the ass, he was cool to hang out with. He had two older brothers who were in high school and drinking beer they had taken from their father’s liquor cabinet. Billy even confided in me that they had given him a beer. He told me he drank half before vomiting into the toilet.

Lisa Mayhan was part of the neighborhood gang because she was a Tomboy and told everyone she could do what the boys could. Turs out she was right for the most part. She played Little League and soccer on the boys’ team.I made the mistake of arm wrestling her during recess. I never lived that one down either. Losing to a girl at arm wrestling is humiliating to say the least.

“I’m gonna play football when I got to college.” She affirmed at lunch at school.

“They ain’t gonna let some girl play football.” Lester Madison shook his head and laughed.

If anyone could do it, Lisa Mayhan would be the one.

When I went to bed the night of January 25, I had no idea what would be waiting for me in the morning. Mom was putting Stephen to bed when a weather report flashed across the television screen declaring a weather watch of falling snow.

“Well, it’s about time.” I mumbled to myself as mom returned from my brother’s room.

“What’s this?” She got there just in time to see the weather alert.

“It says we’re supposed to get a few inches of snow during the night.” Dad pushed aside the newspaper he was reading.

“Great.” Mom flopped on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest, “I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow.”

“I doubt it will snow that much.” Dad shrugged returning to his newspaper.

I didn’t care as long as enough of the powder fell so I could finally get my new sled on a hill. Hoping that the snow would continue after school instead of a dusting that would completely be melted off by the time I got home from school. As far as I was concerned, this was good news.

“Frosty, it’s almost bed time.” Mom informed me as I was watching Bewitched.

“Can I watch the rest of this show, please.” I requested.

“Alright, but when it’s over, get ready for bed.” She was still irritated with the weather alert.

Most of my school chums got to stay up an hour more than I did. I wanted to bring that to her attention soon so I could start feeling like I was growing up. I could understand both my brothers would have an earlier bed time, but I wanted to watch adult television. I was getting old enough. In a couple of years, I’d be in high school. I could hardly wait.

“Alright, the show is over. Time to get ready for bed.” Mom said.

“Okay.” I stood up and wandered into the bathroom to brush my teeth and put my pajamas on. Looking in the mirror, I thought I saw a whisker or two, but upon a closer examination, I saw it was only dirt. I wiped it off so I would not get dinged for that.

I cannot describe the miracle that took place overnight while I slept, but it was really something I had never experienced before or since. The snow that fell did not accumulate in inches, no, the snow that fell accumulated in feet. Along with the heavy snowfall, the wind came screeching down from the north.

“Oh my God!” I heard mom exclaim from the big picture window in the living room. I was brushing my teeth when I heard her so, I spit out the toothpaste in my mouth and went to see what the problem was. When I saw it, I blinked my eyes several times. Our screened in porch had snow piled up to almost the top of the door.

Dad came in and stood next to her. He was wearing his winter coat, thick mittens and his winter boots and was out of breath.

“I don’t think I’m gonna make it into the office.” He shook his head.

Mom parked her car in the garage, but dad had his car in the driveway. When I looked all I saw was a snowbank where the car was parked the night before. The snowbank was almost ten feet tall according to my estimation.

“I never expected this.” Mom said as she shook her head.

“Neither did I.” Dad said as he was taken completely by surprise.

On January 26, 1967, the entire city of Syracuse was paralyzed by a unexpected blizzard that dumped about four feet of snow, maybe more.

“How will I get to the store?” Mom gasped.

Being the good son I was sometimes known to be, I suggested, “I have a sled. We can walk there and put the groceries on it.”

“I guess we have no choice.” Mom nodded sadly.

“Good idea.” He smiled at me.

“Shall I finish getting ready for school?” I asked with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

“Oh Frosty, there won’t be any school today.” Mom bowed her head.

I just wanted to hear it being said aloud. Now my dream had come true.

“Frosty, I’m gonna need you to help me dig out the car and start clearing the driveway.” Dad pointed.

Suddenly my dream had shattered into a million pieces.

He led me through the garage, but when he opened the garage door, the four feet of snow pushed up against the garage crumbled, falling into the garage behind mom’s Oldsmobile. With shovel in hand, I followed my dad into waist deep snow.

Dad’s Ford was under the snowbank, but the more he tried to knock the snow off, the more the snow piled into the driveway. Now I beginning to know how Sisyphus felt. After an hour of hard labor, we had cleared a few feet of snow from his car and a small area of the driveway. At this rate, I figured that we’d have some of it cleared by my current bedtime.

