Remember When Evansville Was Covered In 6 ft Snow Drifts?

If you think we have had some bad winter weather over the years with a foot, or so, of snow, imagine a snow storm that dumped enough snow that made literal walls of icy show drifts. Drifts that came up to the bottom, or even over your windows. That is exactly what happened during back to back Winters in the late 70's.

During the severe midwest Winter of 1977 and 1978, I was in grade school in Terre Haute, IN. We missed about 2 weeks of school because of the extreme about of snow. I remember it snowing like you see in the movies, It was really blizzard conditions. No one left their house. The wind and snow made viability nearly impossible. It was a state of emergency in much of the Ohio and Wabash Valley's.

What made the conditions even worse that they were was that the giant snow drifts were covered with a sheet of ice. Yep, right after the blizzard, we had an ice storm. The ice was the snow drifts into hard structures and walls. Even though it was an extremely awful winter situation, it was so beautiful. Everything sparked in the sun. Every branch was covered in ice and the ice covered snow was like something out of a magical fairy tale.

I lived in Terre Haute, IN during the time of the blizzards. My favorite memory is of the 6 to 8 ft. snow drifts, that were covered in ice, was the fact that we could play on top of them without sinking into the snow drifts. That meant we could play on top of them. My little brother and I played with our Matchbox cars and dump trucks on the frozen hills in our backyard. We even played hockey with sticks and a small ball on top of the icy drifts. As an adult, I realize how crazy and dangerous those Winters were for families. But as a kid, it was the best!!

Take a look at what it looked in the Evansville and the Tristate in January of 1977, with snow and extreme temps, and 1978, with the enormous snow drifts and blizzard that hit us HARD!!