Snow Bound 2010 or 1973

Clearly, I have not posted too often on this blog. However, today we find ourselves snowbound in our house AND we expect to be here for several more days. This early February storm is historic for the Washington, DC, area. It is also historic for us. But as historic, as it is, it reminds us of another storm.

Iowa is the location, a more appropriate place for historic blizzards, and the year was 1973. We were approaching the end of our first winter at Iowa State University. We were living in University Village, a university-owned housing populate mostly by graduate students with families. Our girls were 7 and 3 years of age, respectively. The winter had been hard on us all. A major change from our previous home in Austin, Texas. Ames, Iowa, was then, and I expect remains, a wonderful small city with a major university. Schools were great, people friendly and helpful and for the most part we were comfortable if somewhat cold from what seemed to be an eternal winter.

That winter in Ames, the weather had been warm enough that most of the snow removal equipment had been placed in storage by late March. While my memory is a little vague, some web research reveals some details and a photo or two. The snow began on April 8 and continued through the 10th. The snowfall totals were "only" in the 15 to 20", but wind speeds ran up to about 70 miles an hour, and there was a lot of thunder. It was, I believe, the first time many of our neighbors in student housing had ever experience a thunder snowstorm. The windblown snow buried our cars beneath many feet of snow. The drifts started at the roof-line of our two store student apartment. I guess that that would be about 15-18 feet at the peak. The drifts extended over the parking areas burying the cars. The wind was so fierce that it packed snow under the cars and into the engine compartment. The cars were frozen in place. The photo above was borrowed from the KCRG-TV (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) website. The storm is considered one of the all-time largest snows in Iowa.

From inside the apartment, we could not see out from the lower floor because the drifts covered the view from the windows and doors. However, because of the roof-line configuration, the drifts were about 18" from the actual windows and doors creating a small walkway near the unit. Getting out was not easy, but some gaps did exist.

On a positive note, the weather improve rapidly following the blizzard. And even though at that time it was the only time the Iowa State University campus had been closed for snowfall, the challenge was to dig out the cars. I worked almost all day along with many others digging out our cars (with some snowball fights and hot chocolate thrown in for warmth). Unfortunately, I got too warm moving the snow and caught one of the worst colds I have ever experience missing work for most of the next week.

I was pleased to learn from my web research that the Iowa Blizzard of 1973 is considered one of the worst in modern history and not just the poor memory of a Texan in a snow storm.