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Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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Milford, Delaware 19963
I was born and raised in the Poconos in PA and growing up in the 1940's and 1950's we had large snow storms nearly every year. 20" - 24" were not at all uncommon. In 1956 I spent the winter at Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago and there was at least one pretty heave snowfall. 1957 I was in RI/MA and there was more than enough snow that year including one of about 20" In 1958 I was out of the country but in my home town they had one of 24" and another of 41". In 1959 I was back in the Poconos and we had one of 24" and three or 4 of 10 -12 inches, snow on the ground from December to April. 1960 -67 I was near Poughkeepsie NY and there was at least one 18" + snow every year. We moved to near Binghamton Ny. In 1968 and 1969 we had a 28" snowfall each of those years and ever year until 1975 we had much snow. Then in 1975/76 we started getting almost nothing and got next to no snow for about 15 years and no big storms at all. Our area had been a big snowmobile area because it was rural and there were lots of off-road places to ride...there were dealers selling snowmobiles all over the place. By 1978 they were all out of business and locals had to truck there snowmobiles to the Adirondacks or Catskills to ride.

I'm not sure how it stacks up there today but it seems like it is somewhere between pre-1975 and 1975 -1991 and moving back toward more snow.

What has it seemed like in the area's you're familiar with.
 
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Smitty37 said:
I was born and raised in the Poconos in PA and growing up in the 1940's and 1950's we had large snow storms nearly every year. 20" - 24" were not at all uncommon. In 1956 I spent the winter at Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago and there was at least one pretty heave snowfall. 1957 I was in RI/MA and there was more than enough snow that year including one of about 20" In 1958 I was out of the country but in my home town they had one of 24" and another of 41". In 1959 I was back in the Poconos and we had one of 24" and three or 4 of 10 -12 inches, snow on the ground from December to April. 1960 -67 I was near Poughkeepsie NY and there was at least one 18" + snow every year. We moved to near Binghamton Ny. In 1968 and 1969 we had a 28" snowfall each of those years and ever year until 1975 we had much snow. Then in 1975/76 we started getting almost nothing and got next to no snow for about 15 years and no big storms at all. Our area had been a big snowmobile area because it was rural and there were lots of off-road places to ride...there were dealers selling snowmobiles all over the place. By 1978 they were all out of business and locals had to truck there snowmobiles to the Adirondacks or Catskills to ride.

I'm not sure how it stacks up there today but it seems like it is somewhere between pre-1975 and 1975 -1991 and moving back toward more snow.

What has it seemed like in the area's you're familiar with.
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I was born in East Texas and the first time I saw snow was in 1953 in Borger, Texas up in the panhandle... I was 12.

I thought it was a neat scene, until I'd been out in it a few hours, then realized how cold I was getting....(I'm a wuss about cold - I admit it)

In 1954 we moved back to East Texas midway between Dallas and Houston and didn't see snow again until about 1976 when we went from San Francisco up to Lake Tahoe for a weekend with my wife and kids and the neighbor's wife and kids... he was supposed to join us, but never did... it came a heavy snow on Saturday and kept falling into Sunday... we decided we better get down off the mountain by noon and loaded up and head down... stuck on Donner Summit for about 4 hours, then on the down side ran out of snow and didn't see any again the rest of the winter... rarely snows in the Bay area... After my wife and I separated, I took the kids up to a ski area near Yosemite in '79 then didn't see snow again until we had a freak storm in Houston in '89.... we've had two or three small and light storms here in East Tennessee since moving up here in 2005.... haven't much experience with snow.

Snow is a four letter word.
 
Growing up around 7000 feet in north east Arizona I have seen my share of snow. The largest amount was in the nineties and it was somewhere around 4 feet, with drifts much higher. A wicked cold snap after it kept it on the ground for a long time.

Broken bones and surgeries have made me really not like the cold anymore.
 
I would have go look up weather records to see how the amounts actually stand. I was born in Lebanon, IN in 1957 and was raised and still live here today, only a few blocks from mom and the house I grew up in.

To me, it generally seems like our big snows run in about 10 year cycles because I remember having a 6 foot drift in front of the house back in the mid 60's. Then we had the blizzard in 1978. I recall hand shoveling through a four foot drift in my driveway when my wife and I lived just outside of town and an even taller one in the walk next to our house on that one. Nothing major comes to mind through the 90's and up to around 2008. Just some winters of some snow then almost none, then some again. Then around 2008, 2011 and this year I've "enjoyed" the pleasure of shoveling lots of snow from the drive on the east (entry) end of the garage again.

I found this pic I took in 2011 posted in shop shots. Seems like every two or three years I gotta dig out the lanes. If we get another REAL blizzard, all I I can say is OH BOY!

http://www.penturners.org/photos/images/8902/1_Dsc_0084psp.jpg

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Most of our (western West Virginia) snow is frequently only 1/4" to 1/2" at a time. A couple of times each winter, we will get 2"-4". Once every couple of years or so, we might get 6"-8" during a storm. And once every 20 years, we will get 2-3 feet. The last one of those was in the early 90's, so we are due for another 'good' snow.
 
I was in the big storm in OK two years ago when Okmulgee got 16 inches the first day and an additional 5 inches two days later to give 21 inches. OK isn't used to that much snow. Okmulgee doesn't OWN a snow plow! The town was paralyzed for days as farmers brought their tractors into town to clear the roads.

I grew up in Wyoming North Dakota, Montana and Colorado, so 3 feet of snow wasn't anything unusual, but OK usually gets 2 inches...not 2 feet!
 
sbwertz said:
I was in the big storm in OK two years ago when Okmulgee got 16 inches the first day and an additional 5 inches two days later to give 21 inches. OK isn't used to that much snow. Okmulgee doesn't OWN a snow plow! The town was paralyzed for days as farmers brought their tractors into town to clear the roads.

I grew up in Wyoming North Dakota, Montana and Colorado, so 3 feet of snow wasn't anything unusual, but OK usually gets 2 inches...not 2 feet!
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My mother lived in OK for nearly 20 years... I think Okmulgee is one of the few towns she didn't live in... but seems to me that most of the time, any snow pretty much paralyzed any of the towns, even OKC and Tulsa.... I was working for an airlines in California most of the years she lived in OK... she kept trying to get me to transfer my station to OKC or Tulsa.... was never going to happen.
 
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