The wind whipped the snow that had fallen into drifts all around the house. After two hours we were both exhausted. As soon as we had one area cleared, the wind would blow the snow back into the area we had cleared. It was the first time I had ever seen my father defeated.

“This the most snow I have ever seen.” He confessed. To me this was a declaration of surrender. “My back is killing me. C’mon Frosty, let’s go inside.”

He did not have to tell me twice. Even wearing my down line coat, snow pants, mittens, a scarf, and a woolen hat, I was chilled to the bone. My dream of sledding on a declared snow day had vanished. All I could see what the snow and with it, I discovered what snow-blindness was all about.

When I walked into the kitchen through the garage, the entire kitchen was yellow. Snow blindness can be serious causing damage to your eyes.

“How is it?” Mom asked.

“Awful.” Dad shook his head.

“Frosty, can I use the sled?” Mom asked.

“Of course.” I shrugged as my eyes began to adjust to being indoors.

“Snow is still coming down pretty hard.” Dad told her.

“I’ll go with you mom.” I raised my hand like I did in class.

“Thank you sweetheart.” He kissed me on the cheek.

“I’ve got to call the office.” Dad said.

“George, how many people do you think made it to the office today?” Mom shook her head. “I’m only get what we will need to get us through. How long do you think the roads will be closed?”

Dad didn’t say a thing; he just stared at her.

After mom got on her winter wear, I got my plastic sled off the hanger it was hanging on from the garage. The plastic sled would ride over the snow until we put the groceries on it, but it would still be easier than hauling them from the store down the street. Normally it would take about a minute to reach the parking lot, but this was like nothing we had ever seen before.

Each step we took was a major effort. If you ever walked in deep snow you have a pretty good idea of the exertion each step took. As close as the Acme Grocery store was in normal weather, the blowing snow made it seem like a monumental task.

When we finally got to the store, mom went down each aisle and got whatever we could not live without. The two gallons of milk did not seem too difficult until we put the four paper bags on my sled. Due to the weight of the bags, my sled sunk about two feet into the snow. I noticed some cars were stuck in the ditch on Kirk Road trying to drive through the blizzard.

When we finally made it home after almost an hour of struggling through the snow packed road, dad was seated with Tommy watching the news reports telling everyone to stay put until the roads were cleared. They were estimating it might take up to six days for the roads to be completely cleared. Dad had also called his brother Allan and found out it was even worse out there in Lafeyette. Aunt Ann Marie had gone shopping the day before, because she had sensed a storm was on its way, a storm much more powerful than the Lake Effect snow we were used to. Having been raised a French Canadian, she was well aware of these types of weather conditions. According to her, the boys were having a hot dog feast using skewers over the fireplace in their living room. I wished I was there. They would be having a blast on their snowmobiles.

Looking out the window, the wind had filled in the area we cleared out of the driveway. Even if we had another snow day, I would most likely not be able to take my sled out on the hill. This was a horrible irony to me having the snow fall and not being able to get to the hills and go sledding.

“Frosty, I can’t thank you enough helping me this afternoon.” Mom said as she put away the groceries we haul in.

“I don’t think I’ll be going into the office tomorrow.” Dad was more than a bit morose about it. “We had some heavy snowfall when I was your age, Frosty. I don’t recall ever a time when I could not get to where I wanted to go.”

By nightfall the snow had stopped falling, but the wind continued through the night. Snowplows were able to get to some of the main roads, but it would be a while before Greentree Drive where we lived would be plowed.

The next day dad and I managed to dig out his car. The wind was not blowing like it had for the past twenty-four hours. After another snow day, the weekend followed and by Monday we thought we’d have to go to school, but they gave us a third snow day just to be sure the roads were safe again. This time I met Billy, Lisa and Lester, sleds in hand as we raced down the hill. No one ever warns you that once you reach the bottom of the hill, you have to trek all the way back up hill to do it all again, but it’s worth it. Yeah, it’s really worth it.

The blizzard of 1967 was a big deal at the time. Though Syracuse has had its share of Lake Effect snow, the Blizzard of 1967 was a once in a lifetime event.

So, the next time you are out in a field and the snow starts to fall, as you stick out your tongue to catch a few harmless snowflakes, remember those innocent flakes can turn into a very unexpected storm as it did for use back on January 26, 1967 when the world became a winter wonderland.